Oddly enough, I’ve been to most of the well known izakayas around town except for Hapa. Since I had a mini reunion with some old colleagues in Yaletown, I thought I would ‘conveniently’ suggest to try out the new one.
I had the best service even before I entered the restaurant. Around 7pm that night, I called them to make a last minute reservation and got the answering machine instead. I didn’t expect them to return my call but I left a message anyways. Within a few minutes, they phoned back to inform me they didn’t have a spot for us. I was wracking my brains for a ‘plan b’ when Hapa called again…they actually called back to let me know they had a table available for us. Restaurants: take note…this is how you do it.
When we finally arrived, it felt like we walked into the next ‘IT’ factor. This new Hapa Izakaya has the swanky sophisticated hip vibe that is synonymous with a Glowbal Group restaurant…but in their own style. It has a sleek dark black decor and even with a packed house the room still felt spacious.
As a table of 6, we ordered a bunch of dishes so I will try to keep the reviews short and sweet.
The first dish to arrive was the Beef Tataki (Seared AAA beef carpaccio with a sesame chilli sauce). The beef was tender and not chewy but the sauce suspiciously tasted like sweet srirachi. I prefer the traditional light ponzu sauce as it doesn’t take away the taste of the beef. The Yaletown Tonkatsu is breaded pork tenderloin with black truffle salt and hapa tartar sauce. The tonkatsu was also well cooked and non too greasy; however, I couldn’t make out the black truffle salt at all.
The agedashi tofu was comparable to the good ones that I’ve tried. The tofu was soft and batter light. The Pork Belly Lettuce Wrap (Grilled Pork Belly with hot mustard mayo and spicy chilli oil) was a hit at our table. We liked it so much we ordered a second. I really liked the sweet savoury marinated that was used and having an excuse to play with your food is always a bonus point.
The Qualicom Bay Scallop Gratin (Beer Battered Scallop with Celeriac and Potato Puree & Gorgonzola Mozza Melt). This could have been perfectly good as two separate dishes. I liked the beer battered approach as it added another texture to the scallops. Even with the various ingredients, the puree melt had a light flavours but didn’t think it really added anything to the overall plate. The Burinegimayaki which is Grilled Yellowtail skewers with salt & Yuzu pepper was perfectly cooked. The yellowtail wasn’t tough or chewy and something as simple as salt & pepper is all a good ingredient needs to bring out the flavours.
Chan Chan Yaki helped fulfill our carb quota of the night. It’s a Korean hot stone bowl cooking the rice, local spring salmon, rice, and miso mushroom sauce. I love how the rice gets crispy and burnt from the hot stone bowl. The sukiyaki, tokyo hot pot with AAA beef / tofu / vegetables / poached egg in sweet soy broth soon came afterwards. I found the hotpot to be too sweet and thought it needed another cup of water to dilute the soy a bit more.
Our last fusion of the night was the Udon Bonara (a la Carbonara – house cured pancetta, yuzu creamy black pepper sauce with udon noodles). Even with the pancetta and pepper sauce, I found it lacking flavour and may have needed a stronger pancetta taste to it and more pepper.
In general, we had a decent night of attentive service and good dishes. With a couple of beers and a glass of wine, the bill came out to $132.
I did feel though that with some of their plates were ‘trying too hard’ with the fusion aspect of it. And like what Jamie Oliver would say, the ingredients should speak for itself.
Hapa Izakaya
1193 Hamilton Street
Browse Timeline
Comments ( 4 )
Looks good. I haven’t had a chance to try Hapa yet either. What was the total damage, price-wise?
Michael Kwan added these pithy words on
Feb 08 10 at
12:48 am
omg! it’s 12:30am n these pics r driving me crazy. looking so good=)
M added these pithy words on
Feb 08 10 at
1:14 am
I’m a fan of hapa even though i’ve had hits and misses at the various restaurants in vancouver. I like that they try different things, and most of the time, the flavours work out. I always order the stone rice! it’s so good
liv added these pithy words on
Feb 08 10 at
10:32 am
Mmmm I LOVE Hapa’s food, I go there at least once a month haha. Great food pics! I knew there was a reason I wasn’t supposed to read your blog at 3am, because I start feeling HUNGRY =( Oh well, I have to start somewhere since I have so many of your posts to catch up on!
I figured this would be a good place to start because of the food. nomnomnom
Nicole added these pithy words on
Feb 09 10 at
3:54 am
