Gyoza Bar - Vancouver, BC

This was a restaurant which received so much hype but I was very underwhelmed by it. Parts of it was good, parts of it was average. 

They don't take reservation so I would not suggest coming here with a large party as it may take a while. We went at around 6 something and they told us it would be around 20 mins wait already. down our name and walked around. We came back pretty quickly because there was nothing really in that area. We got called less than 20 mins and got seated at a communal table meaning there would be people beside us. 

I do like that their menu is not too complicated so many choices. Each category only has a few choices. 

Because of the restaurant's name, we had to order their gyoza. We ordered their original Teppan Gyoza which came with a chilli sauce and a green onion sauce.  

The dumpling was super thin. The filling was peaking through the dumpling skin. The proportion of meat and veggies was good although I would've wanted more chives or green onions in there. However, it was lacking a bit of seasoning. It wasn't salty enough. We had to put a lot of sauce on it.

I ordered their Tomato Seafood Ramen which looked pretty good. The soup base was quite good. It was full of tomato and seafood flavour, very rich. It reminded me of italian cuisine. It was as if I was having an italian dish. Having that said, it didn't go too well with the ramen. The noodles itself was cooked but it wasn't as al dente as it should be. Most of the seafood were pretty fresh. 

Calvin ordered the Pork Tonkatsu ramen. Again the soup/ broth was good. It was very rich in pork flavour but the cha-siu itself was lacking taste and the noodles wasn't as al dente as it should be. 

I would say it was definitely worth trying once but I don't know if I would come back again although the restaurant is quite new and perhaps everything will be refined later on.

Yolk's - Vancouver, BC

The first time I had Yolk's was probably one and half years ago when they only had the food truck. Knowing they have expanded to a store front now, we decided to go back again. The restaurant was definitely was easy to spot with the bright yellow and blue colour. We went on a Monday so there wasn't a lot of people. The restaurant is quite big and and fit a lot of people. If you have been to Red Wagon, Yolk's would be twice the size of Red Wagon. 

I ordered fresh squeezed orange juice which was $4 and Calvin ordered the Chocolate Milk with Calleburt Chocolate. That was one expensive orange juice. 

Since their Egg Sandwich was so popular, that was what I ordered while Calvin ordered their daily special which comes with 2 eggs and sausage with hollandaise. Their hollandaise was decent though it wasn't very well-balanced. 

I ordered the sandwich with their truffle oil infused fries which was super delicious with the spring onions. Though as we ate more, it was starting to taste salty. 

This was my egg sandwich. Considering the price, I was expecting a larger portion but it wasn't enough... The portion was quite small compared to Red Wagon. 

Given their name Yolk's, the best part would have to be the yolk and no doubt it is definitely a runny yolk. The yolk was cooked perfectly. The sandwich itself was pretty good though. The muffin was toasted, the ham went well with the egg yolk. 

If I have a choice between Yolk's and Red Wagon, I would pick Red Wagon. One because they have more choices but two because their portions are bigger. Don't get me wrong, Yolk's is really good but I prefer one over the other.

Takeya Sushi

Simple decor, decent food is what I would use to describe Takeya Sushi. Takeya Sushi is located in the Seafair mall which is on No.1 and Francis, right beside the Safeway in the mall. I used to be quite familiar as I lived in the area and from what I've heard before, this sushi place wasn't the greatest. So when my parents recommended this place, I hesitated until my dad told me they changed owners. So I decided to give it a try. 

The place isn't very big and they have very simple decor. We were greeted by a Japanese waitress and only waited a few minutes before we got a table. I was so overwhelmed by the menu. They had 6 pages of food and rolls alone, they probably had over 20 kinds. It was very hard deciding what to order. 

In the end, we ordered 3 of their chef's special which were Takeya nigiri, Mango Philadelphia roll and Ebi Shu-mai.

First came the Ebi Shu-mai. We ordered it because it is not a common dish we see at Japanese restaurant. The dish is quite creative but it was kind of bland. I couldn't really taste the shrimp although the filling was all shrimp. 

Then came this platter, which they put 3 rolls we ordered onto one plate. There was the salmon roll, which I always love. There was also the Futomaki which was half a roll, and then the chef's special, Mango Philadelphia roll. 

The salmon was pretty fresh and I was quite disappointment at the other two rolls. The futomaki is pretty average futomaki but it wasn't rolled properly. It was really loose. I don't know if you can tell from the picture but the two pieces at the back pretty much fell apart. We couldn't pick up each piece without the filling falling out. 

The Mango Philadelphia roll had very strong cream cheese. The mango on the top didn't seem like was actual mango pieces as the color of the "mango" was very pale yellow. The avacado wasn't ripe yet as it was quite hard to chew.  

This dish is what I enjoyed the most. This is the Takeya Nigiri which had seared salmon and tuna as well as unagi, shrimp and saba. All the sushi on this dish were quite good. Of course the seared salmon can't be compared to Miku or Minami's seared salmon sushi and considering the price, it was pretty good. 

Their service is pretty good too. Their waitresses always have a smile on. 

Overall, this is not the best sushi I've had in Vancouver but considering the affordable price, their sushi is pretty good. I would come back here for some decent and reasonable priced sushi.