Cheap, Tasty Japanese Fare at Gyoza King

Trying to find food on the way to the fireworks, there were a couple of options, but Gyoza King (don’t bother clicking the link unless you can read Japanese) won out because they had the shortest wait time.

Fine by me, I am a huge fan of Gyoza King and hadn’t been there in a while. Authentic Japanese with a seemingly strong stance against sushi (they have shirts and signs indicating that there is no sushi whatsoever to be found on the premises, although several of their dishes bear striking resemblance…), their specialty is obviously gyoza. There are 6 different kinds of gyoza - ranging from vegetarian to prawn - and even though some of the dishes we’d ordered after the gyoza showed up first, it was simple and delicious, with a solid wrapper covering piping hot, meaty filling.

I could eat gyoza for days. Cheap, tasty, filling and easy to eat…it’s no wonder that almost every country in the world has some form of dumpling.

And unlike that other staple of Japanese cuisine, the thick cuts of fresh sashimi, gyoza is easy and cheap to make. So predictably Gyoza King and several other eateries on this stretch of Robson are filled with ESL students from Asia attending classes nearby. They can usually be found giggling and slurping noodles at the bar or in the raised section of the restaurant where you need to remove your shoes.

Tourists and other sullen adults tend to gravitate to the other side of the room, but the youthful atmosphere permeates. Servers are usually smiling (altho sometimes they seem frazzled, despite the restaurant’s small size) and small bits of pop culture add to the decor, such as a toy Yoda ready to hurl mints from the candy dish.

It’s fun and - although we had to wait 20 minutes to get a table on fireworks night - fast, but the food doesn’t disappoint. Their menu is divided into various sections, alongside a hefty specials page, and we chose the Saba Miso (mackerel in a tangy miso sauce), Scallop hotate with Mushrooms, and Albacore tuna marinated in vinegar and served sliced thin over white rice to accompany our beer and gyoza.

The Saba Miso was perfectly tangy and flavourful and the fish so well done that it broke off with the tip of a chopstick. I tried to savour it while scooping up mouthfuls, but alas, it was gone far too quickly. The subtle taste of the scallop and mushroom dish faded a bit between the stronger fish dishes, but there were no complaints.

Did I mention it was cheap? We were full and happily sated for $40, food and beer combined.

I tend to think of cosy little Japanese eateries like this one as more for winter. Curled up in a corner with a bowl of noodles and perhaps a book and some never-ending gyoza sounds idyllic to me, but now that I’ve sampled the summer fare, I’m pretty sure I’ll be back before the seasons change.

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Gyoza King

1508 Robson Street, Vancouver

Honjin Sushi Knows About Fresh Fish

I am often complaining that there is no good sushi in Yaletown and I’m not sure why. There is Bistro Sakana, which is pretty good (although I feel guilty ordering something other than the healthy lunch) and the rest of the places scattered around are grab-and-go quick fixes. Except that there is also Honjin Sushi, tucked away behind the Roundhouse Community Centre. I’m not sure how I manage to forget about Honjin so often. Yes, it’s out of sight of my office, but this is some seriously good sushi.

The focus at Honjin is about freshness. The house roll is a favorite, with and salmon, tuna and avocado topped with tobiko and I always get a chopped scallop cone. In any of them, the fish is always tasty and the flavours of the seafood balance well with salty seafood and toasted seeds. Generous helpings of wasabi help out on the side.

The rolls are quite an ample size, but you can see from the photo above that the contents are a bit lacking in the chopped scallop cone. Even if they had filled the cone up with rice it would have made a better impression than this bit of orange and green peeking out from the wrapping.

The decor is typically Japanese, but on a bright, sunny day the patio is a great place to be. They also have a decent amount of space, so even though it’s a busy lunchtime spot, you have a good chance of getting in.

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Honjin Sushi

138 Davie Street, Vancouver

H-Mart Asian Food Court

You know when you’re grocery shopping and you start getting super hungry? You wish there was a way you could sit down in the deli section and have a snack. Most grocery stores do offer that service, actually, along with the bland, over-buttered and soggy pre-made sandwiches that will alleviate hunger but not satiate. Not so at the Hmart chain of Asian supermarkets. Spread throughout North America, this Korean grocery store also has a built in food court, which, at the Robson Street location, comprises a Korean/Chinese noodle bar, Wang Ga Ma, as well as the Matoi Sushi stand.

At Wang Ga Ma I had the Spicy Beef soup (although I was very intrigued by what the Rice with Fish Raws would be). It was deliciously flavourful, with an intense, fiery broth, accompanied by a side of fiery kimchi. Even being spicier than expected and somewhat messy, it hit the spot and at $7.50 is a lot better than soggy sandwiches for lunch.

After placing your order, you hand out and wait for your number to come up on the flashing LCD screen. Then you pick up your food (which comes on plastic trays but in real stainless steel or ceramic bowls) and take it back to the main eating area, a bright, light-filled section of the store looking down on Robson Street from the second floor.

Returning to try out Matoi, I chose a spider roll, a chopped scallop cone and 2 pieces of Hamachi from Japan, all of which were excellent and tasty, but checking out the blogosphere, it seems I’m going to have to go back and check out some other dishes as well.

Service was sadly not awesome at Matoi and it was not do to a noon rush. At 2:30 in the afternoon, I watched patiently, then started drooling on the Plexiglas divider as the sushi chef prepared piece after piece and gave them to other people. To be fair, it seemed as though they had got a couple of big orders and he was going as fast as he could, but I was also starving. Next time I’ll try checking it out a bit before lunch and maybe pick up some Korean snacks from the market beforehand…just in case.

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Hmart

550 Robson Street, 2nd floor

Sushi is Healthy at Bistro Sakana

When my friend first mentioned that Bistro Sakana had a Healthy Sushi lunch special, my first thoughts were that I was in some serious trouble, because here I’ve been going happily along thinking that sushi was healthy and now I was about to be proven wrong. Thankfully that is not the case. The Health Guidance website lists many health benefits of sushi and it turns out that Bistro Sakana has simply come up with a way to make it even more healthy. That’s Yaletown for you.

But following hot on the heels of a large poutine, I will happily take all the extra healthy choices I can find. The Healthy Lunch Special comes with a green salad with tangy citrus dressing and soba noodles, miso soup, a side of Agedashi tofu in broth with daikon shredded daikon on top, your choice of a California or Avocado roll made with brown rice, a side of white rice and of course tea. Because we are rebels and leery of being too healthy, I had a chopped scallop cone and Tricia had a mango roll as well Actually, I had a chopped scallop roll, which was not what I wanted, but that was really the only complaint.

We’ve had the healthy lunch a couple of times now and it’s a good option if you’re feeling like something light and good for you. The tastes in the various dishes are complementary in the extreme, so you get a little bit of salt in the miso and tofu, a bit of tang in the salad dressing and then the hearty, earthy taste of brown rice, etc. I wouldn’t the healthy lunch special if you’re extremely hungry - although the number and variety of dishes does seem to satisfy…something in the place of a hearty meal - but you can always order something extra off the regular menu as well and failing that, they have an excellent sushi and hot menu. I keep meaning to go back and try some of my old favorites, then end up defaulting back to the special. What I like about is that it’s almost ridiculously healthy, the kind of food that you feel good eating, but it also has the bonus of tasting good as well.

The place is pretty tiny and fills up fast at lunch, so go early or be prepared to wait. There is also a small patio that should be open as soon as the weather is warmer, but we all know by now that sitting in the sun just isn’t good for you. Not even the healthy lunch can help you with that.

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Bistro Sakana

1123 Mainland Street, Vancouver