Guu Garden-A sashimi-base dinner!

EU and I were planning to have a nice, decent meal on Saturday night as a pre-Birthday dinner for me. Of course, it's to celebrate MY birthday, so no doubt I would choose Japanese cuisine ;) I was struggling which Jap restaurant I should go to. Downtown? Yeeaaa, it's Saturday, so I would probably choose a restaurant at downtown. Oh wait...isn't there a restaurant that EU and I had non-stop praising after trying it once? Oooh yeah, so there we went!

*(Ok, so this time it was ME who had forgotten to bring my camera! So all photos were from EU. Thanks loads!)

Guu Garden
M101-888 Nelson Street, Vancouver BC

Ratings
1:Yucks! 2:Improvement needed 3:So-So~ 4:Good 5:Very good 6:Heavenly

Food: 5.5
Price: 4.5
Service: 5.5
Ambiance: 6
Overall: 5.5

• Open everyday 5:30pm-Late night
• One of Guu's branch
• Authentic Japanese restaurant
• All chefs and waitresses are Japanese
• Everyone will greet you warmly when you enter (like many other Japanese restaurants)
• Used to focus on Oden (2 soup bases-Miso Oden & Kanto daki), but now it seems like the Grilled Saba Shima Sushi is their new big hit
• Get busier at night
• For large group, they recommend customers to pre-order their prefer Oden menu when making reservation
• Odd location; the entrance is pretty hard to find
• Cocktails, beer, sake, and sho-chu available

• Cozy atmosphere; you can choose to sit in the sushi bar or table

Miso Oden-Fried Egg-5/6

• $1.5 each
• I'm a huge fan of Japanese fried egg! However, I found these were a bit mushy, maybe because it had alreday stayed in the broth for a while before I dug in.
• The miso base was not as salty as I thought, which is good.

Kanto daki-Ganmo Tofu Ball-4/6

• $1.5
• These were just the ordinary tofu balls you find in the supermarket. I ordered this simply because I wanted to try both two kinds of oden.
• Its texture soaked up all the sauce, so it was really juicy when you took the first bite!

Sockeye Salmon Sashimi-5/6

• $8.30
• Again, I'm a huge Sockeye Salmon fan! I tried to order it wherever I see it on the menu.
• Just by simply looking at the colour of the sashimi, I knew this was not going to disappoint ;D After taking a bite......oh yes, the meat was chewy. And I really like that "sockeye" flavour; it stays in my mouth every time after I've had sockeye salmon. I love it.
• Well, I think most places' sockeye salmon need to be at least $8+ , right?

Grilled Saba Shima Sushi-6/6

• $7.8
• THIS was the boss that night! Last time when EU and I had this roll, we went completely crazy about it!

• Look at that! Apparently, they really gave us a generous amount of saba than rice. EU and I love it. We seriously love it. We will come back only for this roll (if that's possible of not ordering other food LOL)
• The saba was more like seared/tataki style.
• Maybe the rice did not taste good, so they gave us more fish instead? No way, there are actually many surprises in the rice. Yes, I'm only talking about the rice now. The rice itself was marinated beforehand. Then in the middle of the rice, there's Shiso leaf, pickled ginger, and some sesame for more flavour. So, never underestimate the rice in this roll! ;)

Chopped Tuna, Green Onion & Shiso Hand Roll-6/6

• $3.80
• Last time I ordered this with EU, they served the two hand rolls together on a bamboo plate, but this time they served them individually. It looked really cute when the waitress brought them to us :)

• As you can see, the hand roll was divided into two layers: rice on top, chopped tuna on the bottom, and a piece of Shiso leaf in the middle.
• The rice was already flavourful.

• Look at that (again)! It was LOADED with chopped tuna! It wasn't mushy though because it's chopped. It kind of reminded me of toro.

Spanish Mackerel Sashimi-4/6

• $8.80/half $17.60/whole
• This was really "raw". EU was kind of freakout out when this arrived haha.
• I did enjoy eating this but EU would rather have the ordinary sashimi than having this.
• I didn't find it tasted really "fishy" though.
• It was really fresh and tasted chewy. But I'd prefer my sockeye salmon more for surreee ;D
• Well presented ;)

Pickled Mackerel with Sesame & Shiso-4/6

• $5.80
• It has a hint of sour because of the sauce.
• Luckily this came AFTER the last dish, so EU could clear her throat haha. She likes this and will be come back for it ;)
• The texture of the mackerel is similar to the Grilled Saba Shima Sushi, except this one is more raw and that one is more like seared/tataki style.