INTRODUCTION

THE RESTAURANT

A dark blue ceiling overlooks several partitioned tables and booths, giving a quite intimate feel. To the back of the restaurant were the kitchen and bathroom areas. The light walls and darker wood partitions give that ying and yang balance to the décor. Lighting was pleasantly bright and the feeling was an airy place with plenty of space, not at all claustrophobic. This was perhaps odd as we felt it was quite an intimate, informal place; they seemed to have performed some sort of clever trick there. Wooden chairs and brown leather backed benches made up the seating. On the walls were pieces of paper in Japanese and English detailing the special dishes which weren't on the menu, such as deep fried squid and salmon salad. This haphazard method of advertising appealed to me as I like a bit of anarchy. The restaurant was full of multinational students, amongst them Japanese, so this was a good sign. It wasn't just a student hangout though, and a decent mix of more mature customers and families was also a welcome sight.

I wasn't so hungry and so ordered the deep fried squid special as written on the wall. The waitress suggested I should have plain steamed rice with it as it didn't come accompanied with anything, which seemed sensible, so I went along with this. The squid was sensational! Served on a square plate, it was simply deep fried squid in breadcrumbs, beautifully seasoned with salt, pepper and some spices, which really brought out the flavour of the squid. Maybe a couple of the pieces were tough but generally they were tender and wonderful. Coupled with the fragrant steamed rice, this was a fine meal. The simplicity of it was its making; with such a fine flavour it didn't need to be overcomplicated.

Pretty good actually. I don't recall having to wait too long for my dish and our waitress was always smiling and courteous. Once or twice I had to catch her attention when I was asking for the bill as she was very busy, but apart from that, no problems.

We couldn't have got off to a better culinary start in Vancouver, and if it wasn't for the keenness to try all the other excellent eateries in Vancouver, we would have surely returned. In fact we nearly did as I was gagging for the squid again. A meal for 2 was below $20 dollars which is outstanding value. The sheer lack of pretention and focus on the food itself is a joy to behold. If you go anywhere in Vancouver for budget Japanese food, make it here.