| rev:text
| - I wrote off Guu Izakaya (Church St.) after three visits. The first was really good, but second and third went tumbling downhill at an alarming rate. Yeah, the atmosphere is energetic. Sure, the open concept kitchen is entertaining. FINE, the Sake Mojito is highly chuggable. But, very quickly the food went very sub-par.
A year later, I had a dinner to attend at Guu Sakabar in the Annex. I was not excited. I ended up pleasantly surprised.
1. There was no wait for 4 people (eek!).
2. The space is really impressively designed.
3. It's mandatory shoes-off (in a particular section), which is totally fun.
4. Our endearing server was literally a Japanese anime character.
5. The food was, for the most part, really, really delicious.
6. It was shockingly grossly affordable ($100+ tip - and we ordered tons).
Gomaae is an unexpected standout. Blanched spinach with sesame sauce sounds like something your Japanese grandmother might make, but there are lots of complex flavours for a simple dish. Bright green spinach has a hint of bitterness that balances well with sweet-yet-savoury sesame sauce.
While I hatehatehate ordering from a "Deep Fried" section (please call it something that makes me feel less guilty?), I'd recommend Kabocha Korokke (pumpkin croquette) and Ikapiri (calamari). The croquette is my favourite dish at Guu. It's texturally interesting, with a crispy exterior and smooth interior. It's sweet, smoky and savoury all at once. And, it's smothered in a sauce that's reminiscent of Mac sauce from McDonald's. While awkward to eat with chopsticks, it's worth the struggle. The calamari is perfectly crispy and tasty. It comes coated in sticky ketchupy glaze and finished with a wasabi mayo drizzle. A bit more heat from the wasabi would have been nice.
I lovelovelove raw fish and rare meat, so I found the "Cold Dishes" to be stellar. Maguro Tataki, seared tuna sashimi with ponzu and garlic chips is a dream that money can buy. But, Gyu Carpaccio, seared beef carpaccio with the same garnishes previously mentioned plus the wasabi mayo we saw elsewhere is... Out. Of. Control. The table fought for it, wolfed it down, and contemplated ordering another, but we chickened out.
Here's what I would avoid: Edamame that's predictably standard, Seaweed Salad that's more watery lettuce than seaweed, Gingara, miso-marinated grilled black cod, that's bland, and Kinoko Bibimbap, a vegetarian rice dish, that never became crisp from the sizzling bowl it's served in.
The only true complaint I do have was pacing of the meal. Guu enforces a 2-hour maximum mealtime, but we finished shy of an hour. Our abundance of dishes could have been more thoughtfully paired, served, and spaced out. It would have made a huge difference.
If you're going to eat at Guu, go to SakaBar in the Annex. It's also a more mature and diverse crowd, beyond herds of Ryerson students fighting each other with textbooks for octopus balls.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)