Visiting a Vancouver Favourite, Hapa Izakaya in Toronto!

First of two dinners in one night while on a visit to Toronto. Well, it's actually not dinner, since it was during Hapa Izakaya's Happy Hour menu, on offer daily 5.30-6.30 pm. Everything is super cheap, all prices listed are their Happy Hour prices! I'm a fan of Hapa Izakaya's various Vancouver locations; Robson, Coal Harbour and Yaletown! First up, Chicken Karaage ($4.49)! Deep-fried pieces of breaded boneless chicken. The ginger soy glaze is fairly mild, but too much of this would result in soggy chicken, and no one wants that. This is a great deal during happy hour, there are at least five juicy pieces of chicken. Squirt some of the lemon on the chicken as you're about to eat it to lighten up the oiliness.   Continuing with the chicken theme, we also got the Spicy Hapa Hot Wings ($3.99). The breading on this is lighter than the karaage, it's barely a light dusting. The chili dip helps to add heat to the sauce, but these are nothing like the buffalo hot wings you might expect. A harder dusting of the chili flakes would be better. More deep fried goodness? Sure, let's give the Ebi Mayo ($4.49) a try! The prawns are very heavily sauced, and this makes the coating a bit soggy. The heat is good though, and the prawns themselves are very big and have a great bouncy texture. I liked the pairing with the shrimp chips too.  Okay, this is the last deep fried thing, I promise. This is the Renkon Gyoza Tempura ($3.99). A half dozen of pork filled lotus root sandwiches, all breaded and then deep fried. These are really good, and very different from your normal gyozas. The lotus root gives the gyozas a great crunch, supplemented further by the tempura breading. The touch of a deep-fried lotus root slice as a garnish is cute.  The one item we ordered that wasn't part of the Happy Hour is the Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps ($9.49). The platter is super vibrant visually, with bright green butter lettuce, crispy pork belly, with a bit of fried wonton skins and deep pink pickled red onions. There is also a bit of apple yuzu jam to tie everything together. The pork could be a bit crispier, but overall, there is a lot of flavours and textures here. And it's a great dish for sharing. And this is probably the best deal of the bunch during Happy Hour, the Spicy Pork Ishi-Yaki ($4.99). Served in a Korean-style hot stone bowl, this entree is similar to BiBimBap. The rice is mixed tableside, and has minced pork, chives, egg and a bit of spicy miso sauce. Tomatoes are usually present, but we decided to skip it, because I find it makes the rice too wet. Once mixed, it's best to leave it alone for a few minutes so that the rice has a chance to get a bit crispy from the heat of the stone bowl. As for a bit of hot sauce on the side and you're all set.
All this for about $35, and there are drink specials too!
As for my second dinner, take a look.

Take Note:

• Staff from the Robson and Yaletown (Vancouver) head the front of the house
• They take reservations, even during Happy Hour
• Very friendly and knowledgeable staff

 

Edulis and My First Sawagani!

Dinner #2 on a Toronto night. We had just finished checking out the Happy Hour at Hapa Izakaya, but I really wanted to try this place, and my time in the city was running out. Located in King West, Edulis was on my to-eat list, having recently been voted one of the Best 50 Restaurants in Canada for 2013. 
For starters, the waiter brought over some Stuffed Olive Skewers. The cube of bread is supposed to help minimize the saltiness of the anchovy stuffed olive. And there is extra bread and butter as well. I am an anchovy fan, as well as an olive fan, but I usually prefer them in martinis. I don't think I've tried an anchovy stuffed olive before, so that was quite unique, at least for me. 
These are the cutest little things and it seemed wrong to eat them...but I did anyways. In fact, I ate all of them, they are small freshwater crabs from Japan, call Sawagani. Deep fried to a crunch, they are very reminiscent of deep fried prawn heads. See a post on those from Guu in Vancouver. Mostly crunch, with a bit of meat in the middle. I don't know the etiquette when it comes to eating these, but I went for the extremities first. 
The next dish was a Revuelto with Mushrooms. Essentially, this is a Spanish dish of scrambled eggs. There are mushrooms in there as well, we are at Edulis after all, had to get something with mushrooms, wouldn't you agree? The eggs were softly scrambled, somewhere between liquid and solid. The mushrooms were earthy and amazingly fresh, and provided a good balance to the egg.  
The third dish was the Wagyu Beef, which we only added because the server told us it wasn't a large portion. The pieces were very tender, even though it was very rare, likely due to the fat being so well marbled. The shallots gave the dish a light feel, even though the beef was so rich.   
And deciding to forego dessert was an easy choice, but the cheese selections of the evening were harder to pass up. There was a creamy cow's milk cheese called Baluchon, as well as two other hard cheeses. The nuts and crostini were perfect accompaniments to end this meal.

Take Note:

• Small restaurant, can get very loud
• Tasting Menu (Carte Blanche) starts at just $50
• Menu changes frequently, but sweetbreads and Foie Gras frequently served

Sushiholic - Don't judge it by the name

I have driven by this place everyday to and from work ever since they opened back in December 2010. For some reason, I never actually tried it. Probably because I tend to get Japanese takeout, at the Sushi Garden or Kita right by home or a nicer place like Miku in downtown. This month, my sister and nephew are in town, and he was craving udon. He was quite specific, not ramen, udon. And not the stirfry kind, the soup kind. Not wanting to venture all the way to Aki, we decided to check out Sushiholic, after giving their website and menu a thorough lookover. 
This was the first item to arrive and it made me so happy! The Pork Gyoza was deep fried to a golden brown.  The skin was nice and crispy and the filling was plentiful. And since there were five of us, this was perfect! The dipping sauce is your basic vinegar and soy blend but you can add a bit of punch to it with the shichimi togarashi (seven spice powder).
Next up was the Tako Sunomono, and this was a rather large bowl. Not like the half a cup serving you normally get at most places, this was enough for sharing. The noodles were slippery and held the flavour of the vinegar based dressing wonderfully. The tako had a nice firm texture to it as well. 
And this is the reason for our visit, the Beef Udon! This bowl of hot soupy goodness was loaded with lots of udon, bean sprouts and thinly sliced beef. The broth was rather mild, but again, top it off with some shichimi togarashi and you're set.
The portion size again is impressive, the bowl is bigger than his head!
We decided order some grilled items as well. This is their BBQ Grilled Mackerel (Saba Shioyaki). I was again surprised by the portion size, as well as the lovely grilled skin. I realize that the onions are there to prevent the fish from sticking to the plate, but they were far too raw. The fish itself was flakey and had good seasoning. 
Another grilled item we wanted was their Salmon Kama (cheek). This is one of the most tender parts of the fish and it's one of my favourites. And for $5.95, this is again a big portion. This one had a bit more soy in the seasoning and was quickly devoured by us.

 

They have a roll called the Awesome Roll, but we went for more traditional offerings. On the left is the Spicy Chopped Scallop Roll. The scallop to rice ratio was excellent, lots of plump scallop chunks. The spiciness is from the hot sauce drizzled on top, and it's not even really that spicy. The other larger roll on the right is the BC Roll, one of my mom's all-time favourites, as she really likes the grilled salmon skin. And given how well all the other grilled items were, you can be sure that the skin on this had a nice crispiness as well. I didn't expect the addition of the fake crab meat, but it actually worked, a bit of sweet in the savoury roll.
And the final item was the Deluxe Assorted Sashimi. The menu says there are 21 pieces, but included higher end items, such as hotate, amaebi and toro as well. And they didn't even flinch when we asked for the heads to be deep fried. 

Take Note:

• The restaurant is small, call ahead for reservations
• Grilled items are a standout, beats expectations
• Not open for lunch on Sundays

Delicious Lunch at the New Miku

The beautiful Miku recently moved to 200 Granville St., the old location of Aqua Riva, and I couldn't wait to try it out. They have another stunning location in Yaletown called Minami. One of the things about the space that I really liked about the new place was the overall airiness of it. And the decor complemented the lovely windows with the bright lights, reminiscent of uni! Or maybe that's just me...

 

We went with a merlot, since we were likely having seafood, so a bold red wasn't really called for.   This is the Land and Sea Brochette served on the skewer over a bed of couscous.   On one end, we have some fennel and two tiger prawns. The smokiness of the char on the prawn is delicious. The couscous and broccolini had a hint of curry, which I wasn't expecting at all. The flavours were good, but it just didn't seem to "go" with brochette.   On the other end, we got some veggies, as well as a giant scallop and a perfectly medium rare NY strip. This was moist and juicy, and really completed the dish. And no, you don't have to eat the steak with chopsticks, they give you a knife and fork as well.    We also decided to try Miku Zen, where chefs from the kitchen and sushi bar select seasonal items for you to try. From the kitchen, we got fish done three ways as well as a salad. This was the Deep Fried Halibut, and the little bites were crispy on the outside and steaming hot on the inside. A touch heavy with the tarter sauce, but that's purely a personal preference.  This delicious piece of Miso Baked Sable Fish had a very buttery mouth feel, with a bit of Gomae on the side. Loved the edible flower as well!  The third item was Hamachi Sashimi. The topping was a bit sweet, but it actually seemed to enhance the freshness of the sashimi itself. These were big pieces but I still wanted more!  Now this is the Greens and Tofu Salad, and I wasn't really a fan of, but I think it's only the crumbled miso tofu that threw me off a bit. Otherwise, this was a nice refreshing salad, with crisp greens and tomato slices.   And from the sushi chefs, we got a selection of their Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi as well as traditional Nigiri. No matter how often I have the Salmon Aburi Sushi, it always amazes me with its simplicity. The Ebi also had a nice hit of smokiness. We were pretty stuffed but wait, we still had one more dish!  This is the Kaisen Don, complete with Mackerel, Unagi, Hotate, Ikura, Ebi, Salmon and more. This was the first dish that actually came with wasabi! Although the sashimi is amazingly fresh, what really sets this dish apart is the rice. There's something in the way the rice is cooked, it's not sticky at all and has a nice vinegary tang to it.

Take Note:

• Gorgeous views, get a patio seat if it's nice out
• Surprisingly good miso soup
• Food comes at a quick clip, let server know if you want  them to slow down

TastingPlatesYVR - East Van

Late June, I attended my first Tasting Plates Vancouver event, hosted by Richard, better known as Vanfoodster. Focused around a walkable distance, attendees get to visit a variety of restaurants, sampling various cuisines. It's a great way to socialize and meet new people, and to discover those hidden treasures located in every neighbourhood. The one I attended was "East Van", and centralized around Commercial Drive. First place we hit up was Siddhartha's Kitchen, an airy and bright Indian restaurant. Our tasting that night consisted of two fried items. The first was Aloo Tiki, a vegetarian friendly dish, essentially a potato pekora. The second was a Chicken Goliya (the smaller of the two balls above) with a fragrant sesame coating. Both were good with the two sauces, although I preferred the mint chutney more. This was a great way to start off our night. We then backtracked to Prado Cafe, where various handmade coffees and teas were being served. I decided for a Fruit-flavoured Iced Tea, and they also served a Mini-Cookie with No Name, but it was very reminiscent of a smore, but missing the graham flavour. Strange to have something sweet before dinner, I know, but location was key in our deciding to come here second.   And actually, we continued with dessert and went to Gelateria Dolce Amore next. This family-run gelateria served up a Strawberry Cream Cheese gelato as well as a decadent Hazelnut flavour. The texture of the strawberry lingers on the tongue due to its richness, but the flavour is much more potent in the hazelnut version. And with that, we had dispensed with the sweets on this tour in one fell swoop.
Next up was Pasture to Plate. Everything here is organic and they use bio-dynamics on their farm in Chilcotin Valley. We had a vast selection of their items to try. Going clockwise from the upper right hand corner, we started off with the Porchetta on House Focaccia, with a Pine Nut & Basil Aioli. Didn't even really notice the aioli, since the pork was so flavourful, although the focaccia was a bit thick. 
Next was the Beef Carpaccio Crostini with a garlic aioli. Again, the flavour of the meat masked the aoili. The crostini was a better than the focaccia, and when eaten without the beef on top, the garlic flavour does come out. 
The third item we had was the Bacon Plum Mini-Pizza topped with Caramelized Onions. This was a bit sweet but the crust was the best of the bunch. 
And we saved the best for last, it was the Pork and Beef Sausage, simply served with mustard. I could have had half a dozen of those easily. I don't know if it's great because it's organic or it's just that I don't eat many sausages. These had a nice crunch on the casing and the meat was super moist. A winner for sure. Here is a selection of their meats. There are a variety of sausages, perfect for BBQ season!  They also have some other meats, such as Bacon, Pastrami, Corned Beef and more. Okay, with three more to go on this tasty adventure, we've just passed the half-way mark now and onto the home stretch. Our next stop was La Mezcaleria, where we were treated to traditional Mexican appetizer fare. 
From left to right, we have the Guacamole, the Refried Beans and a Seafood Ceviche. The corn tortillas and tostadas are made in-house. They were super crispy and not oily at all. They did a great job and held together despite the wetness of the ceviche. 
The guacamole had a very fresh taste to it and I added some hot sauce for extra heat. The refried beans were some of the smoothest I've ever had. And I liked the additional  topping of cheese, instead of just blending it all in. And what do we have here? A Via Tevere Food Truck? With a wood burning oven inside?? Yes!   We were given two slices each. One is the classic vegetarian friendly Margherita. With just a simple blend of tomato, cheese and basil, this pizza is truly more than the sum of its parts. And the blistering on the crust was just enough for me. The other slice we got was the Capricciosa. I love prosciutto and mushrooms, so this dish was right up my alley. THe addition of salami, artichoke and olives gave the slice a nice salty briny quality. But I was getting full...and we still had one more place to go!  And the final destination, 5 Elements Cafe. From the name and the exterior, you would neve expect this to be a Vietnamese restaurant. They were the only restaurant on the menu that gave customers a choice of what to order. This decision-making process made the lines very long here. 
But I can understand them wanting to showcase their finest options to a large group of people. This is the first option, a combo plate consisting of a Spring Roll, a Shrimp & Papaya Salad, Shrimp Paste on Sugar Cane and a Pumpkin Coconut Soup. I really liked the fact they had shrimp on their menu, and not just once, but two ways! For the vegan option, they were offering a Spring Roll, and the shrimp in the first salad was replaced and reintroduced as a Tofu Papaya Salad. There is also got a Coconut Curry, as well as a Thai Tom Yum Soup. From the people at my table who had this, the spring rill was a clear winner, the salad had a nice texture and the curry was a bit too oily.   And as if that wasn't enough, there are also four Noodle Soup choices, a Plain Phở (rice noodles soup), a Saté Peanut Phở, and Mixed Seafood & Pork Rice Noodle Soup, and a Bún Bò Huế, a Spicy Lemongrass Beef & Pork Vermicelli Soup. The last one is what I got, and it wasn't as spicy as it looked. The noodles had a good bite to them, and the meats were quite tender, albeit a touch fatty. 

This is a fun way to spend an evening, and whether you go as a group (might be harder to get seating at some places) or by yourself, the people are friendly and are all their to have a great time and to try a variety of cuisines. There is another one focused on the Lower Lonsdale area on July 23. 

I've got my ticket, will I see you there? Tickets are available now.