Nan Chuu Japanese Izakaya

Great news!  Suzuki Minoru of G-Men Ramen fame is now back in the saddle and making the lower mainland's finest ramen!  Nan Chuu Japanese Izakaya will now be serving ramen!

Kintaro, Benkei, Santouka, Sampachi. Aji Sen, Menya and serveral others were available, but G-men's Miso ramen was by far the best ramen I've had outside of Japan.  It was rich, it was intense, it was exciting.  I got that eager feeling of anticipation before sitting down to a bowl of ramen there.  My friend and fellow foodie Eric once ordered two bowls in a row.  The atmosphere always mentally put me back in Japan and the service was always spot on.  It was my little ramen paradise on this side of the Pacific. 

When G-men ramen closed down, I was devastated.  I told everyone I would find out where G-Men's chef went, stalk him and get him to make me a bowl of ramen.  A few months later, through a strange turn of events, I found him!  I got a chance to taste some samples last night and to my surprise, discovered something that tasted even better than his miso ramen - his Shio Tonkotsu Ramen, but I'll get to that after.

The first thing we got to try was cabbage. Doesn't sound very exciting does it? But I was as surprised as anyone else that this simple looking cabbage dish was freakin' amazing. It was lightly dressed with sesame oil, salt, pepper and probably some other stuff, and a perfect way to start the night off.

We also got to try two slight variations of chicken karaage. The first had slightly more seasoning than the second, but don't get me wrong, both were delicious. The meat was incredibly tender, and you know it's the freshest of the fresh, the skin nice and crispy, and the coating had a reasonable amount of seasoning. Add a squirt of lemon or a dip of mayonaise, and you end up with a plate of happiness.

Ok, so maybe it isn't better than his Miso Ramen, but it is a damn fine substitute, and thinking back, I'd have a hard time deciding if one was actually better than the other because I love them both.  I could easily order the Shio Tonkotsu if Miso wasn't available.  Anyway, my ramen was AWESOME. The broth here is nice and rich, and seasoned to perfection.  Some may maon about it being too rich, or too salty, but this is exactly the way I like my ramen, and to be honest, I think ramen should be like this.  If you're not screaming for a cup of cold water when you're done, you didn't have good ramen.

The noodles were cooked perfectly - no soggy, fat noodles, or undercooked, clumped-together noodles here. I really couldn't find any flaw in the ramen that I had, and you're hearing this from a guy that lives primarily on Miso Ramen. The only thing I probably would have preferred was a fattier cut of chashu.  The only problem is, alot of people don't share my taste in fat and unhealthy cuts of meat, so looks like I lose to the world.  Anyway, the entire bowl tasted like pure guilty pleasure, and I greedily gulped down every last bit.   Minoru-san, you truly are the Ramen Master.

Other's had different types of ramen, including tan tan men, which could give my dad's tan tan mien a run for it's momey. The sesame paste was mixed in smoothly (no clumps of sesame paste) and there was just the right amount kick.

We finished off the food sampling with fried rice, which had the right amount of shine.  Although I was pretty full by that point, it still tasted really good. 

On to the drinks!  Nan Chuu is an izakaya afterall, haha!  We were given a variety of drink samples, mostly named after movies, and most of which I cannot remember the names for the life of me. 

This one tasted like Mr. Freeze ice bars, the ones you used to get for 50 cents at the corner store.  You know, the ones that turn your tongue whatever color the ice bar is?  Anyway, this one tasted really good.  I think it had calpis and some other stuff in it.

This one was calpiss, cassis and some other stuff....another really tasty drink.

Suzuki-san on the left, Hide sensei on the right.

This one apparently was minty, but I didn't try it.

The Godfather, haha, the only drink name I remembered.  I think it was basically a Black Russian, but I'll have to double check that.....or you could double check that for me and let me know, haha!

By the time this drink came around, I was pretty bagged, and I had to drive home eventually so I cut myself off and sucked back hot tea for the next few hours.  Great food, excellent service, awesome experience.  Would I go back?  Absolutely!  During this visit, I also heard that Nan Chuu wll be one of the few ramen shops open till the wee hours of the morning.  If I had my way, I'd have them open 24 hrs, haha! 

Suika

Loud, crowded, dimly lit, great food, better booze, just the way an izakaya should be!  The service is excellent and no less than what you would expect if you were in Japan.  My only gripe, and it's a personal gripe so don't look at this as a black mark on Suika, is the pricing.  Being the same owner as Kingyo, you get Kingyo pricing which is a bit more than say Guu.  Again, that's just a personal gripe because a) I'm not in the right tax bracket to drink there comfortably every weekend, or b) I'm just kechii (stingy).  Haha, probably a combination of both.

Nice bonsai, but I think it's dying.

I want this for my home - a chandelier made from sake bottles....pure awsome.

Suicka/suica is watermelon, and I think that's why those little bottles were up there.

I had a small taste of Niigata....I felt like splurging this night so I spent a couple of extra bucks on some good sake,  I guess I just didn't feel like drinking the typical Gekeikan which is barely fit for cooking and cleaning engines. 

We got amaebi, which was good but not as memorable as the one I recently had at Guu with Garlic.

Fresh wasabi (or from the tube at least) is heavenly compared to powered stuff.  You can actually taste the little bits of wasabi root in there.  I love this stuff and can just eat it straight.

Gyutan - or beef tongue....I know what you're thinking, sounds gross, but actually tastes really good.

Black Cod, or sable fish....it's really hard to screw this fish up because it's so inherently flavourful on it's own, and it's loaded with fat so all you have to to is add heat really.  But in any case, it's heavenly with all kinds of sesaoning, including miso. 

Chicken karaage.  It was good.

Sirloin Steak on a stone grill.  Nice and rare to medium rare.  There wasn't a whole lot of seasoning, but it really didn't need it.  It was a glorious cut of beef and the garlic chips on top were great with every bite.

Yaki-udon with clams and negi.  Holy crap this was good.  We should have ordered another one....wait, I think we did.

As usual, I like to get the ebi heads deep-fried.  They taste like giant shrimp chips, but better yet, they are an excellent friend to any sort of alcohol you may have on the table.

I don't remember what kind of salad this was, but it had lots of stuff in it and I don't remember complaining about the taste.

Haha, a plate of fat.  I thin they called it Toro Chashu, but it was really just a heavenly plate of fat and it tasted good.  My companions couldn't stomach too many pieces of this so I had to take charge and help them finish it. *burp*.

Ebi mayo, as if we didn't have enough ebi from earlier, these deep fried prawns came with the typical chili mayo sauce that most izakaya come with....tasty, even though it's nothing new to me.

The Green Tea Creme Brulee was absolutely incredible.  Normally, I don't bother with deserts at izakaya, but I had so much salty food, I was craving something sweet.  Unfortunately , I personally didn't order this.....yet.

I had the ice-cream daifuku....or at least that's what I thought they labelled this as on the menu.  Esssentialy, it was just a mochi skin on top of a scoop of ice cream.  You can actually buy actually ice cream daifuku at T & T now.  Either way, this was good and it was what I ordered....however, I really liked the Green Tea Creme Brulee so we ordered two more, haha!

Food-wise, you definitely get a bigger variety at Suika, many dishes have not been tried at other local izakaya.  The great thing about izakaya is they are never afraid to try all these weird and wonderful combination to create these incredible little tapas.  And if you don't like it, you're not stuck with a huge plateful of food you hate.  Suika definitely holds of the title of innovative at the moment. 

The place is fairly new and line-ups are not uncommon, but give it a few months, and it might be easier to get a seat at this place (hopefully).  I love the fact that all these izakaya are opening up around town.  Just like all the ramen shops popping, the increase in supply will demand high quality for hopefully competitive prices.  Plus it should reduce the wait times to get seated at these places.  There seems to be an infinite demand for authentic Japanese food and drinking holes, which should keep the market healthy.  Suika is definitely on my list of places to go when I have a couple of extra bucks in my pocket.

Guu with Garlic

I can't believe I haven't done a review on this place yet, since I've been here so many times.  Guu with Garlic, is the second of a chain of successful izakaya opened by Guu, the first one being Guu on Thurlow and the very latest Guu Garden.  Of all the izakaya popping up in Vancouver, I still think Guu izakayas offer the best bang for your buck.

Takowasa - octopus in wasabi sauce.  This is a dish I discovered in Japan and I'm always happy to see it being offered on this side of the pacific.  For me, it's a taste of nostalgia.

Daikon Salad with hotate (scallops) and supposedly mentaiko.  You can taste the mentaiko if you're looking for it. but visually, it's nowhere to be seen.  This was on their daily special menu so it may not be offered all the time.  Tasted good though, nice and refreshing.

Ika Karaage - came with a cocktail sauce that went well with it, but personally, I prefer my ika grilled when I go to izakaya.

Amaebi - the sweet shrimp really was in a class of it's own.  It's not just any shrimp you buy off a boat in Steveston, nor is it the regular run-of-the-mill amaebi that comes from the same supplier that provides for most sushi restaurants around town.  The amaebi was smallish, but packed with flavour.  I'm always tempted to suck the miso from the ebi no atama as well (some of you may find this gross so I left the meaning in romaji) but I left the heads intact for deep-frying purposes later.  This dish I would go back for.

Beef Yakiudon -  Stir fried udon with beef and loads of negi.  I love negi (green onions), so this really worked for me.  This dish still comes in second to my favourite izakaya udon - mentaiko kimchi udon.

Kimchi Soup - This was absolutely perfect for a cold night.  Even though it was a spring evening in April, it felt like it was still the middle of winter.  The soup wasn't too spicy so you won't get ring of fire the next day and there was a nice mix of beef, tofu, and kimchi.

Saba - the perfect fish for grilling because of it's fatty nature, saba here is served on a hot plate with garlic chips, onions, bits of tomato....and you really want to eat the saba with all these little bits because it's a nice alterative to the standard rice, wasabi, and shoyu combo (nigiri sushi).

Deep-fried Ebi heads - remember I was saving the ebi heads?  Here they are.  Lightly coated and deep fried, you can eat these whole...they taste like really awesome shrimp chips and as my sensei always likes to mention, a good source of calcium!

Pumpkin Korroke - For me, this was sort of guu's signature dish.  Basically, it's a boiled tamago encrusted with crushed kabocha (butternut squash) and made into korroke.  It's dressed with a mayo sauce (probably mixed with a bit of ketchup) and sprinkled with kabocha chips.  They used to run out of this every night but it seems like they've got that issue sorted out.

Chicken karaage - the bread and butter of most izakaya and seemingly a favourite of most customers.  This was pretty much on everyone's table, we, along with the rest of the lemmings ordered this dish.  The chicken was nice and crispy, falvourful, but makes your head spin when you dip it in mayo.   You might want to order this one earlier on, or at least order a salad after to cleanse your palet...

The service here is pretty good, the prices are very good for izakaya, and the amtosphere is like most izakaya - loud and energetic.  It's not as dark as some izakaya, but lighting really isn't an issue when washing down gallons of beer and sake.  The food is tasty, and can get pricy if you go hungry.  It's a tapas bar, Japanese style, so the purpose of these places is to get you legless, not fill your stomach (haha, if anything, to empty your stomach!).  There's no question that I'd go back to Guu with Garlic.