I walked into my first Japanese politics class a few weeks back, and the first thing my professor said was that people from Vancouver eat more sushi than people in Japan. Metro Vancouver is obsessed with Japanese food. Whenever I travel (to anywhere except for Japan) I end up making the mistake of ordering Japanese food, leaving the restaurant dissatisfied, and thinking of a dozen places in my hometown that could have made my food cheaper and better.
However there’s also the case of the Izakaya. If you don’t know what I’m referring to, think about the Japanese equivalent of a tapas bar and you’ll have a pretty accurate picture.
One of my favorite Izakayas is a little place in Richmond called Nan Chuu. They are part of a group of restaurants that are producing some great food. However Nan Chuu recently combined their menu with one of the other restaurants that were part of their group (G-Men Ramen), but unfortunately closing. So it’s a larger menu than before, but that just means that there’s a lot more good stuff under one roof!
The inside is quite cozy with individual bar seating, two-person booths, and larger booths in the back. It’s always a good place to have a conversation and chill.
The first dish is the beef yukke, which was ordered by my friend. It reminded me of beef tataki, or tartare. It had the gooey texture of the egg, and a prevailing sweetness. For those of you who are into ordering tataki, this may be an interesting alternative for you to order!
My friend also ordered the tan tan noodle with an egg. This had a very interesting taste that was peanut-ty (this is probably not an actual word) and spicy, with shredded pork mixed in with the noodles. It was a little unconventional for my tastes, but it still was a joy to try.
When I was not stealing food off of my friend’s plate, I was eating my own little bowl of goodness. My order was the miso ramen. I find that ramen bowls in Vancouver are more varied in quality than pho (which is normally good). Thus I’ve been to really good ramen places (Kintaro, Santouka, and Jinya), but I’ve also had some really bad bowls. Nan Chuu has a great bowl of miso ramen! While I may not be able to choose between getting fatty or lean pork, the noodles are the right texture and the broth is very flavorful! This is definitely one of my top bowls in Metro Vancouver!
Nan Chuu has some other great items on their menu, and it normally changes with rotating specials and other new items. This is probably one of the places that I think about going to when I’m in Richmond or on Alexandra Rd. If you like a place that’s a little out of the way, and has some interesting items without the expensiveness of a downtown Izakaya, go to Nan Chuu!
Cheers,
D
blandcouver 