Vancouver Sushi is an educational blog documenting experiences at Japanese Restaurants in the Greater Vancouver area as well as food traveling experiences in Japan. In addition, our future plans will be to feature the occasional guest blogger as well as putting together articles regarding various issues and topics related to the Japanese food world.
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Asadachi (朝起) Tokyo (Shinjuku), Japan 1-2-14 Nishi-Shinjuku Shinjuku-ku 03-3342-1083
I’ve had my sanity questioned before nearing the point of being borderline insane. If not for my curiosity stemming from eating raw chicken, then more-so when I explained to others my desire to eat frog. Now you may stop and ponder that the thought of frogs may not come off as strange or unusual. The french have made staples out of these four-legged critters (also known as kaeru in Japanese) utilizing every part of their small brittle bodies. However, has anyone ever wondered how it would taste raw…no lets take it a step further; how about fresh? Now our North American conception of fresh is, often or not, given by our ability to thaw and prepare. Not so much at this restaurant as fresh is definitely fresh. So much so that the frog prepared at Asadachi is alive, hopping and living his precarious life with no knowledge that the end is near once it is taken outside of its makeshift home in the restaurant.
Now a small Japanese lesson. The name Asadachi might be funny to those who have some knowledge of the Japanese language. Asa meaning morning and dachi meaning wood or erection are direct translations. Put them together and you have a restaurant aptly named Morning Erection. Leave it up to the Japanese people to come up with some of the most absurd names for restaurants. Now this isn’t merely a coincidence; there’s a belief that consuming various parts of animals that would normally be discarded can vicariously boost the male reproduction organs. Whether or not its true is something I’d hope to find out that day.
Andrew Zimmern should be a household name for most. If not, he’s the host of the popular show Bizarre Foods which sees him traveling world eating abnormal food most of us would gag at the sight at. Nonetheless, he is one of the more entertaining food hosts and is just as daring, if not more, than the famous Anthony Bourdain. Anyways, he presented a segment in his show while visiting Japan on a restaurant serving getemono (unusual food). Unusual food in this case is in reference to food many people wouldn’t consume normally. Examples being things such as reptiles and bits of animals that aren’t commonly used such as the testicles, ovaries and sperm sacks. Anyways, I’ll let the video speak for itself.
So let me tell you…after watching this segment a few years ago, it really made me determined to try it. Why exactly? I can’t quite pinpoint what really made me want to try this utterly insane dish. Maybe the fact that its taboo? Maybe its the shock factor? Whatever came over me, I knew that I had to eat it so I decided to head out on a sunny Wednesday morning in search of this restaurant.
On this particular day, I started my stroll bright and early through Shinjuku around 10AM. At this time, not many shops were open for business quite yet along the main strip of Shinjuku. Following the semi-lit neon signs nearby, I accidentily made my way into Tokyo’s seedy red-light district of Kabukicho. Maybe seedy isn’t the best word to use in the morning since this area was actually quite well kept despite its reputation. Amidst the many restaurants, kyabakura (cabaret hostess clubs) and soaplands (borderline legal brothels), this area was actually much less intimidating than most descriptions make it out to be. The streets were filled with a mix of businessmen, locals and the odd kyachi (hustlers for cabaret clubs). Even in the morning, they were soliciting customers (particularly me) to drink. Somehow, the thought of consuming whiskey and beer at 10 in the morning seems a little absurd if I say so myself.
After making my way out of Kabukicho and back into central Shinjuku, I strolled a bit more until I got down to business. That is, finding my way onto Memory Street (思い出横丁). This nondescript alley situated right behind a station exit and a mall containing a Uniqlo was almost hidden from plain view.
Now Shinjuku is a very nice modern area in central Tokyo so when I found this dingy little alleyway, I found it to be a little out of place. What I found however was a haven for a mix of interesting cuisines and small bars that one would never think twice about. Among them were yakitori-ya’s, izakaya’s and restaurants offering foods from both the North and South ends of Japan. It was later in the morning at this time and the alley was literally void of any activity other than the few shopkeepers heading early into their shops for preparation for dinner or lunch.
Shaking off the temptation to eat at these establishments were tough but I was content with finding Asadachi. Now since it was a bit early, all the signage stores put out front for the stores weren’t quite out yet so finding Asadachi was a bit of a chore. From browsing their website, I knew I was to look for a bright red sign with the name of the restaurant neatly printed on it. It took me a little more than 15 minutes to navigate the few lane ways but I finally found it.
Now, I’ve learned something very important when traveling. Things don’t always go as planned and this was the case of it. I had planned to eat lunch at the Asadachi and record of my first hand accounts of trying frog. This simply wasn’t the case that day unfortunately.
After opening the door, I was amazed by the decor. Overlooking the bar was a tank full of live turtles and various pieces of unrecognizable meats (one of them might have been basashi or horse meat). Standing at the doorway of this restaurant that could seat no more than 10 people, I finally made eye contact with the owner of the shop (the same one as in Andrew Zimmern’s show) and another man sitting across from him who I assumed to a regular. Their conversation stopped once their eyes set on me and out came a bit of awkwardness.
During my broken conversation of elementary Japanese and their attempts at just as broken English, I was sad to hear that all the frogs for the week had been already consumed. Unfortunately for me, the next shipments of live frog’s were to come on Sunday at the earliest. He proceeded to write the number of the restaurant as well as in Japanese, to come back on Sunday. Unfortunately for me, I was leaving Tokyo on Monday for Nagoya and thus wouldn’t be able to come back in time to the restaurant. I jokingly asked if I could eat those live turtles he had on display and he jokingly said they weren’t quite ready yet. I thanked both the gentlemen greatly and made my way out feeling a bit disappointed.
Now disappointment shouldn’t be overlooked when overseas. You have to expect things to not always go your way and this was one case where it didn’t. I am determined on my next trip to Japan to eat this one dish and next time, maybe bring a friend that speaks Japanese as well.
Unfortunately for me, I was leaving Tokyo on Monday for Nagoya and thus wouldn’t be able to come back in time to the restaurant.
Zero One Sushi Vancouver (Downtown), BC 559 W. Pender Street (604) 605-1625
Getting restaurant recommendations from those in the industry seem to be the most reliable I’ve found. This is why when I heard a recommendation from a friend who use to work for Japanese owned eatery in Richmond, I thought I’d give it a try. My initial thoughts of restaurant made me assume this was a full scale restaurant with lots of seating and tables. I was actually surprised when I found out this primarily a tiny takeout restaurant with just some seating available for eat-in.
I’ve never been a big fan of takeout unless you consider pizza or the odd donair as takeout. Though many Japanese restaurants offer options for takeout, I’m one that prefers to sit-in instead and enjoy a meal while enjoying tea and basking in the ambiance. This isn’t to say that takeout isn’t a convenient and good option per-say; just an option I rarely take up considering I like to eat my meals fresh from the kitchen. Even with such a small dining space, I still thought I’d give the restaurant a try.
As I said before, this is a small, primarily takeout restaurant by the name of Zero One Sushi. Located just one block away from SFU Harbour Centre and in front of a busy bus stop, you might miss this nondescript place if you don’t look carefully. In-fact, the first time I was looking for this place, I wasn’t sure if I had the right restaurant. The bright neon sign hanging over the restaurant alternates between the words Sushi and 01 in intervals that made it tough to spot.
Despite this, the restaurant is a Japanese-run shop with limited amount of seating for about three overlooking the window facing the outside while there are one or two tables along the side with small tables. Once walking in, your basically bombarded with a variety of options on the wall as well as in the form of menus at the front. It’s also interesting to note that the Twitter and website are updated regularly with daily specials that seem to change overtime.
On the two separate occasions I came here, I found the service to be friendly and fast. You order up at the counter and have your meal dropped off at your table (or picked up if you have takeout). Now I do have one issue while eating here; it’s the use of plastic containers for eat-in orders. It doesn’t seem to be the most environmentally sound thing to do and I found it takes away from the eating experience a bit. For me, I would prefer to have food served in real bowls and plates. This is just a personal preference but with the small space allotted, I don’t think it would have hurt to put the food in bowls and save the cost of throwing away containers into the garbage. Anyways, enough ranting and on to the food.
What would bring someone to leave central Tokyo (and by central, I mean everything within reach of the JR Yamanote line, Ginza line, Marunouchi line etc.)? With so many things to do just within Shibuya, Shinjuku and the like, isn’t it just a bit mad to leave the hubbub of a metropolitan city to hit the outskirts? I pondered these ideas in my head one night before heading off to bed.
You see, I read from Paul’s Travel Blog of a place serving Japan’s own pride…Matsuzaka Beef in the suburb of Kichijoji. I know this is going to come up so I’ll just get the formalities out of the way. I know everyone’s thinking “But wait jer, isn’t Kobe beef like the best!? “. Best is subjective in this case. Kobe Beef has become a household name due to really hard marketing ploys all over the world. Whether it’s true that Kobe bred cattle are really fed alcohol and given massages is debatable; the taste of true Japanese raised Wagyu however, can rarely be debatable due to it’s miraculous fat marbling and exquisite taste. While Kobe Beef has received world recognition, there’s really only a handful of people outside of Japan that have probably even heard of the region of Matsuzaka (located in the Mie prefecture), not to mention the beef. Both types of meats from these regions are highly sought after culinary delights and are both top prized meats in Japan. And as such, I made it a priority to eat it before the end of the four week journey.
You might be asking now why I even ventured to Kichijoji in the first place. Well for one, one of the most talked about animators to ever came out of Japan happens to have a museum showcasing his work. Yes, I’m talking about Hayao Miyazaki’s Ghibli Mueseum. You know…the creator of such characters as Totoro and Ponyo. Unfortunately for me, my laziness in the morning led to my demise when I found out that tickets were sold out for the day after I arrived at Kichijoji and tried to buy tickets in one of the Family Mart convenient stores. Well, the day wasn’t too big of a waste because I had bigger things in my mind that day. Eating Matsuzaka Beef!
The Gyoza King Group has really made a name for itself. Not only opening up multiple eateries with distinguishing differences but even going as far as introducing their own beer (incidentally named G-Beer). As I’ve wrote before, I’m all for successful businesses; especially after the introduction of the controversial HST tax the province of BC has been subjected to which has taken a toll on some restaurants business and bottom line. Already having a few successful Izakaya branches, a Ramen-ya and a dessert cafe, they have also introduced Gyo-O; a restaurant based on the more unconventional Japanese food offerings for a restaurant mostly consisting of Don’s (items with rice) as well as Udon and everything else under the kitchen sink.
The storefront of the restaurant is really unusual for me. Random Japanese written everywhere which continues inside as you see behind the bar and pretty much the whole restaurant. As to the words themselves, its all random Japanese words and phrases that one of my Japanese friends before had a chuckle at. Some food items, some not. It’s an interesting environment for sure.
When I told my friends I was going to try Chicken Sashimi one day, they thought I was insane. Even the principle of eating raw fish to some is foreign but meat…they must have believed I was on some type of drug.
The various Japanese friends I’ve talked to told me that there are special restaurants in Japan that specialize in serving raw chicken. The immediate question I asked before was if they tried it and whether they got sick. Most of them did not try it but the ones that did, said they never got sick and it was an interesting experience that they recommended. Knowing my deterministic self, I could not let this chance slip when I was in Japan. I set a mental note, I needed to try raw chicken sometime in my life.
This chance came initially in my first week in Tokyo. I had printed out the directions to Kuruma (which translates to car literally which I found a bit funny, if anyone knows the real reasoning behind this leave me a comment!) location in the wealthy distract of Ginza after hearing a rave review of it from shokutsu of Foodosophy. After searching for it for about an hour, I lost hope and gave up. The very next day while exploring Shinjuku in the evening, I had accidentally found a branch there. Unfortunately for me, it was fully booked for the night and thus I was turned away as I didn’t have a reservation. I thought that a visit to this restaurant was not meant to be.
Fast forward to two weeks later in Osaka. While browsing on my netbook in our hostel wondering what to eat, I came upon Kuruma’s site again and found out they had a few locations in the Osaka area. Interestingly enough, I recognized the Kita-Shinchi branch in Umeda as we had walked down that very alleyway earlier in the day. I guess it was meant to be after all! We walked in around opening time and were able to snag a spot right at the bar overlooking the open kitchen and charcoal grill. A prime spot for what was to come.
Kuruma specializes in Miyazaki raised chicken named Miyazaki Jidokko (Jidori for short) from faraway Kyushu. It’s exclusivity comes from the way the chickens are raised according to anchient free-range traditional methods. According to Kuruma’s website, the Miyazaki Jidokko they source is raised for 180 days as opposed to the traditional 120 days resulting in outstanding flavor and taste. In essence, they are basically the Matsuzaka/Kobe beef of chicken. For all the detailed information of this special poultry, I highly suggest reading shokutsu’s post I linked up top earlier.
From the moment we stepped in, service was top-notch and possibly even the best I experienced during my whole trip. The female and male servers were dressed in very traditional and beautiful looking Yukata’s during our dinner which made the experience that much more interesting. Though they didn’t speak any English, my friend was able to communicate relatively easily with his fluent Japanese even though he had some problems understanding some explanation of the dishes. Funny enough, my friend could not decipher the menu because of his unfamiliarity with Japanese food terms. With my combined efforts of Japanese food knowledge and his ability to read most of the Kanji and Japanese, we ordered quite painlessly with some chuckles from the very patient server. Nonetheless, we were taken care of very well and never felt ignored despite our very obvious foreignness.
Just a small note on Kuruma. Regular chicken is available on the menu along with Miyazaki Jidokko. The premium for the latter is about $10 Canadian or so which for the quality, is worth the try in my opinion.
My heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out for all those affected by the major 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan. Please everyone, Pray for Japan during this hard time.
Donations can be made to the Red Cross Canada for disaster relief.
Suika Vancouver, BC
1626 W. Broadway
(604) 730-1678
It’s funny how word of mouth can really influence a restaurant in a city as large as Vancouver and just make you realize how small the community really is. I remember hearing about a new Japanese restaurant on Broadway from my sister many months back from a friend of hers. I dismissed it initially as I’ve grown accustomed to the almost monthly opening of new yet, mediocre Japanese eateries in Vancouver. Nonetheless, she continued on until she told me the name Suika. Wait…Suika as in Watermelon? Suika…as in those Japanese refillable subway cards with a penguin on the front? For some reason, this one harmless word seemed to bring forth my memories of Japan.
With the creative nature of restaurants nowadays, it doesn’t seem to far away to have a restaurant named after a fruit I suppose. As she went on, she noted that this was the sister restaurant of the very famous Kingyo restaurant located on Denman. At that moment, I knew I had to make a visit here eventually to cure my case of curiosity.
This chance came a few months later on a wet weekday night with two other friends. Suika is located close to the Future shop on West Broadway. It’s appearance is rather nonchalant if you weren’t looking for the restaurant itself, you might miss it.
Interestingly enough, the interior of the restaurant is the complete opposite. Everything from the chandelier made from sake and umeshuu bottles to the open kitchen concept makes this one of the trendier looking Izakaya’s in Vancouver. My only gripe would be the dim lighting in the restaurant which resulted in a few pictures turning out too dark.
Anyways, there’s a variety of two and four seaters in the restaurant along with some bar seating. An interesting thing to note is the quirkiness of the restaurant which gives it a strange sort of charm. I remember my friend returning from the washroom and mentioning how there was literally a Gundam watching him while he was inside. I knew what he meant when I actually realized there was a large picture of the life-sized Gundam on the wall. Strangely enough, it was the same one I saw in Odaida during my Summer trip to Japan.
When it came down to service, it was very good. Our drinks were refilled promptly and the servers, majority of them female, were very friendly. I also recognized one of the managers/senior staff from Kingyo running the front-end of the restaurant that night as well.
Daiwa Sushi (大和寿司)
Tokyo (Tsukiji-shijo), Japan
Tsukiji Market Part 6 Bldg. 5-2-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku
813-3479-5820
In one of my previous posts before, I visited the widely popular Sushi Dai. Unfortunately for me that day, I didn’t end up exploring more of Tsukiji market than I wished. Luckily, my friend Yuichi, who happen to be temporarily staying in Tokyo at the time rather than his hometown of Gunma, suggested a return visit to Tsukiji. After my excellent experience at Sushi Dai, I had no complaints on going to Tsukiji-shijo twice in the same week.
Guu Garden Vancouver (Downtown), BC
M101-888 Nelson Street
(604) 899-0855
My experience with the Guu chain started years ago with an introduction to their Guu with Garlic branch. Ever since then, I’ve been hooked. It seems like nowhere else can I get a excellent meal at a great price while in an happening atmosphere. What really surprises me the most is how they now have four Guu chains in Vancouver and one in Toronto; not only that but they all seem to be doing well respectively. Guu really must be Guu’d for it to expand so rapidly.
On this particular day, after a failed attempt at trying Yuji’s on West 4th due to an unexpected vacation, we made our way to Downtown with no real restaurant in mind.
After some small debate, we decided on trying the latest addition to the Guu family, Guu Garden. The real task came in finding the restaurant. The restaurant is actually hidden from plain-view among the many office buildings around the area so finding it might be an issue for some. Luckily, my sister faintly remembers the location of a second floor Japanese restaurant that use to occupy the space Guu Garden uses now so it wasn’t too hard finding it for us.
The restaurant is typical of an Izakaya with some bar seating overlooking the chefs and tables located to the left and right of the entrance way. However unlike Guu with Garlic or Kitanoya Guu, the open-air kitchen isn’t present in the background.
Service during the whole dinner was excellent and friendly. There was never an issue in flagging down a server during my entire visit there for either tea or an extra order. They seemed adequately staffed for the busy Sunday evening we were there.
Chibo (千房)
Osaka, Japan
1-5-5 Chuo-ku Dotonbori 5F
06-6212-2211
As you may or may not know, Tokyo and Osaka have had a grueling rivalry ever since the beginning of time. Armed with their down to earth nature and sense of humor, they have garnered a reputation for being the most laid-back people in Japan. They may be more friendly and funny, but Osakan people seem like the complete opposite of their so called cold Tokyo counterparts. In comparison, they see Tokyo people as being too business oriented and robotic. Osakan’s may stand on the other side of the escalator and may speak in a dialect that sounds playfully strange but mistake a Osakan person for a Tokyoite and you’ll be in for tongue-lashing.
These differences between attitudes and history have even brought forth different ideologies about food. Osaka takes pride in their food and through the coined phrase of Kuidaore; literally meaning to eat oneself bankrupt. It’s safe to say, this is an unavoidable task when in Osaka as it is as much as a foodie city as Tokyo is.
