When most Vancouverites think of Yaletown, it’s usually one of 2 reactions: “Oh Gawd! Love Yaletown! It’s like so chic and it’s where all the hot and beautiful people hang out now, like, you know!” or “You can cut the pretentiousness with a knife…excuse me Mr. Ferrari, are you trying to advertise you’re going through a mid-life crisis???” But whatever the reaction, you can’t deny that Yaletown boasts some good eating! But the choice of restaurants down there also seems to cater to either crowd 1 or crowd 2. Well fear not! Finally there is a restaurant in Yaletown that will make you feel special without all the Paris Hilton wannabes hanging around.
With the recent growth spurt of izakaya places all over Vancouver, one might overlook this joint. But with an awesome reputation (they have won Best Casual Japanese Dining Silver for the past 2 years in Vancouver Magazine) and amazing food, Shiru-Bay Chopstick Cafe is defiantly a “must eat!” Shiru-Bay is actually part of a chain of restaurants owned by the Uno family back in Japan. This Yaletown location is the first Shiru-Bay outside of Japan and is run by Kodai Uno, the youngest chef in the family. Now I’m sure you all know wut izakaya is about and have been to a few izakaya restaurants. They all have their own take on how izakaya should be done since there really isn’t any formula to it-it’s basically what the chef creates. The really great thing about Shiru-Bay is that while it’s still traditional izakaya, there are defiantly some western influences on the food. Aside from the regular smoked fish and sashimi, there are also crab croquettes and ceviche on the menu. I heard some great things about this place from my friend Peter so I just had to give it a try.
I went there last Thursdaywith Martine and was ready for a great izakaya experience. The restaurant itself looks like any other Japanese restaurant, with wooden furniture and beams, a sashimi bar and dark lighting. We were seating by our super friendly server, who was actually the only non-Japanese person working there. She was east Indian but I’m sure she speaks fluent Japanese and/or studies Japanese history or something! She did sorta stand out but her great attitude more than made up for it. Martine and I didn’t really know what to order or how to even start and our server was really helpful in pointing out our options. They had two set menu available but in the end, we decided to do a la carte.
We ordered about 4 dishes between the 2 of us and we were just stuffed! We had the smoked halibut, which was juicy and delicious and we tried their “famous ebi-chilli mayo” which was a cool take on the traditional tempura. We also had the crab croquette and salmon sashimi. Everything was just delicious...except for the sashimi. Now you all know I don’t eat raw fish but the server insisted that I should try it here because they only use the best. Well I decided to try it and now I can confirm that I don’t like raw fish AT ALL! This is nothing against Shiru-Bay’s sashimi!!! Martine liked it and said it was good but I felt like puking after eating it! *sigh….well I gave it a shot!
Anyways, we were so stuffed after our meal that we actually had to cancel one of our orders! But that didn’t stop us from ordering desert! The deserts here are actually very very good…and when I say very very good, I mean orgasmic! We each ordered 1 desert (screw sharing!) and I ordered the Match cheesecake while Martine got the banana macchiato. They were both sublime! MmmMmmm! But while we were eating our desert, we noticed 2 ladies at the bar eating some sort of gooey grey concoction. There server was literally standing there for 5 minutes mixing the thing. We asked our server what it was they were eating and apparently, it was natto ice-cream. For those of you who don’t know, natto is the Japanese fermented beans. Sounds gross eh? But apparently, it’s mixed with vanilla ice cream and syrup and it’s quite yummy! Very interesting and defiantly worth trying out next time!
So if you’re in the neighborhood and don’t want to spend an arm and a leg in Yaletown for dinner, this is defiantly the place to go! I’m defiantly going back soon so if anyone wants to join me, let me know! But you better be ready for some natto ice-cream! ;)
UPDATE!!!
Well I just went again tonite and tried the natto ice-cream. It was soooo good!!!!!!!!! Don't let the whole "fermented beans" thing scare you off! I'm definately a fan and it's worth a try! The icecream just gets gooey-er and yummier!!! Try it!!! Thanks to Viv and Eddy for coming with me!
As for the food...again top notch! Had the ebi prawns and the smoked cod again but this time, we also go the beef tongue and the shabu shabu. hmmmMMMmmMMMMmm....very good! But the service this time was kinda weird. The servers kept trying to collect our plates even when there was food on the plates! Hello!!! We paid for the food and we want to eat it! but aside from that, it's was just perfection!!!!!! This might be one of my fav restaurants in Vancouver!! But stay tuned! I'm gonna keep my taste buds guessing and asking for more! so who wants to take me out to dinner???? :D
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