Dai Jang Kum

It's pretty tough to find a decent Korean restaurant in Richmond with the exception of  maybe Seoul Express in the Yaohan Food Court, but other than that, I haven't had much luck outside of Downtown Vancouver or Coquitlam.  Dai Jan Kum is Richmond's other exceptions.With the whole authenticity aside (last time I checked, it was authentic), the food and service here is pretty good.

The meats and veg were all very fresh, and as far as raw stuff is concerned, Dai Jang Kum even gets a couple of points for presentation.  Where most other places serve the raw stuff in a plate that pools the dripping, defrosted blood (not that that sort of thing reall bothers me), this place keeps everything pretty neat and clean.

The noodles weren't drowned in grease like at some of the other places.

The seafood pancake was pretty good overall, chock-full of stuff, and very little filler.

I've only been to Dai Jun Kum once, and as I'm writing this, I am wondering to myself why that is.  The service was friendly and quick, the prices weren't horrendous, the food tasted great , the restaurant was pretty clean overall, and there's plenty of parking....what the hell?  I think I should go this weekend. 

Aki Japanese Restaurant

Aki is a hidden away little gem in the core of downtown.  When I say hidden, I mean it's a bit hard to find because it's downstairs and out of sight.  If you know where Samba's is, you can find this place.

Kaki-ponzu, one of my favourite ways to have raw oysters.

An assortment of some of my favourite sushi - Unagi, Ikura, Toro, Uni, and Saba.

Their robata is pretty good, the chefs have the look - very serious, not distracted and concentrating on their trade.  Aki is one of the few places that has Tori Kawa - or chicken skin....pure bliss.

The tempura is not bad, it's not their speciaty, but not bad.  I'd say if you're going to go to Aki, definitely sample the sushi and the robata, which I consider their specialty.

Aki has some great food, and if your all into that whole authenticity thing, you have that as well.  Except for the fact that they have Robata, Sushi and Tempura all in the same shop, it's pretty authentic (most good places in Japan will specialize in one, and seldom have anything else).  The clientele is mostly Japanese (although you won't see the younger izakaya-type crowd here - mostly salary men, and some families.  Most of the servers, and chefs are Japanese.  It does get pretty busy at times though, so wait times can be a bit long, but I'd say it's worth the wait times.  Price-wise, I'd say it may be on par with or slightly cheaper than Yuji's or Octopus Garden, but not absurdly overpriced like Tojo's.

I'd go more often, but it's in Downtown, and parking is a nightmare in that area. 

Cactus Club - Broadway (Ash)

 I think it was someone's birthday that prompted us to go for lunch at Cactus Club on Broadway.  I've been there a few times in the evening and it's a pretty different atmosphere.  During lunch, the place is as sedate as White Spot.

Yam fries is starting to get pretty standard nowadays.

......but once in a while, you'll have somone craving the standard spud-fries.

Cactus Club's famous Jack Daniel's ribs.  They're pretty good, I have to admit, but I like my own better.  The flavour and seasoning and awesome as usual, but the meat itself isn't quite as tender as when I prepare ribs...I guess some people like it that way.  I head that they're prepared at some central location and the individual locations get them pre-bagged.  All they have to do is open the packet and throw it on the grill.

The service at the Broadway CC is pretty good, and as I said, I've been there at night when the mood is a bit more lively.  Not a place to grab a bite to eat.

Kibune Sushi - Kitsilano

There's a little Japanese restaurant (yes, it's "authentic") tucked away in a corner of the Kitsilano area called Kibune Sushi.  We ended up there one night after a club meeting because I was moaning about how I couldn't afford to go to Octopus Garden anymore and my sensei wanted something a bit stronger than green tea.  We stopped by Happa that night and it was packed, but found that Kibune Sushi was not.  There were clients in there, but it was a totally different atmosphere and most of the customers looked like regulars.

I ordered a smaller chirashi don (not the fancy one), my personal guage for a sushi restaurant's quality.  There wasn't anything outstanding in the type of ingredients (shiso was a nice touch, as always), but the grade of fish used was was notable.  Definitely top notch and the rice was perfect.  The temperature was perfect, the ratio of rice/sushi vinigar, the texture.....sometimes you can really tell the quality of a sushi restaurant based on the rice.  This place knows it's stuff (not that I do). 

I'm hardly ever in the Kitsilano area, but the next time I go there, I definitely want to go back to Kibune and try some other stuff. 

Sweetheart Cafe Burger and Sushi - New Westminster

It's really easy to prejudge this place place because of the name, but don't be fooled, this place actually has one of the best tasting burgers I've ever had.  It's a mom-and-pop-type run place, run by a Korean family I believe, and they know their beef.

I was in New Westminster for a car show a while ago, and I was looking around for a place to grab a bite to eat.  I don't know about other stuff on their menu, but their burger is A one.  Koreans are famous for their BBQ, especially when it comes to beef products.  And I could tell that the beef pattie received some of this treatment because the taste was out of this world compared to burgers at other places.  Maybe my expectations were low to begin with, maybe I was just really hungry, but at the time, I decided to myself that this was the best burger I had ever had.  One of these days, I'll have to revisit the place, just to make sure my memory isn't making stuff up.

Happa - Kitsilano

Happa Izakaya - oh, memories.  Years ago, when Justin first opened Happa on Robson, my pals and I would report there like good patrons should, every weekend and drop about $500.  I swear, that between the 5 of us, we financed the opening of subsequent Happa locations, and put Justin's children through university.

It was my pal Jeremy's birthday, and our iaido class, including sensei, celebrated his 20th (?) at Happa Izakaya in Kitsilano.

Their famous saba, seared on the spot with a portable torch.

Jeremy and Inoue Sensei.....Jeremy has a thing against prawns.

Justin, owner of Happa, is a brilliant business man and he opened Happa when izakayas were still a rarety in Vancouver.  Now they're all over the place, but at the time, there were maybe three or four?  Happa had a line up every night, the service was great, the management (Justin) even better.  He was always at the front line, greeting customers, and making everyone feel at home.  He wasn't at the Kitsilano location the night we went, but he has been known to be at various locations.  Regardless, the place was well run, the food was great as well as the service.  Definitely check this place out.

Octopus Garden

One of the places my Iaido sensei - Inoue Hironori likes to go is Octopus Garden.  Actually, let's go back in time a few years.  Before he was my Iaido sensei, he was just "Hiro", one of the founding members of the Vancouver Japanese Sword Appreciation Club.  I met him over 10 years ago when I first joined the club, and Octopus Garden was a regular place to go after our monthly meetings.  I would not join them because at the time, I was a starving college student and didn't even drive at the time.  After enrolling in his iaido class about four years ago, we'd go to Octopus Garden for special occassions such as birthdays and farewells.  It got a bit expensive for most people and after a while our visits sort of dropped off.

The VJSAC fell apart sometime last year, and my last visit to Octopus Garden was after one of those events. 

Me and Ritchard T., from class, tagging along with the grown-ups.

Daniel (left), a sword polisher from Japan (centre), and Inoue Sensei (right).

Complimentary tako salad.

Edamame, the usual compliment to beer and sake.

Agedashi tufu, another common dish in most local Japanese restaurants.

Some sort of fusion something or other.

.

Some good old, regular assorted nigiri sushi.

A deep fried roll...starting to be a trend here in Vancouver.
Natto...yech.

Dragon/catapillar roll....

The food is pretty damn good at Octopus Garden.  It's authentic in the way that the ownership, the prep and staff are all Japanese, but the food itself has a foot in the door for fusion.  For example, the first time I EVER had foie gras was at Octopus Garden...Foie Gras Nigiri Sushi.  I fell in love with foie gras that night, and added it to my list of must have's for my last meal on earth, ethics be damned.  The service is pretty friendly as well, and the food arrives quickly (when it's not busy). 

One thing I'd like to add is that I saw my favourite sake here - Koshi no Kanbai....the only problem was it was selling at $300 for the 1.8 litre bottle....for the price of 4 bottles, I could fly back to Japan and bring back 4 of my own.  Sadly, Ocotpus Garden is overall a little bit too pricy for me at the moment and I can't afford to go there as often as I'd like.