I’ve been back in Vancouver for two weeks now and I think I’m over jet lag.
Am I glad that I came back? Yes and no.
I had a good time in Japan because of the night life. Every city in Japan has small bars that bring to mind the term “hole in a wall”. Vancouver doesn’t have the selection of bars, as far as I’m concerned, and I miss the adventure of hunting for good places.
Lets just say that I’ve gotten very used to the efficiency of Japanese bars/restaurants. Nothing can really compare to this kind of service. So far, the service in Vancouver seems lackluster and fake (of course, it depends on the place).
I’ve gone out for drinks twice with a few friends. About a week ago, I met up with my old friend A. We’ve known each other since high school and though we didn’t keep in contact that much over the years, we’re still friends. It was good to see him.
A. seems to enjoy going to Japanese izakayas in the downtown area so he took me around to three of them. I really had no idea what to expect.
I can’t remember the name of the first place we went to but it was on Robson street. This was on a Thursday night and the atmosphere tended to be a bit frantic. We sat down at the counter in the corner.
This was a good place to be as I could observe the kitchen staff and chefs working. This place sure had a lot of energy but sadly it wasn’t quite the same as Japan. There were a couple of half-Japanese people working and also a male caucasian waiter. The staff, for obvious reasons, spoke only English and were constantly asking whether we wanted something to eat. And then there was the work ethic... I noticed the waiter wiping the table next to us. He’d just drag the dirty bits of food off the table onto the chair with his cloth. The chef would get a bit of sauce on his finger and wipe it on the back of his apron. Umm... who trained these people?
The second place we went to was called Kingyo which was located a five minute walk away. This place seems to have a good reputation in town. The staff seemed a bit more formal at this place as they were all wearing uniforms and everything was quite clean. The lighting tends to be dark here and the spindle of the chairs are unusually high. It’s a fairly spacious izakaya so it’s a good place to go in groups. I don’t think I would go there alone just because of the amount of space in the place. Gingyo had some mugi-shochu so I decided to order some. The price was about $6 for a thinly poured glass. Once you include taxes and the tip, this drink probably cost about $7.50, more than twice the price it would cost at Kushidori in Sapporo. Ah well, I guess I might have to give up on my shochu habit (I probably drank over one hundred different bottles during my stay in Japan).
The third place was in the same neighborhood. Once again I can’t remember the name of this izakaya but I liked the long counter at this place. Who knows? On a quiet night, this place wouldn’t be such a bad place to drop by alone. I talked very briefly to the chef there and he told me that he had been living in Canada for about thirteen years. This place was a bit brighter than Gingyo and the interior used a lot of wood (cedar?). Me and my friend shared a large glass of Japanese sake and talked about stuff from the past.
This was a long night but I was glad that I was able to meet A. It had been six years since we last saw each other.
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I guess I might as well write something about this since the topic is related.
I had some free time to kill in the daytime yesterday so I decided to go into one of those ubiquitous pubs in the downtown area and order a couple of beers and a real “heart-attack” burger.
The burger was good and the fries were too much to handle. The beer was also quite tasty.
What bothered me the most about this place was the waitress that was trying to work at her pace. She’d try to take away my plate as quickly as possible. She’d ask me if I wanted another beer when the beer that I was drinking was still a 1/4 full. She’d ask me for the check while I still had 1/4 of a beer on my second beer. And then she rushed up to my table to see if I wanted change (I still hadn’t put money into the restaurant checkbook). Pushy pushy pushy. I couldn’t relax at this place (The Lennox Pub) because the waitress was turned on “robot-mode”. I won’t be going to this place anymore.
Terrible service... my total was $28.16 and when she gave me my change, she didn’t include the $1.84 (just two $5 bills). I guess she assumed that that would be part of her tip.
The good thing about Japan is there is none of this nonsense about tipping.
I had my “heart-attack” burger and I don’t think I’ll be frequenting these place for the next while.
