Kadoya Japanese Restaurant (1063 Davie St., Vancouver, 604-608-1115) is a tiny Japanese restaurant on Davie Street downtown, across from the Celebrities gay night club. Kadoya is usually packed with people around 7pm on a weekday, and reservations are recommended. Enjoy some of their colorful, inventive sushi creations such as the specialty rolls pictured below (approx. $7.95 per roll). A very large dinner for two came to approximately $40.

A friend recommended an authentic Korean restaurant (1638 Robson Street, Vancouver, phone 604-689-3898) called Book Kyung Ban Jeoun Korean & Chinese Restaurant, located on Robson Street downtown between Bidwell Street and Cardero Street.

As is customary with most Korean restaurants, a few small accompaniments were provided with our meal such as the Kimchi (pictured below), onion, pickle, and a sweet sauce. The dish which I ordered was the Black Bean Noodle with Seafood, which comes in two bowls: a bowl of plain noodles, and a bowl with a thick rich sauce made with black beans, onion, and assorted seafood (pictured below, approximately $9.00). The very dark black bean sauce looks quite different from anything you might encounter at a Western-style restaurant, but I assure you it was very tasty!

Black Tuna Japanese Tapas Bistro (web site, #202 – 1184 Denman Street, downtown Vancouver, phone: 604-408-7557) is quite a find for exceptional food quality, an upscale atmosphere with aesthetically pleasing decor and a great view of the English bay beach from the window. It’s an intimate dining room located on the second floor of the commercial building on Denman Street, very close to the Davie intersection. We tried the Chef’s Special Dinner Box ($29.95) which in my opinion was really worth it (some of the items are pictured below). And to accompany the food I really liked the restaurant’s choice of laid-back jazz background music.

[update Oct 14 2008: Black Tuna has closed and there is another Japanese restaurant there now.]