Ichiban-ya

Was thinking of going to Guu two blocks down Thurlow St., but the wait was approximately 40 minutes and people were hungry!

So we stumbled down the street and my friend suggested this place which has a rather interesting "hole-in-the-street" entrance. The restaurant is underground. Nowadays, I do not really care what I eat so I did not mind trying new restaurants.


Inside, we were greeted by the enthusiastic manager in a multitude of languages including Korean and Japanese, my friends and I thought this was quite funny.


I don't know why, but I've been having a sashimi craving these days, so I decided to get something I don't usually get: Salmon and Tuna Sashimi $11.95 and a Chopped Scallop Roll $4.95. I felt these prices were okay because the place looked pretty run down, but it felt comfortable.

I ended up liking both items that I ordered. The sashimi was fresh in my opinion. I know that some people don't like the sashimi were it feels like it's just taken out of the freezer, but honestly I could not tell, and I love when sashimi is ice cold.


The chopped scallop roll was the standard fare, nothing special, nothing bad.


Something to note, when paying the bill, they charged me extra $2 for "wild salmon" when I did not ask for it at all. Thankfully they returned the money after I asked about it, otherwise I would have gotten extremely annoyed.


Overall: Decent restaurant.

Tokyo John

Our party decided to eat somewhere on Cambie Street after visiting the Christmas lights display up at Queen Elizabeth Park (http://vancouver.ca/parks/parks/bloedel/). I wanted to try the new NOA Pan-Asian restaurant, but my friends wanted sushi. So I went along with them...

We ended up at a new restaurant for all of us.

I read some reviews on Urbanspoon.com that the service was bad, I did not encounter this, I felt they were quite acceptable (filled up tea, prompt, polite) for this type of restaurant.

I was quite hungry after the long walk, so decided to go with the Deluxe Bento Box $17.95. It is a little bit pricey in my opinion versus other restaurants, so I was really hoping it would not suck!

The bento box arrived and the presentation was quite nice. All the food items were neatly placed in the tray and the miso soup came separately. 


I really enjoyed the Salmon and Tuna Sashimi, I actually like it better when it's freezing cold. The chicken teriyaki, tempura, California rolls, Dynamite rolls were the standard fare as at other restaurants so not much comment, decent food.

Overall: I would not mind returning and trying some of their 10th anniversary special rolls.

La Brasserie Street

Was headed to Richmond in the morning to meet up with some friends. On my way, I travel by Vancouver City Centre Canada Line Station; I remembered seeing an interesting street vendor a few days ago, so I wanted to try them today. I got there around 11, and had to wait a few minutes for them to be ready for customers.

It was easy picking what to eat at this food stall, they only serve one item of food, the Brass Chicken Sandwich $6.25 (Beer brined rotisserie chicken in gravy, on a buttermilk bun, topped with crispy onions) 3/5. The sandwich came wrapped in a foil wrap and was ready quickly after ordering. 

This was definitely something new for me, the flavor was really unique. I think it was the beer brined chicken and gravy that made that taste. I didn't really especially like or dislike it, but it was alright, something new. I liked the crispy onions that topped the sandwich, they were actually crispy; I also liked how the onion taste was overridden because I don't like onions that much. The rotisserie chicken was decent, but I found the texture a little rough; however, there was a piece of chicken that tasted extremely delicious because there was some fat on it. The chicken was very moist because of the gravy, this is pretty yummy, but again, I did not really like the texture. The sandwich bun was decent, it wasn't overly toasted or overly soft. One of my gripes is that I wish the sandwich would come much hotter. It was only slightly warm, I felt it would have been much more delicious if it came hot.

Overall: I do not think I'll try this specific sandwich again, but I like their ideas of food, so when they have something new, I'll definitely try it!