Guu Garden is located on Nelson Street and only a short walk from City Centre Station or Granville Station. The restaurant was quite full for the weekday lunch period but we did not have to wait to be seated.

It was difficult to order off the Lunch Special menu (at end of post) because all the choices looked so good! In the end I chose the Kobe Beef Rice Burger Bento ($12).

Kobe Beef Rice Burger Bento

I will say right off the bat that I was very happy with my meal. The shrimp avocado salad was drizzled in a wasabi dressing and was a great texture with the crunchy lettuce and smooth avocado. The green bean fries were delicious with its tempura batter. The buns of the burger are replaced with two rice rounds that are crispy on one side and soft on the other. The soft side soaked up the juices from the kobe beef patty which was slightly sweet from sauce and not at all overcooked.

Service was attentive and I enjoyed the amount of light coming in from the many windows. Another Guu franchise tried and loved!

Click to enlarge

A friend found this place and invited me to come along to try and I'm glad I did! When I first entered Waffle Gone Wild I immediately compared it to Nero Belgian Waffle Bar in my head. The physical space was similar in size (small with the kitchen area at the store front and a few small tables further in). However they are not directly comparable because WGW has a more Asian twist.

The menu at WGW is less expensive than Nero and includes matcha waffles and drinks like bubble tea. You can see from the photos below that the presentation of the food is different too with WGW being more "cute."

We shared two waffles ($7.99 each): Japanese matcha waffle and Okonomiyaki waffle.

The Japanese matcha waffle came with a green tea ice cream mochi, strawberry, mandarin orange, red bean, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with matcha powder. The waffle itself had a sweet exterior and chewy interior. I thoroughly enjoyed this waffle because I love matcha and the bunny decoration was too cute!

Japanese matcha waffle

The Okonomiyaki waffle is something new that isn't common. The waffle was sweet and topped with crab meat, okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed, and bonito flakes. The side is a potato salad and three thin slices of apple. It was very yummy with a more solid texture than traditional okonokiyaki.

Okonomiyaki waffle

Overall highly recommend checking this place out! Service was prompt with refilling water and getting our order. I look forward to trying the other waffles on their menu!

First blog post in 4 months! I was in Southeast Asia and food was delicious there, of course, but it's good to be trying different delicacies in the Vancouver area again.

While away I went to Vietnam and got to try the cuisine beyond pho. My favourite new food that I tried there is called banh xeo and I will be on the lookout for it here.

In the meantime to fix my Vietnamese food craving I tried a relatively new Vietnamese restaurant in Richmond. Pho Ho Vietnamese Noodle Soup is located in Continental Plaza on the side facing Cambie Road and not inward facing where the Pearl Castle is. There is generally less business for restaurants on this side of the plaza which is unfortunate because I had a great experience at Pho Ho!

They opened at the end of 2013, taking over a previous hot pot restaurant. The owners were very friendly and kept the place clean. Prices were affordable and portions quite large.

We ordered:
1) A large beef pho (about $9) which came with a free iced lemon tea
2) A chicken banh mi combo (about $12) which came with fresh spring roll, fried spring roll and a red bean drink (not pictured)

The beef pho was very large and flavourful. I enjoyed a mix of beef briskets and tendons. Comparable to beef pho I tried in South Vietnam (North Vietnam pho broth is different!)

L to R: Fresh spring roll, fried spring roll, beef pho, lemon tea, bean sprouts

I had really really delicious banh mi in Ho Chi Minh City for USD$1.5 that was the size of a footlong. I don't think I can ever find anything comparable in Vancouver because of the ingredients but this banh mi still tasted good to me. The chicken was slightly sweet and juicy and I love the crunch of the vegetables in banh mi.

Chicken banh mi

Special mention for the fried spring roll because it was hot and crispy. I believe there was some pork type stuffing inside. To be honest I didn't pay attention to the stuffing much because I was focused on the crispy wrapping!

Closer look at the banh mi combo side dishes

Overall I enjoyed my meal here and will return whenever I want Vietnamese food again. Food and service were both great.

Inside of Pho Ho