Hapa Izakaya @Kitsilano 1-A whole new experience ;)

The first Hapa Izakaya I went to was their Yaletown location (post here) and I didn't really like it. I like the food, though. It's just the atmosphere wasn't quite right for me...maybe that's just only me hmm :/

Anyway, so why would I end up in their Kitsilano location? Dine Out Vancouver is the answer to the question (yes I know it was long long time ago...) My friend invited me to go Dine out with her at Hapa; however, the Dine Out Vancouver menu was only available at their Kitsilano location. So before heading to the YVR airport that night, I decided to give myself a little break from all the school work, and went to Hapa with my friend as a treat for myself :)

Hapa Izakaya (Kitsilano)

1516 Yew Street, Vancouver BC

RATINGS

Food: n/a (I should rate when I come again next time!)

Price: 4.5

Service: 5.5

Ambiance: 6

Overall: n/a

• Sun-Thur 5:30pm-Midnight
  Fri & Sat 5:30pm-1am
• Parking is available along the street. (Not bad, you can find a spot easily :))
• Other locations: Robson & Yaletown
• Gets busier as it gets later. (Hint: Reservation is highly recommended!)
• They have (private?) functions occasionally, so make sure that they are available that night.

• (Sorry for the crappy photo...) This is only part of their interior. They have more seatings behind this area, and also a bar.
• You can check out their menus and fresh sheets on their website.

For the Dine Out menu (which cost $28), you could choose between these three menus: Vegetarian, Meat, or Seafood. Each menu included three items: Appetizer, Main Dish, and Dessert.

My friend and I did not spend much time deciding. We chose...

The Seafood menu!! :D



 

Sashimi Salad-4/6

• Mixed sashimi on a bed of organic greens with soy herb dressing.
• While there isn't much to say about the greens, I do like the soy herb dressing, which is not tangy but still gives enough flavour to the salad.

• Aside from the ebi, they gave us one slice of sashimi of each fish. I remember eating tuna and salmon...but I already forgot what else is in there...

Ahi Tuna Steak-3.5/6

• Seared ahi tuna drizzled with sesame sauce.
• The tuna steak looks really good in the picture but I found the edge was pretty dry.

• Luckily, the sauce saves the tuna steak this time. The sesame sauce tastes similar to the gomae sauce but this one is less salty and does not have a very strong nutty flavour.

Gindara-4.5/6

• Miso-marinated sablefish baked; garnished with seasonal veggie.
• A very simple dish. As you can see from the photo above, the "seasonal veggies" are steamed baby carrots and long beans. The do not have much flavour, though. So I guess that's what those two circles are for: sauce!

• The fish itself is very moist and soft. Again, the fish is very light in flavour so I did make good use of the sauce they provided :P

Halibut Chowder

• Halibut, scallops, carrots, fingerling potatoes and onions; topped with croutons and oba oil. Served with garlic toast.
• This is their award-winning dish. My friend ordered it so I didn't give it a try. She liked it :)
• The garlic toast actually came when my friend was almost done. LOL! We totally forgot about it, so we did not remind the server...

For desserts, I forgot to take a shot at the menu. Hapa only hadtwo types of desserts for Dine Out, and since we had two people, we decided to try one of each :D

Creme Brulee-2/6

• Vanilla-scented creme brulee.
• I like the way it looks but I was expecting more from "vanilla scented". Towards the end, I did find some vanilla bits; however, I wish this can be more flavourful.

• By the way, the creme breluee has a strawberry inside! :)

Sesame Cheesecake

• Sesame crust, toppped with raspberry sauce.
• My friend actually thought the flavour of the cheesecake would be sesame; however, it turned out only the crust was made of sesame.

• Anyway, she enjoyed it and was happy that she chose the cheesecake instead of the creme brulee :P

Overall, I enjoyed my experience this time at Hapa Izakaya's Kitsilano location. I actually came back few weeks later and I will start another post on it for sure :D