Replacing the abruptly close Toyama downtown Vancouver, Ryuu Izakaya opened its doors this week at 757 Seymour Street.
The newly renovated and nicely decorated room creates a more appealing dining experience than the crowded cafeteria style of its previous incarnation. Warm wood, dark tables, and breaking up the room with a divider and private rooms all contribute to the welcoming appearance. Seating is also available at the Sushi Bar if you want to watch the team of chefs prepare your rolls. Which all looked very nicely presented and unique from what we saw plated on opening night.
The menu is fairly large, offering a selection of small bites, rolls, sushi, robata, tempura, and some noodle and rice dishes. The pricing seemed a bit on the higher side but that might have been in comparison to Toyama’s All-You-Can-Eat. As part of the Neptune Restaurant Group is has good genes to support the new venture.
While one meal is hard to completely review the menu it was a good start.
The seafood on the sushi ($1.50-$2.00/piece) that I ordered as a starter was bright and fresh tasting.
For a main, I ordered the Tempura Zaru Soba, which was served in the traditional style, cold noodles with ground radish, green onion and wasabi flavours to mix in, to the cold sauce to suit your own taste, on the side. The mixed tempura was in a very crisp batter and the dipping sauce was flavourful. At $10.95 the dish was a good value with good flavours.
Billy ordered the Unagi Donburi (listed as Unagi Bibimbap, $14.95), served in a hot stone bowl (dolsot) to make the rice crispy, topped with a good portion of nicely cooked unagi with pickled radish on the side and a cracked egg to mix into the bowl.
Overall, it was a nice meal in a nice room but nothing yet to greatly set it apart from other more established Japanese restaurants nearby. We’ll still give it another visit to try more of the menu.
Ryuu Izakaya is located at 757 Seymour Street, near Robson in downtown Vancouver.
Phone: 604.233.0306 Email: info@ryuuizakaya.com