Izakaya is a Japanese word for a drinking place that also serves food. Wikipedia has a bunch of details; here is a brief excerpt:
The name “izakaya” is a compound word consisting of “i ” (to remain) and “sakaya” (sake shop), showing that izakaya originate from sake shops which allowed customers to remain on the premises to drink.
Vancouver is one of the lucky food cities around the world where you can find a Japanese Izakaya restaurant outside of Japan. Kingyo, located in downtown Vancouver’s West End, is an upscale and trendy Izakaya that provides a modern, intimate, and tantalyzing taste of contemporary Japanese food and drink.
Rated as one of Canada and Vancouver’s best new restaurants of 2007 by enRoute Magazine (the inflight magazine of Air Canada), Kingyo consistently gets glowing reviews by visitors for its friendly staff, creative and innovative menu, and great service (check out some of the reviews at Dinehere.ca).
Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted warmly by the staff and shown to a table quite quickly. Nice hot towels were served to us and our drink orders taken. There was a daily special sheet folded into the menu and the difficult thing was deciding on what to try. We asked the server and he recommended a few dishes. Knowing it was izakaya (tapas), we weren’t expecting huge portions, but trying out several sharing plates. We started with the ahi tuna sashimi (melts in your mouth), then had the calamari (loved how it was made) followed with the Ebi Mayo and the Black Cod.
Below are some pictures of the food that I enjoyed with my friend. Everything was really tasty and I’ll definitely go back again for more.
r.tl regional tasting lounge (web site, map, 1130 Mainland Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-638-1550) is a recent (and notable!) addition to the upscale Yaletown restaurant and shopping district of downtown Vancouver.
Late on a Saturday night, a friend and I were wandering the misty streets of this former warehouse district, and poked our heads into a bunch of nice looking restaurants such as Capones Jazz Club (which has live jazz every night), George Lounge (a cocktail bar), and Milestones (a chain restaurant with upscale decor). After a glass of wine and a chicken salad at Milestones, we were looking to go some place “cooler” and chill out the rest of the evening.
We meandered over to Mainland Street and were intrigued by the mysterious looking sign that simply said “r.tl”, like some kind of secret code for a fabulous New York hideaway that only a few locals know about. This may be closer to reality than one may think – Vancouver’s food scene is getting to be well known on the international stage, offering some dining experiences that are as every bit exciting and substantial as the most prized eateries in New York and Paris.
While making trips around the world to try new restaurants may be a pastime of the privileged few, r.tl has a new concept that lets the ingredients, recipes, and traditions of fine regional cuisines of the world appear in the easily accessed (and perhaps more affordable) realm of its sleek, laid-back dining room. r.tl is called a “regional tasting lounge” for a reason, as the restaurant rotates its menu every quarter through different culinary locales, choosing two complimentary world regions to accompany the local fare of Coastal British Columbia.
Currently r.tl is featuring Portugal and France along with the BC region. My friend and I were really amazed by the taste of the Pacific mussels we ordered, which were served in a kind of corn-chowder sauce with some chorizo sausage (around $11). The drinks list at r.tl is extensive, including a selection of hand-picked, rare wines and cocktails from around the world.
I was fortunate to visit another time to try some of their Canapes (pictured below) which are miniature versions of some of their larger dishes.
The entree sized version of the salad, La Petite Salad Niçoise, with fresh micro greens, quail eggs, haricot vert niçoise olives, fingerling potato, seared albacore tuna
Tomokazu Japanese Restaurant (map, 201-1128 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone 604-677-0426) is one of my favorite restaurants in Vancouver for “all you can eat” sushi. A couple of weeks ago I went there with my family (after running in the UBC triathlon) and we enjoyed a big feast. Price was around $22 per person. I made a video of the dishes which you can view at blip.tv, Youtube, or by using the player below.
