Originally, we tried to hit up Guu Kobachi after Friday night hockey, but the lineup was far too long for us to wait (we were hungry!). Hence, we went across the street for some Peking Duck at Chengdu instead. Undeterred, when Miss Y wanted to go for an early dinner, we went right at opening in hopes of snagging a seat. Well of course we did, since who eats at an Izakaya at 5:30pm on a weekday? Us two dorks apparently...
Since Miss Y lived in Japan for awhile, she was conditioned to order drinks to go with her food. In fact, going to an Izakaya for dinner and possibly ordering drinks is a purely local phenomenon as it is the other way around in Japan. I digress. So to go with our booze, we started with 2 each of the 4 featured Oysters. Starting from top left and clockwise, we had the Royal Miyagi, Light House, Golden Mantle and Gabi. Then we moved onto my favourite Izakaya offering being the Ebi Mayo. These were slightly different being wrapped with shredded potato. The result was a pretty crunchy exterior giving way to a somewhat doughy and greasy layer underneath. The ebi was cooked nicely having a snap. The accompanying mayo had a slight spice to it.
Moving along, we had another classic being the Chikuwa Cheese which consisted of fish cake tubes filled with cheese and deep-fried. These were pretty good with a softly textured fish cake which retained a slight chew. The cheese filling (possibly mozzarella) was mild and stringy while the exterior was coated with a crispy tempura. Interestingly, our order of Salmon Yuuke did not come with any eating vessels (such as shrimp chips). Hence it mostly depended on the cucumber and mountain yam for texture. The mixture of soft, sweet salmon and quail's egg was accented by a sweet and spicy sauce. We liked it, but again, would've preferred it to be served with an edible vessel.
Onto 2 more substantial items, we had the Mochi Gratin consisting of sticky rice cake, mushroom and cheese in a clam chowder sauce. The result was a really rich and heavy dish that could've used a starch of some sort. It was super cheesy with chewy bits of soft mochi and mushroom. Not sure about the clam chowder sauce as we really didn't get much clam flavour. Lastly, we had the Yakiudon with beef. The dish featured chewy udon noodles with tender beef and bits of mushroom. With a good amount of pepper, the noodles were not bland. Based on the food we tried on this visit, it appears that Guu Kobachi is a worthy addition to the Guu family. Same decent eats for the same decent prices.
The Good:
- Predictably good
- Okay pricing
- Attentive service
The Bad:
- Place is tiny
- It's dark, much like most Izakayas
Guu Kobachi
Posted by
Sherman Chan
on Friday, July 26, 2013
Labels:
Downtown Vancouver,
Izakaya,
Japanese,
Late Night
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