Brett D.
Yelp
We went to Guu on a Friday night without reservations, and the place was very busy. It only took a few minutes before we were seated at a great outdoor patio table for the two of us. I've eaten at a lot of sushi places, but very few authentic Japanese restaurants. Let's be honest here, this is not going to be one of those places with little wooden sushi boats floating around the sushi bar on a pretty little water channel. Guu is very authentic, and the menu was pretty overwhelming. All in both Japanese and English, so no issues with translation or explanation. There was a main menu, a daily specials menu, and then a seasonal sake menu. Right from the start, I could tell we got a fantastic waitress. We made it very clear that we would like some guidance and recommendations. We are fairly adventurous with international food, so I explained that we were willing to try a couple of things we'd never had before. She absolutely steered us in the right direction.
Both of us are more craft beer drinkers, and do not usually order sake. Being at this authentic restaurant, I couldn't pass it up. She recommended Ippaku Tokubetsu Junmai Ryoshin (cold) and it was one of the best I've had. It was slightly sweet, and had no sharp bitterness. Very drinkable, great pairing with all of the food. Our waitress started us out with the Ceviche Salad, and it was amazing. The tuna and other assorted sashimi in it was so fresh and it was served in a paper thin pastry shell that you could use toward the bottom to scoop up the last bit of it. Oden was on the menu, and very honestly I had to look this up. I love miso, and that is one of my favorite Japanese soups. Oden is similar, but is a far more clear broth that seems to be made from a base of mainly dried bonito flakes and kelp. The kelp is probably fresh, because it grows all over the coast of Vancouver Island. The idea with Oden is to start with the broth base and add your meat or vegetable options. We were recommended to do fish cake, daikon radish, and sausage. We don't really eat sausage and passed on that. The fish cake was unusual, very spongy texture and it soaked up a lot of the broth. The radish was fantastic, though. This was a very unusual soup, and I'd like to try again with more ingredients.
The last items we picked were the Atlantic Salmon pressed sushi roll and the Grilled Attaka Mackerel. The sushi roll had some of that great BC coast fresh salmon. It was amazing. I ordered the Attaka Mackerel because that fish is only caught in the North Atlantic. I've always liked mackerel, and this was very unusual. It was bone-in, but easy to pull the bones out almost all in a single piece. The fish was thin, lightly spiced and had great texture.
Based on the fantastic table service, sake options, and fresh fish I would absolutely return to Guu again. I'd highly recommend this place for a night of expanding your international food experiences in Vancouver.