Zakkushi Dining on Main: Best Izakaya in Vancouver

After returning from our trip to Japan, I was starting to wonder if I would find an izakaya in Vancouver that I really enjoyed (not a big fan of Hapa Izakaya). I decided it was about time we visited Zakkushi as I had heard some pretty good things about them.

This place only opens for dinner service and it was fairly busy when we arrived on a Monday night. The menu is a bit daunting given all of the different choices so we just wound up ordering a bunch of items. As this is an izakaya, they have a fairly good selection of drinks to choose from as well. My personal favourite was the Pure Blue ($5.80) made with Bols blue curaçao, lychee liqueur, Calpico, and soda. The Lychee Orange ($4.80) made with lychee liqueur and orange juice was pretty good too.

First up was the Goma-ae ($3.80) of boiled spinach with sesame sauce, Kurage ($4.50) jellyfish with imitation shark fin in sesame oil sauce, and the Tsukemono ($4) Japanese quick-pickled cucumber.

Next up was the Age Mochi ($5.20) or deep-fried sticky rice with sweet soy sauce. If you’re a fan of the chewy texture of mochi, you’ll really enjoy this dish.

Zakkushi is known for their skewers and we still had fond memories of the grilled seafood that we had in Japan so we ordered the Giant Scallop ($9.80 per skewer) with soy sauce and butter as well as the Garlic Prawns ($3.20 per skewer) with garlic butter. The scallops lived up to their price point (on a side note, I was pleased that they were served whole with the orange coral part intact).

The Zakkushi Set ($10 each) is probably the best deal as it’s slightly cheaper than ordering the skewers individually. You get the Momo Teriyaki (chicken thigh), Umeshiso Yaki (chicken thigh with sour plum and Japanese basil), Me Maki (garlic stubs wrapped with pork), P-Toro (crunchy and juicy pork), and the Oropon Beef (served with grated daikon and ponzo sauce).

These skewers were amazing. It’s difficult to pick out a favourite but I did really enjoy the Me Maki.

We figured that we needed something a bit more substantial so we also ordered the Mentai Kimchi Yakiudon ($9.50) which is pan-fried udon noodles with spicy cod roe and kimchi. Very toothsome noodles here with a slight kick.

Their Appetizer Sashimi Platter was beautiful ($14.30) and we wound up ordering 2 servings of this. It comes with albacore tuna, sockeye salmon, yellowtail, and spot prawn. Everything was super fresh.

Another filling dish was the Negi P-Toro Don ($10) which comes with the same crunchy and juicy pork toro that you can get in the skewers along with a soft-boiled egg, green onions, onion sauce, and nori seaweed on steamed rice. Simply delicious!

We wound up ordering a few other items to round out our meal including the thinly sliced, tender Beef Tataki ($8.90).

The Duck Breast skewers ($4.30 per skewer) with yuzu citrus chili was fairly solid. They really know how to do skewers here.

We added a couple of orders of Yakioni ($2 each for butter shoyu or regular shoyu) – these grilled rice balls (or should I call them triangles?) had a super crunchy exterior and I thought the butter shoyu had the better flavour.

We’re almost at the end… we had some surprisingly good chicken meatball skewers in Japan so we ordered the Tsukune ($2.20). It actually tastes better than it sounds.

The Takoyaki ($4.90), or deep-fried octopus dumplings with sweet sauce and bonito flakes, were a bit on the small side and didn’t have a lot of octopus inside but they were pretty good.

Last up was the Karaage ($5.80). For the price, there was actually a rather large portion of deep-fried chicken thighs. More importantly, they were quite tasty. The exterior had a nice thin crust which encased the moist chicken thigh meat on the inside.

We were super stuffed by the time we left Zakkushi (something which doesn’t always happen at other izakayas) and the food, though a bit pricey, was top notch.

www.zakkushi.com/main/

4075 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

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