January 18th, 2010 by Dawn Becker

I’m hesitant to write about Guu Izakaya Toronto located at 398 Church Street. If you’ve been reading any of the food buzz lately Guu is the talk of the Tdot. It’s not all glorious, which reminds me how food invokes such passion in people, with some taking their verbal sabres out to draw a line in the sand. After careful contemplation, I’ve decided to throw my hat in the slightly overcrowded ring and add my comment. Here’s my take…

Guu is a transliteration of the word “good” in Japanese. I’m from Vancouver and the Guu restaurant chain has a good reputation encompassing an abundance of good food with good ambience. Guu Izakaya Toronto is in the same vein.

For those who haven’t been to Japan, I usually explain that an izakaya is like a Japanese version of a Spanish tapas bar where the food is plentiful and casual, and the drinks flow freely. Once you understand the concept of an izakaya then it might enlighten you to the experience you can expect at Guu.

I’ve been reading comments and posts online that have complained about the hostesses’ ability, or rather, inability to speak English. Here’s what they need to know. It’s part of the charm! If you can’t get over the language barrier, then you’re eating in the wrong place. Stick to your comfort zone and eat in restaurants that have truly westernized the experience for you. Think Mandarin or Spring Rolls. (Sorry, that’s a little snarky.)

Sure we live in Canada but there’s an authentic feel that would be lost in this particular izakaya experience if it ended up being homogenized. What you would get then is something like the restaurant named “Izakaya” on Front Street that failed to hold our attention for long. It’s closed now. That restaurant lacked a genuine izakaya vibe and eating there certainly didn’t transport me to Tokyo, like Guu does. (Shown at right is a close up of a Guu peephole-style window facing Church Street.)

While it might be inconvenient that Guu has selected a hostess with rudimentary English, I wonder if that actually serves a purpose. You can’t negotiate seating selection with someone who doesn’t fully comprehend what you’re saying. This way, everyone is treated the same. No special requests, no favours. Everyone waits in line, just like everyone before them. In a way, it’s kind of Japanese. Not understanding means no refusals.

Another person posted that they were shocked that sushi wasn’t on the menu. Well, if you’re looking for sushi go to a sushi restaurant. Guu is an izakaya. My ex-sister-in-law from Florida was known to complain that you couldn’t find a decent hamburger in France. Comments like where’s the sushi are in the same category to me.

Guu does offer some great raw selections. From the regular menu, you’ll find takowasabi (shown below), lightly blanched baby octopus coated with a wasabi-spiked dressing. You wrap a dollop of the tako (octopus) in the fresh, crunchy nori seaweed strips provided. The balance of flavours is heavenly. As with most wasabi, the heat hits your nostrils as an end note. Before that, you get the saltiness of the nori and sea vegetables, combined with tender morsels of octopus.

The salmon natto yuke is a bowl of chopped salmon sashimi with natto (fermented soybean), shibazuke (eggplant pickle), takuan (daikon pickle), wonton chips, garlic chips, green onion and a raw egg yolk. The bowl comes with each ingredient in place and you get the fun of mixing it up with the yolk (shown below after mixing). I could live without the fried wonton chips though. I found the crunch was too pronounced against the smoothness of the primary ingredients, salmon and natto. The dish is described as salmon with “seven friends” so I guess you might not want to leave any friends out, but since you’re mixing it yourself, the choice is yours if you want to eat the wonton chips separately.On the special menu one night, I had uni sashimi from Vancouver. They served two fresh lobes of sea urchin on top of grated radish, along with nori strips and wasabi on the side. The uni collapsed on my tongue releasing a bit of foamy ocean as I closed my mouth.

By the time we ordered oden udon, the oden was sold out. Guu offers an assortment of oden which includes egg, radish, fish cake, tofu and bamboo shoot, that’s been slow cooked in a broth or dashi. What I really wanted to try was the udon, a type of thick wheat-flour noodle. With a little encouragement from our cheering section, Chef Natsu Sugimoto created a custom dish of udon with the oden broth and thinly sliced pork crumbled on top. The noodles were perfectly cooked — silky with a slight chewiness. They were so good my companions and I nearly fell to the floor in prayer. I will definitely order those udon noodles again. I’m privately dubbing them U-DAWN, named after me, of course.

I really enjoy pickles with my meal. I find it opens my tummy up in preparation for what else is to come. The oshinko at Guu is a daily assortment of pickled vegetables. Ours included pickled daikon, preserved cabbage reminiscent of kimchi without the chilli, and sliced cucumber marinated with a sesame oil and soy based dressing. It was like Japan, Korea and China all on one plate.

Amongst these hits were also some misses. The hotate carpaccio, thin slices of fresh scallop came with a wasabi dressing as stated in the menu. My disappointment was that the dressing was creamy. I’m not a fan of cream anything on raw fish.

I also had a selection of fried items such as the takoyaki, deep-fried puffed dough balls with a piece of octopus in the centre topped with tonkatsu sauce, a sweet ketchup and Worcestershire sauce mix, and mustard mayo. On another occasion, I tried the okonomiyaki, deep-fried Japanese-style savoury pancake also topped with tonkatsu sauce and mayo. I have to say that both were a failure to me. Takoyaki should have a light, fluffy texture with a creamy interior and a tender chunk of octopus. These were dense and the sauce was cloying. The okonomiyaki was like eating a competition weight frisbee.

I also found the kakimayo below strangely popular. Each order is a pair of grilled oysters topped with spinach, mushrooms (which is not stated on the menu), garlic mayo and cheese. The first thought is Oysters Rockefeller but they really aren’t delicate in that way. They’re okay but nothing special. Same with the gyu carpaccio or beef sashimi. Passable.

There are still a few things I want to try on the menu like the marinated jellyfish and the miso braised pork belly. The daily special menu always holds promise. Just avoid deep fried anything.

Guu Izakaya Toronto provides a true izakaya dining experience, at least as close as you’ll get in Toronto. When you pass through the large wooden door you do feel transported. It’s deservingly popular right now. Go with the right attitude and you’ll be entertained. Remember too that Japan is a culture of polite society, so without getting too preachy on you, try to do the same in return.

ADDENDUM: As I’ve stated avoid deep fried anything at Guu, there is one exception. The karaage, or Japan’s version of fried chicken, is really really good. Crispy skin with juicy, tender meat. Skip the mayo and ask for extra lemon. And finally the last piece of heaven that compelled me to write this addendum, is the sweet miso braised pork belly with boiled egg, topped with green onion and mustard paste. The accompaniments are essential so don’t overlook them. This is truly a mouth-watering dish and the best pork belly I’ve had in the last ten years. That dish alone is worth the wait though I’m definitely biased.