Vancouver: The Original Guu on Thurlow

Last time I came to Vancouver, I didn't get to check out any of the Guu family of restaurants, so this time, made sure that was a stop.

There's several Guu in Vancouver, but each location is somewhat unique.  We decided to go to the original, an izakaya, and where it all started.  Why izakaya?  There's plenty in LA!  Well, I like visiting izakayas in different cities if I can because izakayas are generally much more casual, menu reflects local ingredients, menu changes often, and it's just a good way to relax with friends after traveling.  Beer + food!

Guu

838 Thurlow Street 

West End, Downtown

Vancouver, BC V6E 1W2 

guu-izakaya.com

Outside.  Of course, being an izakaya, it's not a big place and it was packed!  It's located near a popular street (Robson) so it is located at a good spot in terms of location.  Ended up waiting over an hour since we had a large group (Alice's friends).

Open style kitchen.  Place wasn't that big so we were separated into two tables.

Menu.  Ordered half the menu for three haha.

Specials that night.  Ordered a good amount from this menu too haha.

Of course, gotta get beer at an izakaya.

First up, Kabocha Croquette!  Sorta like a Japanese version of the Scottish Egg.

Mashed pumpkin squash with boiled egg croquette.

Kakuni.  One of the softest and tastiest pork belly I've ever had.  Sorry for the bad picture but I was really excited when this came hahah.  Who can resist that shiny looking pork belly.

Salmon Yukke.  Yukke means tartar but it is pretty much a soy marinated poke.  British Columbia salmon!  They also give you a quail egg on the side to mix it in for that tartar element.

Salmon on the shrimp cracker.

One of the specials, Gyoza Eggrolls.  Instead of stuffing gyoza fillings into dumpling skins, they used egg roll skins.

Tastes just like gyoza, except muuuuch crunchier.

Takoyaki.  Octopus ball.

Karubi.  Japanese version of the Korean kalbi.  On the sweeter side.

Grilled Smoked Salmon Neck from the special menu.  Fish collar is one of my favorite part of the fish.  A bit tough from the smoking but it is packed with flavor.

Gyu Tan.  Grilled beef tongue.  I'm... still not a fan haha.

Kaarage!  Fried chicken!

Tontoro.  Grilled pork jowl.  Don't know where they get their pork but it's awesome.

Love the texture of this cut of pork.  Fatty but with some tendon for that bite.

Shrimp Wonton Dan Dan Noodles.  It was sorta funny cause when we ordered it, the waitress was like "Very spicy!!" and kept on insisting that only order if we can eat spicy foods.  Calvin, Alice, and I ate it like it is nothing haha.  The peanut sauce part of it probably lessened the spiciness.  A few of the other staff stopped by and asked if it was spicy too.  Pretty legit for Japanese dan dan noodles!

The shrimp wontons.  There's even some preserved mustard green!  Impressed.

Was it worth the long wait?  Yes.  I get why Vancouver loves Guu.  It's a izakaya with tasty food, and the atmosphere is exactly how an izakaya should be: loud, busy, and a little smoky!  Next time, Guu Garlic for sure!

Torrance: Fried food feasting at Kushiage Dining Horon

Found a little gem in Torrance!

Kushiage Dining Horon is a restaurant that Calvin and I have wanted to try for the longest time because it is a restaurant that specializes in fried food!  More specifically, fried skewers.  Kushiage is like yakitori, except that it is all fried instead of grilled.  The great thing is that most skewers here are only $1, so we just marked off whatever we wanted.  Not the healthiest thing but meh, feasting time!


Kushiage Dining Horon
2143 W 182nd St
Torrance, CA 90504
dininghoron.com

Izakaya menu.  We ordered a few things off this menu too.

Of course, beer + fried food is one of the best combo ever.  In this case, Asahi and fried skewers!  Also, from this picture you can sorta tell that it is a small restaurant.  We sat at the end of the restaurant.

Sunomono.  Cabbage not cured for that long, so it's quite crunchy and refreshing!

First item that arrived was the Tokotsu Ramen.  Very thick, rich, flavorful, oily ramen broth.  Chasu is very good too!  They also use straight noodles, but I do prefer chijire men more because the wavy noodles allows the broth to stick on easier.  Seems like during lunch, the place is a ramen bar.  Need to come here.

Two types of sauce: honey mustard and worcestershire-based.  The worcestershire-based sauce is pretty much a lighter version of tonkatsu sauce.

Different types of salt to try with the kushiage: curry salt, saffron salt, and Himalayan pink salt.  I used the pink salt much more versus the others.

Skewers arrive!  Scallops, salmon, quail.

Scallop with herb butter.  Fresh scallop fried with butter!

Salmon with salmon roe.  Thin piece of salmon.  Too bad I got a piece without much roe :P

A look inside at the soy-marinated quail eggs.  I love quail eggs so I liked this a lot.  Couldn't really taste the marinade though.  Very good with the honey mustard sauce.

Before the rest of our skewers arrived, our Sizzling Pork Jowl came!  Pork jowl is actually a really delicious cut of pork since there's tendon throughout the jowl so it gives it a nice bite, but tender at the same time.  The soy dressing was really good and filled the whole restaurant with the smell.

Sausages, pork belly, chicken meatball.

Black pork sausages.  A bit salty, but you get a great pop when you bite into the sausage!

Pork belly with Welsh onions.  Super soft pork belly!

Usually in yakitori places, chicken meatballs are grilled and comes in all sort of shapes and sizes.  Here, it is in a corn dog shape, then fried.

Inside.  Awesome with all sauces and salt.

More fried goodness!

Curry-filled bread and fried mochi with cheese.  The curry bread is essentially a small piece of toast, folded in half with some curry.

Cheeeeese!

Fron to back: chicken meatball stuffed shiitake mushroom, enoki mushrooms bacon wrap, garlic trio, and eggplant with miso.  Didn't try the eggplant since I don't like eggplant... but...

...  enoki mushrooms bacon wrap was awesome.  Bacon-wrapped anything is good, let alone fried haha.  On top of the shiitake mushroom, is a piece of the garlic trio.  Pretty much just fried garlic.  I liked it since I like garlic but it might be a little too boring for some.

Japanese Spring Rolls, with snapper, pickled radish & carrots, Japanese yam, and cabbage.  Forgot what the sauce was... but this was the most forgettable dish though :P 

So after the spring rolls, we wanted more, and instead of ordering from the $1 section, we decided to splurge a bit.  Some of these are around $2.50 per skewer.

Alice's soft shell crab with tartar sauce.  Sorry for the blurry pic.  I didn't take that good of a picture cause I was too excited to eat what I ordered haha.

Calvin's giant shrimp.

He gave me the shrimp head.  Yummy brains.

Soy marinated tuna.  Tuna is still best raw or rare.  It was a bit tough after it was fried.  The marinade was really tasty though.

My creamy crab croquette.  Could be without the mayo sauce on the top.

Ended our meal with some shishito peppers with ponzu sauce.  I like how they add bonito flakes.

Even though it was $1 for most of the skewers, we ended up spending $30 each... Quite expensive but it was a great experience and we had a lot of fun trying out all the different items!  Probably will have to be awhile before I come back.  My heart is probably hating me right now.