Ebisu on Robson, Vancouver

Congrats Selina & Brian!

I just wanted to give a shout out to one of my oldest friends, who recently got hitched to her high school sweet heart.  I went back home to attend her wedding last weekend, and she had her stagette dinner @

 Ebisu on Robson

827 Bute Street

Vancouver, BC V6B2Y4

Tel: (604) 689-8266
Fax: (604) 689-8335

http://www.ebisu.ca/robson/

Wow. so i didnt know that Kamei group owned all of this: Kamei Royale, Ebisu on Robson, Broadway and Richmond, and Daimasu in Richmond and Burnaby, I'm pretty sure i've been to 5/6 of these. 

It's not my favorite japanese izakaya joint, or one i would go to myself, but not one i would vehemently protest (at least not on the outside)... i've been before with other friends and they have pretty creative rolls, and their menu looks pretty solid http://www.ebisu.ca/robson/menu-ebisu2.html, but somehow i've never been sold. i'm not sure what it is, i dont really have loyalties when it comes to food, if it pleases me, it pleases me. I find Ebisu, while offering an extensive and impressively solid menu, somehow, am a little bit undersold. There's a lot of bells and whistles that go on i think, they've got good cheap drinks and happy hour deals, and everything is really pretty! BUT, and there is a BUT, the food is..... its OK. i wouldnt even write about it if not just to tell you that, at the dinner, while everyone was being NORMAL and ordering a few tapas to share, or a few dishes to eat, i went a little overboard, (i blame being secluded on an opposite island. .... you know where im being surrounded by land instead of water,) and kinda ordered a family sized Fire & Ice Sashimi platter for myself... (see last picture)... um and also an Oyster Motoyaki (not pictured, ate it quickly... eating raw fish upon raw fish, i needed something in my stomach quick),  I later regretted having only devoured seafood, as we were going to the bar after and i had nothing to absorb the alcohol but raw fish... and then you have to burp/throw up drunken raw fish.... bleeeuuggghhh

Well, here are some pics, here's my neighbour's beef carparccio...food i didnt try... but looks pretty!

Black Cod Saikyo, marinated in sweet miso... i heard it was delicious

Ah, and this is my platter, for... myself... 6 oysters, raw scallops, spicy tuna in a huge chunks, ebi, and lots and lots of salmon and hamaci tuna. impressive eh!!!!! i thought so too!!! until my 20th bite of raw... haha. im such a greedy little fellow. 

omg. i just saw this on my friend's (jess 3!) fb.... ok. i think this makes all the difference in letting you know how ridiculous i am... and what a spectacle it was when i ordered this (plus another dish) for myself and other people had NORMAL sized dishes..... ok i shared. a bit. LOL... also check out the penis pictures on the table, one of my fav in front, the elepenis! haha. 

Guu with Garlic aka Guu Robson! aka 2nd Guu of all!

According to the Guu website, Guu Garlic was born in 2001 as the younger (what gender is a Guu?) to Guu Thurlow. Apparently with the concept of Garlic is SEXY? you know what i say to that? damn straight!!! garlic is sexy!!! (if everyone has garlic)... garlic for one, is uncomfortable without a good rinse.

anyway, last week i came back to Vancouver, and did the Sea Wall with one of my BESTEST FRIENDS <3 Jenny.  Look what we saw!

(I know this is not relevant to this eating blog unless i picked one up and ate its liver but come on! they're all in a row! so cute!)

Man. Vancouver is so beautiful! A long walk calls for a delicious meal! and so we go!!!

We had intended to go to Guu Thurlow, but after ending up in english bay (and a few stops at other options) we were like. let's just do this. Here we are, sitting at our stoup, while waiting for a seat... damn reserved spots!

Ohhhh!!! daily specials!!!! 

a delicious and refeshing melon type drink with a dollop of ice cream?  mmm!!! was there even alcohol in it? who cares! bring me another! 

We started with a Beef Tataki with a Ponzu Sauce.  hmmm did they change this?  I'm used to a different lay out with garlic chips on top, however, still delicious!

A staple at every Guu meal is the Pumpkin Croquette. why? hmmm deep fried pumpkin with a boiled egg drenched in tangy thousand island dressing, how does that NOT sound.. well. you just gotta put it in your mouth!  Jenny wanted us to order one for each of us... i almost want to admit i made a mistake to stop her... but... gotta fit up on other stuff... silly!

I had to take a picture of the inside, Guu Toronto, THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT!!!! (this is how you do it!).... omg i cant tell you how disgusting the Guu Church is in comparison (beggars cant be choosers), if you want to see the Guu one, here is my Guu Church review

Jenny ordered this, Okonomi Yaki: deep fried squid and cabbage pancake with tonkatsu and mayo.  Hmmm. im not a fan tonkatsu, im not sure why. its a lil too tangy for me, and i also felt this was filler. but, a few days into being back in Van, i think i'm just picky. back to normal.

Salmon Yukke, the menu claims to have garlic sauce, green onions, and pine nuts. Which is what i was used to previously, with quail egg on the side, and shrimp crackers.  Today was a nice change with little garlic toasts instead.  I could have eaten a plate full of this! but i wont. because there is other food.

I wanted to try this Hotate Butter, Grilled Garlic Butter Scallop on Onion w/ Bonito Flakes and Garlic Chips.  Hmmm. if i must say, this was probably my least favorite of the night. There were only 3 scallops, and the bonito flakes were way to overpowering for me.  I would have preferred just Garlic Butter Scallop, or i would have also preferred if i had read the menu, because i know what bonito flakes are.....

MMM part of the daily specials, was this Steamed Mussels with Garlic, Sake, Butter & Brother... Jenny wasnt a big fan of mussels so... more for me!!!! the mussels were huge! and sake broth, couldnt go wrong, nothing better than hot sake broth on a 16 degree summer evening (beats this 40 toronto heat...)

Kaki Mayo - Oyster, Creamy, Cheese = how can you go wro... im having at heart a.. just kidding! i just took a long ass walk! It was really good except i wish i got more oyster! though i also like eating creamy and cheese!

Well! originally I wanted to order the Pork Belly off of the Daily Specials but Darn It! it was sold out, so the waiter suggest this, it was very delicious! he said.  Here I wouldnt think of ordering a Beef Tenderloin Pastry with Gravy Sauce, but i'm easily sold, on everything... don't try it. It was quite tasty... and there was quite a bite for $8.80. Man i love this place!

Oh! piece de resistance! Gin Dara. Man. I love Black Cod. (COD), its so amazingly melt in your mouth deliciousness.  It's a shame they always serve it in such small portions... i guess to leave me wanting... oh delicious fish. i want you... all the time...

How come the yaki udon always comes at the end? Is it like a, here is a carbo, because i bet you werent full from all the tiny dishes, filler up! well wrong! I was full! (for 20 minutes)

Here's the Bill, pretty reasonable i think! i would have paid double!... for double the food....

This was my neighbour's food. she got an BBQ Eel rice gratin 

She also got this sashimi salad. i think. i love sweet shrimp sashimi. 

Well! that was my Guu Vancouver Adventure. til next time!

Test Kitchen: Gyutang ... tasty cow tongue by me!

TA DA!!!!. ok here is a disclaimer. below i am going to show pictures of a cow tongue. if you find that gross. i totally understand. i thought it was super gross, but since i love the cow as an animal that keeps on giving, i have today, learned to embrace all the seemingly yucky parts on a wholly delicious animal.

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raw beef tongue alert!!!!

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     So if you know me, i am a completely random bizarre person.  I was eating my frozen grapes at work today, and offering some to my coworker, and somehow ended up comparing defrosted grapes as something soft and slimy and asked her if she ever had beef tongue... and then the seed was planted... and i had to have it.  Went to Sunny Supermarket @ Finch and Leslie for some azn meats, and picked the smallest and "normal" coloured one i could find.  The other ones were HUGE and spotted with black and blue... i was horrified. This tongue cost a lil over $5.00 bucks. which is a STEAL since when i go out to izakayas in Toronto, a measly 8-10 slices set me back over $5.00. JACKPOT.

     I honestly had no idea what to do with it once i got it, but luckily my FATHER (not my actual father), Jowett Yu, HEAD CHEF OF SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA'S MS. G's (ha ha name dropper), dropped me some hints on how to cook this sucker.

TIPS FROM CHEF JOWETT: how to make gyutang/cow tongue

where do i even start?

braise it for hour. or blanch quickly, peel the skin off, thinly slice, then grill

how do i make gyutang?

bring a pot of water to boil, lower the tongue, blanch for 30 sec, then take out. peel the skin back on where the palate used to be. chill in the frige till cool, then thinly slice. the best part to eat is where it was once attached to the back of the throat at the base.... more fatty

what do i do? just salt it?

yes. grilled with just salt. dipping sauce is like ponzu soy, or if u likle korean style, salt sesame oil b pepper

So i followed the instructions. the fast one cause i really wanted to try it. Blanched it for 30 seconds. it totally changed the colour right away to white. hmmmm i wonder if that would happen if i boiled my own tongue.... anyway,  the tongue skin didnt rip. tried another 30 seconds. tongue skin totally stuck on. I guess i gotsa chop it off the old fashion way...

halfway through slowly and painstakingly sawing the thick skin off. i was like. this thing's got ankle socks on! or more accurately, white wedges? this photo cracks me up.

omg so i finally get all the outter tongue off... and stuck it in the freezer so it would be easier to cut. I would have liked to have kept it in longer, and will next time, cause it was a bitch to cut. 

Here's a few slices i managed to cut up. I eventually cut up everything, super hard to cut it thinly.  My roommate, who is russian, preferred to have hers thicker.

And here it is! my first batch of Gyutang, complete with lemon and ponzu dipping sauce.  There was waaayyy more from where that came from.  it was so easy too!  seriously, if i were to sell my beef tongue, the street value would be like.... 50 bucks! i swear! what a rip off. from now on, i'm cooking my own tongue.

Ichiban fish house @ Richlane Mall FULL MEAL!

Come with me as poseidon Brenden Frasier beckons us into Ichiban Fish House @ the most awesome Richlane mall, by Leslie and 16 in Richmond Hill, Ont. (9425 Leslie Street, Richmond Hill, ON (905) 737-7313 if you're precise)

Ichiban fish house wants you to know they do not import... from japan... 

     So Ichiban Fish House is an interesting lil place. you go in, and its pics among pics of sushi trays and fridge/display of fish/uni/octopus/etc, and you head into the dining area, which seats, maybe 24 ppl in the whole place.  There is one waitress (whenever i go, but its off peak hours?), and maybe 2 people in the kitchen? 3? im not sure. ANYWAY the interesting part is, that you get menu. which consists of, 1 menu. and then 2 photo albums of just pictures of food + cost + name.  Which is AWESOME.  One is like a roll menu, i think, and the other is everything else.

     Like check it out... i took a few pics, i wonder if could get a set of ones of these, cause it's awesome.  It's like, oh hey, a family photo album... if your family was delicious food that you want to EAT! They have everything, from basics, sashimi types, and fried stuff types, and bento box types, terriyaki types, etc etc. But they also have hot roll types!

     They start you off with a free salad and miso, and end you off with a free green tea ice cream.  Which i really should stop accepting cause it is proven, at least in this stomach, that raw fish and ice cream does not mix... but... free!

So me and Maria got the tempura.  Another interesting bit. Apple Tempura! i liked it! cause it's deep fried... but i can see how ppl would find it weird. good tempura, lightly battered, veggies are tender at every bite.

Maria got the Sushi Combo 1, which was like $9 bucks or something, but she chose the all salmon one, which consists of... what you see in the picture.

I got the spicy tuna, i think it was $4-5 bucks.  I realize that anything that is 'spicy' costs extra, and really they just dot some hot mayo on top, what i didn't know is that when we asked for some mayo on the side, they gave us a whole bowl of spicy mayo. tip from me. ask for spicy mayo on the side cause that's free!

I got the hand rolls cause they looked pretty it was around $9 bucks. They were filled to the bottom, which is always a good sign, and the seaweed remained nice and crunchy.  yum yum. 

So I've gone to this place probably 5 times now, it's a good, fast, easy lunch place to go, (or dinner, i think Richlane Mall closes at 12PM), it's a lil more expensive than what i am used to (though being from vancouver, where the fish jump into your mouth, its a whole diff animal i guess), but it's fresh, speedy, and good. 

New Izakaya: Raa Izakaya Sushi and Sake Bar @ Yonge and Sheppard..ish

Don't let the empty seats fool you, cause once we sat down, every 5 minutes there was a couple walking in.  So today I finally decided to check out the new Izakaya place down my street! Place was bustling! 

Raa Izakaya - Sushi Bar and Sake Bar

4848 Yonge St. Toronto

416-224-0075

info@raajapanese.com

Raajapanese.com

The restaurant itself is quite well put together, as i learned from the waitress at the end of the meal, the owner, who was walking around the whole time (see below), was a restaurant consultant who had a dream to open this restaurant, and it became a reality 3 weeks ago.  From the beautiful place settings and slate tableware, to the little touches like accent pillows on the banquettes, and wooden accents, and hanging lights, gorgeous!!!! But here's the con, man it was as expensive as it looked (like Melania Trump... she sure is expensive looking)

Here's the back of the owner's head, yes he's a white dude (who put a lot of thought into putting this together)

and in other news, let me add some CONS:

-There is a lighted menu in the front advertising Wagyu beef tataki in ponzu sauce. there was NO BEEF TATAKI. they changed the menu. i wonder if this has anything to do with wagyu beef coming from Japan?

-There was no Gindara: Grilled Black Cod. which i guess isn't their fault, cause black cod is so delicious, but it is their fault! for not having enough black cod. HUMF!

onward:

So to start, freebee from this kitchen is this fried seafood in some vinegar marinade, it was some white fish and a niblet of octopus.. tasted like the ocean, but otherwise, tasty

Kinpira $4.95

So, always wanting to try something new, i went for this Vegetable Appy called Kinpira (Lotus roots, Gobo, Yam Cake).  I really like lotus roots cause they always retain their nice chompability, love chomp chomp chomping em, it was interesting, like what was it, marinaded in some sweet soy slightly? plus the chewy cakes added nice juxtaposition (HA) to the crunchy lotus. it also tasted like it should be free. 

Spicy Deluxe Roll $8.50

Tuna, salmon, Hamachi and spicy wasabi tobiko.. $8 f*cking 50!!! if i had an $8.50 spicy tuna roll, it better do my laundry as well. wtf. welllll. in short, it was actually quite tasty and the fish was very melt in my mouth but. $8.50! I am so spoiled by Vancouver rolls.

Yakibuta $6.50

MMM Tenderous bbq pork belly with negi nuts sauce.  This was quite delicious (but what is up with the carrot hickory sticks?).. it was melt in your mouth fat and all, and amazingly tasty. This i will approve at $6.50.... maybe.

Snowcrab Croquette $7.95

Crabmeat, Creme Bechamel, tomato sauce

Soo this is new for me, i had no idea what a "Creme Bechamel" is.. but if i were a better student of Top Chef, should have remembered that they reference Bechemel, a thickened milk sauce, as one of the 5 mother sauces (Velouté, Espagnole, Hollandaise, and Tomato are the others.)

So this is what i have to say... innnteerresting.. its reminiscent to me in some chinese deep fried dish that escapes me right now that's like deep fried milk, but its interesting, and on a bed of tomato sauce... interesting...

Seared Peppered Tuna Carpaccio $13.50

THIRTEEN FIDDY!!!!

If you remember my Guu posts, ie. Guu Izakaya Church where i had BC Albacore Tuna Carpaccio @ $6.80, the tuna melted in my mouth... this one, did not, im not sure what kind of tuna it is, as you can see in the colour, this one is like a cassis syrupy purple/red, i mean in comparison, there is no comparison. However, stand alone, it was a tasty and decently done. there's a bunch of tomatoes and avocado on a bed of seaweed in the middle, so its a different mix up from my usual garlic and ponzu.

Seafood Yaki Udon - $13.50

What!!! ok im used to my Yaki Udon from Guu being in the $7-8 dollar range, however, we also needed a "filler" and i love yaki udon sooo i'm gonna have to make a BLLEEUGHH noise to this one. i mean, it is what it is, seafood, and udon and an emphasis on YAAeeuuKKKi! I mean nothing exciting or special about it at all, you got pieces of seafood like a whole octopus tentacle, and niblets of shrimp, perhaps a cameo by calamari, im not sure it was quick, some slivers of mushroom, red peppers and cabbage.. it is what it is. which is not much. not $13.50 worth.

Gyu Tongue Shio $7.50

Grilled Sliced Beef Tongue.

This was deeelicious! $7.50 delicious? verdict's still out. However, tongue was nicely seasoned, and super tender, it was like chewing on a crunchy piece of fat... um if you're into that, if not, it was like chewing on a seamless piece of crunchy tasty cow meat. yum!

Hmm and here's the bill... we got a 15% off from the bartender/hawker outside ... um i THINK this is a pretty expensive meal, i wasnt even appetizer full (1/4 full, if that makes sense), and felt the need to wander to the mcdonalds next door for an aftermeal meal..it was decent, and the decor was beautiful, the food was a decent attempt, however, slightly lacklustre from what i've been spoiled/accustomed to.  If this is your first go, i suppose you would be impressed. But, a nice try.