Welcome fellow foodies, I'm Mijune - dedicated foodie from Vancouver. I write restaurant reviews in Vancouver and the lower mainland as well as when I’m traveling. I'm searching for the best ____, popular hole-in-the-wall restaurant & local gem. I cook & bake so I’ll also post recipes. I invite all foodies to follow me on this tasty experience!
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Of course I can never skip out on dessert...no matter how full I am. There is somehow always room. Unfortualey the desserts weren't fresh so they didn't taste as good as they could and should have been. The mochi was hard and the macaons are stale. They sounded and looked so good too! :(
Gyo-O Kaisen Shokudo Japanese - Lunch/Dinner Review
On the table:
Mochi Ice Cream 1/6
Mochi with vanilla ice cream $1.50 each
I was really disappointed by this. It’s made in house, but it’s pre made and tastes like it’s been sitting in the freezer for weeks.
The mochi skin is very hard and not chewy at all. It’s almost bitty and breaks apart in pieces in your moth. It’s like eating frozen rice.
The ice cream was just vanilla and it was good, but it was not real vanilla bean ice cream either. This part didn’t bother me though.
I prefer the frozen ice cream mochis from T&T Supermarket.
These would have been good if they were only fresh! Maybe they need to individually wrap them before freezing them…that would prevent them from getting that hard mochi skin.
Assorted Macaron 2.5/6
Pack of 6: 2 Matcha, 2 chocolate, 2 strawberry, $4.50
This is not really a restaurant dessert as much as it is a “baked good to-go”.
The macarons are from their sister dessert café Chicco Café located on Robson. They serve overpriced parfaits that are pretty small.
Anyways the macarons were a bit stale so they didn’t taste as light or delicate as they should be – Say See Bon makes the best ones!
They’re still the French style macarons which to me are way better than the American macaroons.
I couldn’t taste the almond flavour in these ones and they weren’t that nutty at all.
Matcha: was the best of the 3 and they used a lot of Matcha powder but it was a bit masked because they added quite a bit of sugar to it too. The Say See Bon ones taste more Matcha-y than these ones.
Chocolate: was definitely not delicate. It was almost like an Oreo cookie not a macaron. The quality of the chocolate wasn’t as great so it didn’t taste as chocolate-y as it could have.
Strawberry: was too fake tasting for me. It tasted like strawberry flavored Pocky sticks – but in macaron form.
I tried everything on their “Top 5 Menu”, and more or less agree with 1-2 things I would switch around.
What I liked was that every single thing was well seasoned and didn’t require many additional flavours or soy sauce. They do a great job with the most standard dishes like tempura and even udon. The items offered are quite traditional with a few fusion/Izakaya items here and there. It is much more worth it to go with more people or the bill adds up quickly and it gets expensive (like most Izakaya places, however it's still more affordable than ones in downtown). Trying 1-2 dishes I wouldn't have been as impressed. Nonetheless I did get a good sample of everything and overall it was excellent (especially my recommendations) and I would come again.
My review for dessert at Gyo-O Kaisen Shokudo Japanese tomorrow!
On the table:
Tako Wasabi 4/6
Raw octopus marinated in wasabi and Japanese pickles $2.95
I like the one at Kingyo better. The one here doesn’t come with seaweed strips so I was just eating raw octopus. I want something to eat it with.
It’s slimy, but the octopus is quite tender and well marinated. Nice crunchy Japanese pickles and very strong fresh wasabi.
It’s pretty cheap, so it’s worth it, but they need to serve it with something.
*Yam & Unagi (Eel) Tempura Sticks 4.5/5
Served with tartar sauce, light Teriyaki sauce, and spicy sauce $4.50
This is on their “Top 5” menu and it’s one of their popular dishes.
They’re long and thin strips of tempura “fries” and they were pretty good. Even after they cooled down they were still very crispy and crunchy.
They are heavily battered, but that’s what makes them so crunchy. The batter is also seasoned so they’re very flavourful.
The spicy sauce was the best (at the back). It was very mildly spicy and quite sweet with a nice kick. It tasted like Tonkatsu sauce mixed with Sriracha hot sauce or even like Hoisin sauce with a little bit of chili spice and maybe some Worcestershire.
The unagi (eel) was better than the yam. It was so juicy and came across as salmon but a lot more tender, juicy, rich and creamy. The yam tempura was also really tender and almost like yam fries.
Kaisen Don(Regular) 4.5/6
Seafood (sashimi) on rice bowl. Served with wasabi on the rim $12.50 (Regular)
This is one of their signature items, and while it was good I enjoyed some of the other dishes more.
It came with nice big and thin slices of assorted sashimi. It wasn’t like they “cheaped out” with the thin slices – this just means they cut them properly. They cut them so that the flavour was enhanced and the texture of the fish became creamy.
The Kaisen Don comes on a generous portion of Japanese rice and although it was flavourful, the rice didn’t taste premium to me. I could have actually gone for more sugar and vinegar in the rice. This was the only thing I needed to add soy sauce with. But they do recommend you to eat it with the special shoyu sauce at the table. There’s also wasabi on the rim of the bowl which is a must for this dish.
The tamago was really good! It was the perfect tamago, it was fresh, soft and perfectly sweetened. It was very flavourful and it’s one of the best I’ve had yet.
I like the mini dons at G-Men Ramen better, although different (their sister restaurant across the street).
**Goma Miso Gyoza 6/6
Steamed prawn gyoza with sesame Miso sauce $5.50
This was delicious! It’s almost the only place I would order gyoza at again. Usually I find gyoza quite generic everywhere I go.
The one here is a nice change from the typically pan-fried gyoza. This one was steamed or boiled. The skin was very fresh and slippery and it tasted like they just made it.
They were stuffed really well and the pork meat was nice and juicy. There were also green onions in it and a nice prawn that was crunchy and perfectly cooked. I could definitely taste the freshness of the prawn unlike the overcooked prawn gyoza at Toratatsu.
It came with a nutty sauce made of Miso paste; I think sesame sauce and maybe some Teriyaki sauce. It was savoury, sweet and nutty and matched the gyoza perfectly. It was a nice change from the classic gyoza vinegar.
**BBQ Salmon Skin 6/6
New item BBQ salmon skins on a bed of shredded daikon $4.95
This was such a hit! One of my favourites. It was nice thing strips of BBQ skin and on a bed of shredded daikon, with some seaweed, Teriyaki sauce and mayo.
The best part was the cornflakes they garnished it with. It was more than a garnish but it was part of the dish. It was perfect! You have to eat the bbq salmon with the cornflakes. It makes it extra crunchy and gives it a lovely texture. It give the illusion that the salmon skin is extra crispy.
The use of cornflakes may seem like they’re cheating, but the salmon skin itself was quite crispy even without it. The salmon was really moist and juicy and you can taste the salmon oil flavour.
The daikon was a nice and refreshing compliment to this dish. It was almost like a bbq salmon skin salad.
Assorted ODEN 2.5/6
5 kinds of assorted plate (chef’s selection) with Japanese hot mustard on the rim of the bowl $6.50
I think this is a really traditional Japanese dish because I haven’t seen it offered anywhere else.
It doesn’t look appetizing, but it was quite tasty.
Everything kind of tastes like fish cakes in different forms. Nice to try, but I probably wouldn’t order it again. I wish I could have chosen the 5 items though.
One item we got was a hard boiled egg.
The 2nd item (underneath ingredients) was a boiled deep fried tofu (puff).
Fish cake or patty - it had carrots and peas in it and it was really soft and didn’t taste frozen even if it was.I actually think it could have been made in house.
Chikuwa (fish case tube) - the long brown sausage thing that looks like a male body part is kind of scary looking and not appetizing but it tasted pretty good. It's made up of pureed white fish, eggs, sugar, starch, and salt. It's hollow, boiled, and quite soft and tender like a sheet of fish meatball rolled up in a tube.
Fish Mousse...I think? (half eaten in the photo) It was quite good. I actually liked this one the best of all the random stuff in the Oden. It was almost like a fish paste sausage and there were black sesame seeds and shredded carrots in it. It was soft and I could taste the slight nuttiness of the sesame seeds. It was different, but good.
The broth was quite tasty too. It wasn’t rich pork broth or anything, but it was not canned broth either. I'm pretty sure it was just the standard udon noodle broth.
**Ebi Tempura Ontama Bukkake 4.5/6
It originally means put everything on the noodle & mix it up! A bowl of udon noodles with ebi tempura and ontama (hot spring half boiled egg) $10.95
The udon noodles are really good here…like noticeably good. They’re very fresh and therefore very soft and creamy. They have a great texture to them – they’re soft but very chewy and almost stick to your teeth although they’re slippery. It all sounds like a contradiction, but it makes sense once you try it. Try it!
The egg is the best! You break it and mix in altogether with the udon and soup. Then you pour this special sauce in it and mix it again. It’s almost like a soy sauce but lighter, sweeter and not as sharp.
The broth becomes a bit thicker after mixing the egg into it and it’s reminiscent of egg drop soup.
Although it is good, it is a bit expensive, and for this price I would rather have ramen noodles.
Salmon Cheek Karaage 4/6
2 pieces $4.95
This was another score for me and I would recommend it if I didn’t have some of the other stuff. But there are other things that beat this.
It was very simple, but they did a good job with it. It was 2 big salmon cheeks and it was very crispy but also a bit too oily.
The cheek part with the meat was so juicy and moist it almost had its own sauce.
The thinner parts of the fish were a bit overcooked and dry so it came off as salmon jerky…but that’s bound to happen so I won’t ding them for that.
The batter is flavorful and tastes like the skin on chicken karage.
**Syoyu Mayo Takoyaki 6/6
Octopus balls 6 pcs $5.50
This was a surprising one! It wasn’t on the top 5, but it would be on my top 5.
They were very well done and a nice size. They were very fresh and creamy and almost like baked egg whites! It was so soft and really good! They had a nice piece of octopus in it that wasn’t chewy.
I could have used a bit more pickled ginger taste because I couldn’t taste any and it should have had a little bit of it.
It was served with mayo and Okonomiyaki sauce so it was sweet and teriyaki-like.
Mixed Seaweed (Kaisou) Udon 3/6
Udon with 4 kinds of seaweed served in soup $8.50
The udon noodles are awesome here. They’re really fresh and chewy and have a great texture to them.
This was quite unique and original for a Japanese restaurant in Vancouver.
Types of seaweed
It had reddish brown crunchy seaweed that looked like frisee. I’ve tried it before in minced up form at Rainflower Restaurant in their Japanese Conch salad.
Then they had the green version of it that tasted similar. It’s almost like eating frisee greens in jelly form.
Then there was the fresh slimy green seaweed that has a sea salt flavour.
Lastly there is the standard dry seaweed (the dark green sheet). I would have preferred shredded dried seaweed because having the big piece makes it hard to eat. It gets very chewy and I didn’t like the quality of it. The shredded kind I think is a bit more expensive, but it would have tasted much better and it’s more appropriate for a noodle soup bowl like this.
The broth was almost slimy and mucus like because of all the seaweed juice. Sounds good huh?! It was all really fresh but the slime reminded me of the Nato beans I had at G-Men Ramen.
You have to like and enjoy the taste and texture of seaweed to enjoy and appreciate the Kaison Udon.
Lunch Combo 3.5/6
Udon, ebi tempura don, 3 small appetizers and salad $8.50
This was a pretty good deal compared to everything else.
Ebi Tempura Don 2.5/6
This actually didn’t do anything for me. It was pretty much ebi mayo on rice.
Even served as an Ebi Mayo appetizer it would still only be ok. Ebi Mayo at Toratatsu is great!
There was a whole lot so rice and a decent amount of ebi tempura, but not enough sauce so it was kind of plain.
The shrimps were tender, but not juicy and they were crispy with a flour tempura batter but also a bit small in size. I would rather have the big prawn tempura and less of them.
It wasn’t very spicy and it just tasted like mayo.
Udon
This is just their basic udon with soup and they include a fish cake, which I think is deep fried, and also some seaweed.
3 small appetizers
Chinese cabbage, crunchy marinated pickled ginger, and enoki mushrooms marinated in a sweet soy sauce.
I liked them with the udon and ate them together, but you can eat them as is.
Salad
Just a bed of mixed greens served with a very tangy vinaigrette. It was as tangy as Italian dressing. They use cornflakes instead of croutons and they got really soggy from the dressing. I’d prefer them on the side.
The review on Gyo-O Kaisen Shukudo Japanese dessert is tomorrow!
Homestyle/Homemade Japanese comfort food w/a twist
Dainty rather than hearty or greasy
Creative dishes, few ingredients, done well
Definition of "don't judge a book by its cover" - looks ghetto on the outside, inside is nice
Small restaurant, not much seating so go early
Hip and trendy, but laid back
Art and interior done by local artists
Dinner service only
**Recommendation: Bang Bang Chicken Salad, Pork Gyoza, Tonkatsu Kushi Age, Tori Karaage
I've waited a long time to try this restaurant an I'm glad I finally did it. I've driven by it and was always hesitant because from the outside it looks like an old Chinese diner that serves all day breakfast for $2.99. However, the inside is completely different. It's actually really contemporary and relaxed with donated art pieces. Quite hipster actually.
The chefs and cooks are actually Japanese. Each dish is prepared upon order rather than mass produced. It's one of those places that feels so home made that a dish may taste a little different the next time. It's homemade Japanese comfort food with a slight twist. For a place that self quotes "Canadian Japanese food" I expected the kitchen to be run by students of all nationalities; but it's actually older Japanese people, maybe even family run. Nothing gourmet here - just creative ideas, made with few ingredients, done well.
We ordered all izakaya dishes - but if you go for a large plate they recommend the Cod Miso-Teri or Sukiyaki Steak Frites. I hear about their "Ping Dog" and wanted to try it so I asked about it; but the server was really honest and said "it's a bratwurst"...so I passed.
On the table:
**Bang Bang Chicken Salad 5/6
Shredded chicken breast, daikon, carrot, cucumber and lettuce with spicy goma-miso dressing and crispy wonton skins.
I really enjoyed this. It's one of their best sellers so it's a tad expensive at $8...but it was good. There was a nice mound of salad with a decent amount of chicken and everything is cut to a julienne so the composition is great. You taste some of everything in each bite because it's all cut to the same size. The ingredients literally fold around each other because they're cut so thin. The veggies are fresh and the dressing was a vinaigrette made the sesame gomaae (dressing you usually have with spinach gomaae) and Miso - it worked really well and was very flavourful.
Goma-ae 2/6
Cooked spinach with sesame sauce. Regular or spicy.
This is a dish I almost always order at any Japanese restaurant so I have a selection to compare to. This one was recommeded, but it wasn't great. It lacked flavour and there was definitely not enough sesame sauce. It came on a plate not a bowl so there was nothing to hold the sauce and there wasn't even sauce drizzled on top. The spinach shouldn't be soggy or drenched in sesame sauce, but it should be nicely coated. Much of the time I felt like I was eating cooked spinach with a few sesame seeds sprinkled on it.
Tuna Tataki 4/6
Seared Albacore Tuna with greens, cucumber, daikon & shoyu vinaigrette
We had it with half tuna belly and half the regular Albacore Tuna. I don't think they offer this option all the time though so you have to ask them. Pretty nice presentaion but it could have used one more ingrdient to give it that extra something. Whether it's garlic chips or freshly grated wasabi it needed an extra note. It came with no wasabi actually which is a no no because wasabi and seared tuna go hand in hand. This was still enjoyable, but it didn't make an impression because I've had better.
**Pork Gyoza 5/6
Panfried dumplings made of pork, cabbage, garlic and green onion.
I would usually pass on the gyoza because it's so typical and usually tastes all the same. For me it's a 'try one try them all' thing...however this gyoza changed my mind. At a restaurant like this where there's so many different items I usually would have passed for sure. However our server said it was a favourite so I decided to give it a try...on the second round of ordering. I'm really glad I did too!
The gyozas are homemade and you can tell. They're nice and plump with a generous amount of stuffing and the skin is not too thick and not paper thin either. You can see the green onion and cabbage and they're not used as a filler but more as a complement to the pork. They're better than the gyozas I've had at many other Japanese restaurants. At $1 they're totally worth it. These are gyozas done well...finally.
**Tori Karaage - 5/6
Shoyo, sake, garlic, ginger marinated chicked thigh deep fried and served on greens with ponzu and mayo.
Another popular item. Chicken karaage like you've never had it - not the chicken karaage you get at Japanese all you can eat. This is the homemade kind! The marinade they use is great - it tenderizes the chicken so well. When you bite into it, you can taste the special marinade and the chicken is juicy. Yes, it's deep fried, but no it's not very greasy, just juicy. The batter is not thick so it's very crispy and you can tell it's made upon order. It almost tastes baked rather than deep fried.
Ika Karaage - 4/6
Lightly battered calamari with wasabi tzatziki.
It wasn't the best thing I've had, but I would still order it again becuase it's a unique dish you can't find anywhere else.
The calamari are the rings, not the little squid balls. You get and taste more squid than batter which is really nice. The squid was a bit chewy and tough (overcooked) rather than tender though. I think they need to experiment with the cooking temperature/method - if the squid was tender and they managed to keep the coating still crispy this would be recommended for sure.
Wasabi tzatziki - what a brilliant idea! It tastes like yogurt mixed with wasabi, so an easy recipe, but it does the job just fine.
Sake Drunken Chicken - 3/6
Grilled chicken marinated in sake.
This was worth it at around $2 a skewer. Sake really does the job in tenderizing meat. The sake wasn't over powering and you could still taste it lingering in the chicken. Nothing spectacular in terms of flavour - but just simply done well for what it is.
Kabocha (Pumpkin) Korokee - 4/6
Kabocha pumpkin, potato and sauteed onion croquette with yoshoku sauce.
The presentation caught me off guard - it was quite cute and because of the atmosphere it was very suitable.
The yoshoku sauce - tastes like a bold BBQ sauce - it has a kick to it, it's not really spicy though - it just has a kick...a cross of spicy and tangy - like mustard. I liked it though. The croquette is very nice, the filling was the texture of a mashed potato puree and it's homemade - you can really tell, you can see the minced onion. Part of me felt like I was eating gourmet McCain Smiley Fries - you know those fries stuffed with mashed potatoes with smiles on them? The ones that kids eat...yeah I felt like I was eating those, but upgraded and for adults. Maybe it was because it was served with a smiley face? Anyways the pumpkin tastes like squash so this croquette was on the sweeter side and it went well with the BBQ...or I mean yoshoku sauce.
**Tonkatsu Kushi Age 5/6
4 skewered panko breaded pork cutlets with Japanese hot mustard Yoshoku sauce.
This sauce was the same sauce that was on the Kabocha Korokee aka croquettes. AND so it IS a hot mustard! That explains the bold/tangy/spicy flavour I was trying to describe. All makes sense now...so the sauce tastes like a combo of BBQ sauce and hot mustard...
This dish tastes way better than it looks, and it doesn't even look bad. The pork cutlets are lean and thin, and really tender. You can actually bite a piece of pork cutlet off without having to use your teeth to pull and tear a piece off. The pork manages to stay together with the panko batter skin which is great. I hate when it separates so that you're left with a peice of pork and then the battered skin. This dish is crispy and delicious, simple and perfect.
