Clubhouse Japanese Restaurant (web site, map, 255 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-879-8998) is a casual Japanese restaurant near False Creek that has an eclectic and wide-ranging menu with everything from the typical sushi and teriyaki to specialty items such as Japanese Pizza and curry.

Christine G. Louie writes in the Peak, SFU’s student newspaper (click here to read article):

The Umai tofu salad ($5.75) is a great summer salad, and incredibly cheap considering the size and content of the salad. The salad consists of a heaping bed of crisp iceberg lettuce, generous amounts of shredded carrots and beets, cubes of fresh tofu and peanut buttery gomae spinach. Finally, the salad is topped off with a generous amount of a refreshing ginger miso dressing that pulls all the ingredients together. Chilled slices of cucumber and tomato adorn the rim of the large, white plate. I’m not a vegetable or tofu fan, and I love this salad.

The Clubhouse is about a 15 minute walk from Yaletown, a scenic stroll over the Cambie bridge that is stunning at night. It’s also close to major Vancouver transit routes which you can find using Google Transit or Translink.

Pictured below is the large Mixed Seafood Okonomiyaki Pizza served on yakisoba noodles ($16.50). This was really delicious and very filling (I took some of it home and enjoyed a snack later in the evening). Christine writes in her review, “Okonomiyaki is a flat, savory pancake, similar to a latke, but made with flour, shredded cabbage, egg, and other various ingredients. It takes about 20 minutes to cook on the griddle, arrives piping hot, and is covered in a tasty Japanese sauce…” Thanks Christine!

Also pictured below is the pan fried garlic butter squid ($6.95). Yum!

For another photo and more info please view Part 1.

Mixed Seafood Okonomiyaki Japanese pizza served on Yakisoba noodles ($16.50) from Clubhouse Restaurant in Vancouver.

Garlic Butter Squid ($6.95) from Clubhouse Japanese Restaurant in Vancouver.

Western Lake Restaurant (map, reviews, 4989 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-321-6862) serves some of the best Cantonese-style Chinese food in the city. I can say this on good recommendation from my friend Stephen Pong who is a local “foodie” expert and a food tour guide, taking tourists and residents on culinary tours of Vancouver’s Asian restaurant scene. I was really impressed by this restaurant and highly recommend Stephen’s service (his website is coming soon; email me if you’d like to find out more!).

NancyLand writes on her blog (click here to read review):

I went there for a group family dinner a while back, and everything on the set group menu for six impressed me (you know, the one written only in Chinese.  If you don’t read Chinese, just take a chance and order it.  Make sure they are not giving you a non-Chinese version though.  Not sure if they have that there, but some restaurants have a “western” or “gwai-lo” and a Chinese version of the set menus).  In particular, I remember that the texture of the fried rice was amazing, and may be the best I had ever had. […]

The most awesome dish we had was the Beijing Duck (aka Peking Duck) which was served in two courses. First the duck skin was served with crepes and a garnish of green onion and carrot, with sweet hoi-sin sauce (not pictured). Second was the “lettuce wrap”: wok-fried duck meat, crispy noodles, and vegetables served in pieces of fresh iceburg lettuce (pictured below). The two course Beijing Duck dish was $28.00 which is a very reasonable price for two large courses.

We also ordered the Oysters with Ginger and Green Onion (pictured below, $15.80) which had the biggest, most tender cooked oysters I have tasted in a long time. Other good dishes we tried were the Chicken with Gai Lan (Chinese brocolli), which was $12.80 (also pictured below), and the Honey Moon Fried Rice. The fried rice was presented in the shape of a Yin-yang with cream and prawns on one side, and tomato and chicken on the other side ($12.80, pictured below).

Reservations at this restaurant are an absolute must, as the place was fully booked. If possible try to make your reservations a few days in advance. The restaurant mostly serves large groups (four or more people) and it’s much better to have lots of people so that you can order many dishes, put them in the center of the table, and share them in a Chinese banquet style (as opposed to European style restaurants where everyone gets their own dish). Highly recommended.

Peking Duck (Beijing duck) lettuce wrap from Western Lake Chinese Restaurant in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Oysters with Ginger and Green Onion ($15.80) from Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver.

Chicken with Gai-Lan (Chinese Brocolli) from Western Lake Restaurant in Vancouver ($12.80)

Honey Moon Fried Rice ($12.80), from Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver

I keep returning to Samurai Sushi (web site, map, 1108 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-609-0078) for good sized portions of Japanese food at reasonable prices. For more info please view Part 4, Part 3, Part 2, or Part 1.

Pictured below is the 1/2 order of Futomaki ($4.25), as well as some shots of the Combo C ($12.95) which includes 5 pieces of Sashimi, 3 pieces of Nigiri sushi, some tempura, and chicken or beef teriyaki. The Combo C is a huge amount of food, and I always order it if I’m feeling especially hungry and want something fairly conventional.

When I’m feeling a little more adventurous, I like trying some of their specialty rolls such as the SSSR Roll (made with smoked salmon and shrimp, $4.50) or the gigantic Special House Roll (jam packed with tuna, salmon, avocado, tamago, kani, and masago, $5.25 for 1/2 order). The restaurant also has some good choices for vegetarians such as the various veggie rolls, and the tofu teriyaki.

1/2 order of Futomaki Sushi ($4.25) from Samurai Japanese Restaurant

Nigiri Sushi and sashimi, part of the Combo C at Samurai Japanese Restaurant.

Chicken teriyaki and rice (part of Combo C from Samurai Japanese restaurant)

Tempura (part of Combo C from Samurai Japanese restaurant)