Kentan

Exciting news on the ramen front! Vancouver will soon see its first Hokkaido-style ramen shop opening a couple of doors down from Kitanoya Guu with Garlic. Which should mean that we'll soon be getting some awesome miso ramen , since it originated in Hokkaido back in the 1950s. While this new place probably won't be to the level of , it'll certainly be a welcome addition to Vancouver's 'Ramen Alley'. This will make 5 ramen shops in the area near the corner of Denman and Robson - not quite the numbers of Sapporo's legendary 'Ramen Yokocho', but we're getting there...

Rooster's Quarters on Denman St. has closed after 30+ years in business, to be replaced by a bubble tea shop.

Alexandra Grill just gave Pourhouse a stellar review in the G&M: Hot boîte delivers a surprise serving of nostalgia I was there one Monday a couple of weeks back - very impressed. The place was full by about 7pm. One thing I really appreciated was the noise level. It's a very good room for conversation, and they don't crank the music up like many restaurants and most bars seem to do these days. The Diamond has also been great in this respect.

Slickety Jim's, Lugz, Zocalo, and a branch of Kishu Sushi are gone due to a three-alarm fire this morning at Main and Broadway. Very sad. Fire burns heritage area in Vancouver

Kaplan's Star Deli on Alberni has closed. I wonder if they got a rent increase - that stretch of Alberni seems to be turning into a high-end version of Robson Street.

I also wanted to mention Kolachy Co. for cheap eats - I just wish they'd be open later than 5pm!

Hapa Izakaya's quest to take over the whole north side of 1400 block Robson seems to be moving forward. The sign in the window of a recently deceased rug merchant next door says 'Hapa Izakaya version 3.0' I wonder if this will be another extension to the original restaurant or something different entirely.

Wow that lavash looks amazing fmed! Okay I need to get out there soon... Just got a recommendation from Chow Times (seriously, where haven't they been?) to try Istanbul Topkapi at 6838 No. 3 Road in Richmond. The post is here and looking at the photos, I'm already sold! I haven't had Lahmacum (Turkish-style pizza) since I was in Berlin, which has some amazing Turkish food. And they have manti (Turkish perogies) as well! But no word yet if there's gözleme to be had...

Vancouver just got a write-up in the New York Times from Matt Gross, the Frugal Traveler: Asian cuisine as diverse as Vancouver. He visited the following spots: Argo Cafe JapaDog Vij's Rangoli Cafe Gloucester Ping's Cafe Aree's Dawg House (the hot dog stand outside Future Shop on W. Bway) Amato Gelato Cafe Of course everyone has their favourite places for Asian cheap eats - I think in Matt's case he was going for the 'fusion' angle, hence his choices. For Asian cheap eats in general I would have recommended Congee Noodle House, New Town Bakery & Restaurant, any locations of the 'Guu' chain, a ramen joint (Motomachi Shokudo/Kintaro/Benkei/Menya), and even though it's in Burnaby, the Crystal Mall Food Court has an amazing selection of great food for the price you pay. Or I would have just pointed him to the great Vancouver Ethnic and Hole-in-the-wall Restaurant and Food Guide!

Thanks fmed! I'll definitely check them out and let you know if they have gözleme.

I'm sure everyone knows this by now, but I just found out that Pink Pearl on Hastings has been closed temporarily (?) by a fire. I haven't been there in a quite a few years, since the overall quality of dim sum has greatly improved in Vancouver and especially Richmond, while PP kind of stood still both in terms of decor and food. Still, I have great memories of ordering from the carts at the PP back in the day. I hope they do reopen and up their game a bit in the process.

Okay for some reason I've seen two references in two days to gözleme - a savoury Turkish pastry filled with good stuff like meat, spinach, mushrooms, or potatoes. I take this as a sign that I need to try it! It sounds something like Paratha, the stuffed Indian flatbread, which I love. Can anyone recommend a good place for gözleme in Metro Vancouver? And more generally, some good Turkish places in town?

I tried Las Torta's Cubana torta last week and it was awesome. All of their tortas looked good, actually. They're on the pricey side, but until someone else opens up a cheap torta place near downtown, this is the one for me! The salad my gf had wasn't great (mostly iceberg lettuce) but the dressing was tasty. And yes, greyelf, they're open for dinner. My only real quibble is why they don't have eat-in utensils and plates. It seemed like a lot of waste we were producing - plastic forks, paper bags, hard shell plastic container for the salad - when we could have eaten off real plates. I guess they don't want to bother with clean up.

I have to completely disagree with Hestia on this one - both my girlfriend and I loved the pizza at Nook when we tried it last week. The thin crust sausage pizza was awesome and the best part of it was the crust. We'd just been down to Seattle the week before to try Serious Pie and we thought that was pizza from heaven - they even get to use wood burning stoves! But we preferred the pizza at Nook. Guess it depends on how you like your crust.

A Mexican sandwich place called 'Las Tortas' looks to be opening soon in the Cambie Village between 17th + 18th Avenues. They were having a private party yesterday when I walked by so the kitchen must be ready!

Another izakaya opening soon on Denman Street. Wanoma (和の間) will be located right next door to Kingyo. With all the customers usually waiting around to get into Kingyo they should do very well...

Opening soon next to Don Guacamole's on Robson is a new Japanese place which is neither a sushi shop nor an izakaya. The name outside says 'Donburiya' so it looks like donburi will be their specialty. They're going for a modern rather than a traditional look for the interior. I've been pining so long for a great okonomiyaki-ya in Vancouver that I hadn't even thought about donburi-ya. Here's hoping it'll be a worthy addition to Vancouver's Japanese restaurant scene.

Long-running Robson St standby Cafe S'il Vous Plait on Robson has closed. I always liked its simple comfort food and even those incredibly cramped booths. Also noticed that Macaroni Grill on Davie has shut its doors. I'll be interested to see what takes its place - it's never seemed to be a great location for restaurants.

In the Georgia Straight this wknd:"Jackson's meat/deli is back where it all began! Coming soon to 4th Ave... 2214 West 4th Avenue" Can't wait!

In more positive Japanese restaurant news, I just saw today that a Japanese restaurant called Kanpachi will be opening next to the Mongolie Grill at W Bway and Cambie. I'm crossing my fingers that this is the same Kanpachi group of sushi spots which started in Ginza in the mid-1950s. They have about 20 restaurants, all in and around Tokyo, except for one location in California. Their sushi is first-rate and their tamago-yaki is legendary. Here are some of their current sushi offerings. I hope this means that some of the Japanese restaurant and izakaya chains are now looking abroad to expand...

I hit the only one without a link...Kingyo. I must say, it did feel like Tokyo. Or was that Oosaka?...... ← I guess they're busy enough that they don't need a website!Kingyo is definitely at or near the top of the list for Vancouver izakaya. enRoute magazine named it one Canada's best new restaurants in 2007. I think owner Minoru Tamaru knows how to create just the right vibe - apparently he even imported all the interior fixtures from Japan and China.

With the opening of the original Guu on Thurlow in the mid-1990s, Vancouver got its first taste of izakaya (居酒屋), or Japanese-style pubs. Since then they've proliferated - so much so that Gourmet magazine just profiled 8 Vancouver izakaya as part of their "Eight Great" regional specialty series. Here's their list: 1. Guu Otokomae 2. Toratatsu 3. Hapa Izakaya 4. Kingyo 5. Ping's Cafe 6. Yuji's Tapas 7. Alpha Global Sushi & Bar 8. Zakkushi My quibbles - I would pick the Kitanoya Guu on Thurlow over the Gastown location, especially since it's the original. I'm not sure how they managed to leave out Gyoza King, since it's pretty much the standard for izakaya in town. Maybe it's not fancy enough for their liking? And though Zakkushi is great, it's not an izakaya, it's a kushiya. Vancouver magazine also wrote up a number of izakaya in their December issue. They include more recent openings like Kakurenbou, Nan Chuu, and Shuraku.

In Richmond: Sea Harbour, Shanghai River, Kirin and Sun Sui Wah are solid choices. Shanghai River looks the fanciest of the lot IMO. I would love to find a place that does Beijing Imperial Cuisine here (eg Tan Jia). I don't know of any, personally. ← Thanks fmed - I'll have to try Sun Sui Wah again. It's an old standby but I haven't been there for ages.I second the call for a place that serves tanjiacai!

I have a friend from Beijing who's looking for an upscale Chinese restaurant with solid food in the Vancouver area. Unfortunately, while I have an extensive list of hole-in-the-wall Chinese places, I know exactly ZERO upscale places (Hey, I'm a student...) I doesn't have to be expensive food, just good food in a stylish restaurant with good service. I was thinking of Imperial downtown, but my sources say that the food's not that great anymore. I don't get out to Richmond that often, but I expect that's where this kind of restaurant would be. Anyone have any ideas? Even better would be restaurants that serve Beijing cuisine.

Oooh...I'm hankering for brunch this weekend. Is the brunch menu ready yet Chef Fowke? I see it's now mentioned on the website but no menu up yet...