Gyu King Teppanyaki - 755 Burrard Street

Urgh - Gator has been swarmed and so have not been updating my blog for 2 entire months. I feel so bad because I have an entire backlog of pictures to upload and so many stories to share.

Sometime ago, I purchased a Groupon from Guy King Teppanyaki. It cost CAN$59 and includes a 10 course set meal for two. I thought it was worthwhile to give it a try, given that the original price was over CAN$100 (that was what was stated in the Groupon). I think I bought the Groupon in October last year and only redeemed it in January this year.

For a start, we had some drinks. My dinner companion was intrigued with the Singapore Sling and ordered it to try. To be honest, I never liked the Singapore Sling, even though it is one of the icons in Singapore at the Raffles Hotel, Long Bar. The original Singapore Sling cost about SIN$30 (CAN$24) a glass and to me, it tasted a bit like cough mixture, with alcohol.  Gyu King's version is fortunately cheaper and the mixture was definitely lighter than the original - still not my favorite. See the original Singapore sling in its glory. http://www.travelfish.org/blogs/singapore/2011/09/01/a-singapore-sling-at-raffles/

The Singapore Sling - half drunk - I have to admit that it didn't taste that bad compared to the original - it came with a little umbrella (I think)

I chose a fruit cocktail (lime & non alcoholic) - it was so refreshing.

My lime cocktail - I like it

My frothy and foaming lime drink

The first dish was the salad, followed by a lobster miso soup. I thought the soup was quite tasty.

Green salad - rather refreshing. I like that it had a hint of some soya sauce and mayo. 

Its almost impossible to extract the meat from the lobster - there was not much meat anyway .

Next, came the Atlantic lobster and the prawns. I am a big fan of seafood so I enjoyed these two dishes very much.

Mmm - Gator loves lobster.

Took some time to extract the lobster from the shell. The prawns were yummy!

A close-up of the lobster. Goes straight into Gator's mouth and tummy

Dipping my lobster into the sauce

Gyu King provides three different types of dipping sauces

An array of sauces - soya sauce (extreme left), garlic and soya sauce (middle), followed by the chill sauce dip (extreme right). 

This is one of my favorite pictures in my meal - the prawn looks as if it is waving to me. Hehe!

This is another of my favourite dishes - thinly sliced beef with green onions, garlic and mushrooms

The thinly sliced beef (usuyaki) 

The beef was succulent and I must say that the garlic added a kick to this dish!

The beef tenderloin was quite a delight as well - Gator requested for the beef to be done medium - quite a success, I think

A generous serving of beef tenderloin

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the fois gras which came wrapped inside a flat bread. It was pure fat and carbohydrates - yummy!

After so much protein, it was a relief to have some fiber - mixed fried vegetables.

Some vegetables to balance all the protein

By this point, I was absolutely stuffed - but there was still fried rice. I tasted a little bit - was not too impressed. Fried rice is best done with overnight rice - this version was a bit too wet.

Beef fried rice

A word of caution - if you are looking for fancy hand work for teppanyaki, there is not much  to rave about

Then, came the finale - a choice between mango or green tea ice-cream

I was really, really stuffed at the end of the meal. Then came the bill - they automatically put a 15% tip on top of the bill and when we paid using our credit card, the machine again asked us whether we wanted to include a tip. Now, that was not too classy. I totally understand if this is part and parcel of the settings in the credit card, but it will be totally helpful if the server can inform us that the tip has already been included in the bill. Maybe - Gator was being picky but what if you were not paying attention and immediately added on more tip on your credit card? My dining companion was also kinda peeved - thanks for paying for the tip and drinks :)

Deco: Functional. I like the waiting area before you proceed for your teppanyaki
Quality of food: 4/5 - it was not bad actually. I had had some fancy teppanyaki years ago in Asia but I am not complaining about the quality of the beef and seafood etc.
Value for $$: There is no way that I am going to spend over $100 bucks for this teppayaki but the Groupon was a good deal. Still, my dining experience was marred by the tip/credit card at the end. If you are expecting some fancy display of knives etc, you wouldn't see much of it. The modus operadi is to serve a bunch of customers (maybe 6 of you) at the same time. Efficiency is the name of the game here.
Overall Experience: 3/5 - I was thinking that I would grade this place with a higher score, since there was variety etc. But, there were a couple of things that irked me. For example, they never offered us a place to hang our coats - I later found that they had a closet where you can hang your coats. Gator hates the smell of food getting into my coat etc which kinda explained why I am not too thrilled with BBQ food or teppanyaki - you kinda smell like cooked food after exiting the restaurant. Its worth a try only if you have the Groupon.

Tenhachi Japanese Restaurant - 1125 West 12th Avenue

Sorry for being incommunicado on this blog. Been swarmed with a multitude of things. Hungry Gator is now back in action and promises more exciting news! Gator has been eating in a lot lately except for some interesting episodes. Should take pictures of home cooked food. But usually too busy and hungry (hehehe).

Tenhachi is a quaint little Japanese restaurant located at a lobby of a service apartment and/or hotel. They served home cooked food and it came highly recommended from a Japanese friend. As Gator was there to celebrate an occasion, we decided to go there for a splurge. Verdict: It was worth the experience. Gator was fortunate that the meal was a treat - otherwise, I will be eating instant noodles for a number of days :)

We ordered two sets - Una Don and Katsu Don. My dinner companion thought that the Katsu Don was good but was not the best. I personally liked my una don set - the eel was done very well. And both of us enjoyed the miso soup - it was rich, flavourful, had choke-ful of vegetable and and not the standard salty miso paste.

I thought my eel was done beautifully

I really like the egg - goes very well with the breaded pork and rice

A close-up shot of the breaded pork

This ought to be one of my the best miso soup I had.

We also ordered tempura as an appetiser. There was a little signage on the table stating that food is cooked using Oil Guard which contains less saturated fat and makes food crisper. We asked the waitress about details of the Oil Guard and she proceeded to ask the kitchen staff. She came back and asked us to check the website for further details because they bought the oil directly from the supplier. That was interesting - we thought that they would have done some research on this beforehand.

Nevertheless, we had our tempura. I would not say that it was the best but it was pretty good.

Our prawn tempura platter

Catching prawns by the tail :)

Trying out this photo app

We concluded our meal with sesame ice-cream. Gator loves it - Yum Yum!

Our sesame ice-cream with sesame powder. Beautiful!

My black seasame ice-cream: one of the best that I had

The deco of the place was really quite interesting - a bit retro and somehow stuck in the time zone of the 1970s. I love it though - it added a more interesting atmosphere to our dining experience.

Our dining area

Overall Experience:

Deco: 4/5 - very quaint. Gator likes it :)
Quality of food: 4/5 - Me thinks its pretty good
Value for $$: $$/5 - its pretty pricey. The dinner came up to be around 60 bucks including tips. I later found out that they have an early bird special (20%) from Tuesdays to Sundays between 5-6:30pm. Urgh - should have gone there earlier. See http://www.facebook.com/pages/%E5%A4%A9%E5%85%AB-Tenhachi-Japanese-Restaurant/161346733905275
Overall Experience: 4/5 - I had a lovely time; service was excellent. We left our car keys and our server came out looking for us.

Hime Sushi - West 10th Avenue & Sasamat

Hime Sushi is an unassuming Japanese resturant along the Sasamat area. But the quality of sushi and food is fantastic. Service is also very prompt and efficient. I have been there a couple of times since it is near campus. Happy to share with my readers my recent food escapade at Hime.

One of the best selling points about Hime is the quality of its sashimi. Its fresh and extremely refreshing. It always cries out to me "Order more". This time, moderation is the key to enjoyment. Not to mention I need to be careful with my pocket :) So, ordered an appertiser sashimi. The cut of the sashimi is noticely smaller but for the price, I am not complaining. Also the quality of the cut is comparable to the regular sized sashimi. Verdict - fresh, light and satisfying. Frankly, I could eat the entire appertiseer by myself :)

Nicely sliced pieces of sashimi. I want MORE (hehehe)

Next came the fried stuff - tempura and the soft shell crab. I like the quality of tempura at Hime. Its crispy and yet does not leave me with a greasy and heavy afterfill. But my favourite is the soft shell crab. Its not only crispy but there is sufficient meat and even some eggs inside. The soft shell crab went very well with the tangy mayo - a big thumbs up for me.

Catching seafood by its tail

Beautiful array of soft shell crab - somehow I think they were trying to display it like a "live" crab.

Finally, came the delightful array of one of their sushi's specials. Generally, the price of the sushi here is more expensive than some of the other sushi joints around the area. But its worth a splurge once in a while because the quality of the sushi is simply divine. I generally prefer eating the more traditional type of sushi in this resturant compared to their other types of fancy rolls. Again, the freshness of the seafood is a strong selling point in this restaurant. I highly recommend it.

A beautiful array of succulent, fresh sushi.

I love my salmon sushi.

Overall Experience: 
Deco: 3.5/5 - fairly simple but clean and comfortable. Can be a tight squeeze at times and you sometimes have to wait for a table, particularly on Saturday nights. Best to make a reservation if you have a large group.
Quality of food: 4/5 - I am generally happy with the quality of the  seafood and the fried stuff here. The bento lunch set (which includes terriyaki etc)  is a good value for money but I personally feel its not their strongest selling point - which is their combo sushis and sashimi.
Value for $$: $$$/5. Its not exactly the most economical place but its worth saving for. Ordering ala carte can be expensive at times (depending on what you order) and may set you back $20 per person.
Overall Experience: 4/5 - I love this place. And I do get cravings for their soft shell crab and seafood motoyaki.

Hitoe Sushi - A Third Place and a Home Away From Home

Hitoe Sushi is tucked at a little corner at West 4th Avenue. It is a unpretentious family run restaurant with good and solid Japanese sushi. The ultimate litmus test for any sushi place is to order the California roll - the ingredients were fresh and the sushi was pretty firm. The sashimi were simply divine - I highly recommend it. I think the price was pretty reasonable - around CAN$13-$18 (before tax). Of course, you can always get cheap, on-the-go sushi elsewhere but for this quality, you get a pretty decent deal.

One downside - the menu is mainly sushi and sashimi. Not much selection of cooked items such as yakitori and my favorite tempura - As you can tell, I am a BIG fan of fried and crispy food!



Can't remember what set was ordered. The California roll was good - firm and not too soggy.



I remembered liking the salad dressing.



The presentation of the boxed set was elegant.

The proprietors of the shop were a couple - very friendly. Noticed that they had a lot of take-out orders from residents and people working around the area. The lady boss was a good host - she constantly refilled your tea and you never really had to ask her for more tea.

Why third place? Ray Oldenburg said that third places are an informal social gathering places for local communities. Hitoe is definitely a third place - I saw families ordering take-out and the lady proprietor chatted with them and gave candy to little kids. There is an air of ease and familiarity between customers and the proprietors. I can imagine the little kids will grow up to be teenagers and young adults and will still come back to Hitoe. The lady proprietor even displayed a little plasticine model of little sushi and other Japanese food delights done by her daughter.

Overall Experience:
Deco: 3.5/5 . Its a family run restaurant, so not much of a wow factor. But I give them high marks for great presentation and their lovely little tea set. They tried to create a homely environment.
Quality of food: 5/5
Price of food: 4/5
Overall experience: 5/5. I love this place!! I wanna try their version of fresh crab California roll the next time