Bao Down Gastropub & Raw Bar (Olympic Village)

I've referred to Bao Down's service before in my post on the Flying Pig. It's great to finally see how it works at the restaurant itself. But first, the decor. It had a nice rustic yet industrial look to it. Raw.

I especially liked the reclaimed wood, but it makes me think of this article about burgled barn wood because of interior design trends.

We started with 2 dozen oysters (they were $1 each during happy hour). They were very well shucked. I only got one piece of shell in the dozen that I ate. We especially liked the jalapeno ginger sauce that came with it. The Joyce Point ones were the best in our opinion. At least we *think* they're "Joyce Point" because the server who brought us the oysters didn't know what they were. It was only later, when the bartender / oyster shuck-er walked by and heard me talk about it that he pointed out what they were. This happened the second time we visited the restaurant as well. No one knows what they're serving except for the bartender / oyster shuck-er.

Of course we had to try their baos. Mini baos were $4 each during happy hour. We tried one of each flavour (from left): Bao Chicka Bao Bao, Vevo, and YVR. Our favourite was the Bao Chicka Bao Bao because it had some texture in it and the lemongrass flavour was prominent. The Vevo and YVR weren't that great because they had no texture at all. It was mush in a bun, but the flavour was good. I especially liked the peanut flavour in the Vevo.

Wings were half price and we chose the Spicy Thai flavour. They were well fried and the sauce was well balanced, though not spicy at all.

We liked the Bao Chicka Bao Bao so much we ordered one more for each of us. Unfortunately, the inexperienced server (referred to above) brought it to the wrong table and we waited quite a long time before following up with another server (who was serving the table next to us). She asked if we were sure it didn't come and then told us it will come soon. I then saw her approach the inexperienced server to tell him he brought the baos to the wrong table.

Overall, the food was good. The service was so-so. Our first server (the bartender) was quite attentive and knowledgeable. But then he kind of disappeared after we ordered the last two baos and the place got a little busier. It would have been more professional if he told us, "Hey, it's getting busy and I'm going to get behind the bar now. So and so will now be your server." We had no idea who to flag down when we wanted to order more food.

The staff need to communicate with each other better, or find a way to educate everyone. When the server brought us our oysters without knowing what they were, it was unprofessional. He was obviously not as well trained since he brought our food to the wrong table too. We later overheard him bringing more food to the table next to us, food they are sure they didn't order.

We will likely only return during happy hour (which we have done already) and recommend that people visit during happy hour as well. It's not as busy so they'll serve you better.

Tokyo John

Tokyo John, another Korean-run Japanese restaurant. It was kind of odd, because it was located a couple stores north and then we thought it was closed. But we eventually found it.

The decor was nice, I liked the details on the walls.

B couldn't turn down a Tonkatsu, so that's what he ordered. He said the meat was very tender and the breading was nice and crispy. The sauce was very well balanced as well. All in all a good dish.

I saw a picture of the flaming unagi roll (not sure if this was the correct name) and thought it looked cool, so I ordered it. I don't think you can see the flames in this picture, but it was burning for a good 3-5 minutes. It burned a little too long, in my opinion. I was just sitting there staring at the flames for the longest time and just wanted to eat.

The taste was fine. The parts at the end were a little "burnt" tasting, but otherwise, it had great texture (from the tempura) and the flavours were well balanced.

B had to order a Saba nigiri, of course, but he accidentally ordered the ebi nigiri instead of the ika. He said they were well prepared but the Saba wasn't rich enough.

Overall, it was a solid restaurant. It's a little difficult to get to for us and parking may be an issue, but we'd recommend it to people in the area.

Manna Sushi

We went to Manna Sushi because it was close by and my parents said good things about it. The decor was subtle and nice, but not quite the rustic style of a Japanese-run restaurant. That was the first hint it's not Japanese-run.

We started with the Angry Jalepeno which wasn't angry at all. There was barely any spicy taste to it. It was uninspiring and sad looking.

Next, B ordered the Assorted Aburi Nigiri combo because it's always nice to have the chef choose their best stuff to present to you. Not here, apparently. All the nigiri look the same and there were a lot of common fish on the dish. It was hard to discern what each piece was because they were drenched in sauce.

Of course, B has to order Tako Sashimi. As you can see, the knife cuts were not great. It's not the worst we've had, and at least it's not slimy.

Lately we've been on an Ika Karage (sic) binge (ever since Yuji's), so we decided to try it here. Ika Karage is a misnomer. They should really call it calamari, because that's what it is, substitute the mayo instead of the tzatziki. The texture of the squid itself was tough and the breading was so oily it was nauseating.

I ordered a bunch of different nigiri's. The chopped scallop was bigger than expected, but the ikura was sadly lacking (look at how flat it is) and very fishy, like it's been sitting in its juices for a long while. The ika was very tough and the amaebi were sadly too tiny. I don't remember much about the hotate but I do recall the Saba was over pickled. It was like I was transported to a Swedish restaurant. The Toro was fishy and not that creamy and the negitoro was fine.

Overall, the experience was not worth recommending or returning. We would prefer walking those few extra blocks to Hime than to come back here.