Oh My Guud!

Before I left our fair northern neighbors, I stopped by for dinner at Guu, also in the aforementioend Aberdeen Centre, and had some of the best sushi I've ever had in my entire life. No joke. BEST. SUSHI. EVER. Guu is somewhat of a chain in the Vancouver area. It's an izakaya, which pretty much just means small plates. Like tapas, only japanese. Guu also gets their fish directly from Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. You know, the biggest fish market in this whole wide world. Literally home to the best fish in the world.

The place is very casual. Everyone that works there is japanese, and speaks japanese. When you walk in, everybody yells hello to you, in japanese. It's just what they do. Ok, not yell, but talk very loudly and enthusiastically. They're happy to see you, and they tell you so. Out loud! I wish I spoke japanese so I would know properly what they said. They could have said "WELCOME! YOU NAIVE TOURIST! WE CAN'T STAND ANY OF YOU!" and I still would have found it adorable.
They have sushi and other random small plate japanese dishes. It was cold that day, so I wanted something warm and soupy, but not miso soup. So I decided to get a bowl of oden. I got the assorted oden, which lets you pick 6 pieces of whatever you want. I picked the assorted because I wanted a bite of everything. It was a good idea, but I had no idea how big this thing would be. I thought there would just be a 1-2 bites of the 6 different things, but no, it had 6 giant pieces of everything. Oye. I could barely make a dent in this thing. For my six pieces, I had picked egg, fish cake, tofu, deep-fried tofu, puffed fish cake, and bamboo shoot. If I could do it over, I would have just picked the fish cake and the puffed fish cake. I especially liked the puffed fish cake. It was super light and pretty much melted in your mouth. The broth was hot and hearty. Perfect on a cold and rainy canadian day.
I'd looked at the menu before I visited, and I definitely wanted the crazy salmon. In addition to that, I got the original sushi combo. It just happened that it also came with a piece of crazy salmon. The original sushi combo is three pieces, one yellowtail, one salmon, and one tuna, and is prepared by the chef, however he feels like it that day.
This yellowtail was grilled just a tiny little bit, and the rice was charred a little bit as well. Then topped with some sliced onions and a little sesame oil and soy. I don't regularly order yellowtail, but if they all tasted like this, I'd order it in a heartbeat. Gawd. It was so good.
The crazy salmon is a long piece of salmon belly grilled with coarse steak salt. Again, I'm not the biggest salmon fan in the world, but by jove, this was a near perfect piece of sushi. Everything just melts in your mouth and radiates freshness. You just know it's hard to get a better piece of fish than this.
But then you get to this piece of heaven right here. Spicy tuna with chunks of avocado and a hunk of extremely thinly sliced cucumber. Just about one of the best things I've ever eaten. Give me a plate full of these and I'd scarf it down in a minute.
I was so overpowered by this perfect sushi that I went and ordered another combo. Yes, I would get the same three pieces, but I didn't give a crap. I wanted the same three pieces! And I scarfed that down as well! I sat at the bar so I got to watch it being made, and seriously, sushi is such an art form.

Service was great. Everyone was super friendly and the sushi chefs at the bar kept asking me how everything was and if I needed anything else. Everyone pitched in and everybody made me feel special and welcome. Even when I left, they all thanked me for coming and said goodbye. In japanese, of course. I wish I could go back. Again and again. Over and over. For the rest of my life. That would truly be food heaven.