Toratatsu Japanese Bistro is located in the midst of the ramen boomtown of Robson Street and Denman. Toratatsu is an izakaya that creates contemporary Japanese tapas with a western flair and a touch of French.
The decor is a twist of a modern jazz lounge
It was a night with my beloved foodie friends; and when you have multiple stomaches at the table you take advantage of it by ordering multiple items. We ordered a bunch of tapas so I won’t make this into a long epic novel of a post. In general, most of the dishes were amazing and some were mind blowingly innovative
To start our dinner, the fresh Daikon Salad which is a mix of organic greens, daikon, baby anchovies, shiso, Japanese sour plum vinaigrette. And the amazingly priced Sashimi Platter which is a choice of 3 kinds of fresh assorted sashimi: we picked aburi shime saba (seared at the table which was pretty cool), aburi hotate, and albacore tuna
There was the Beef Tataki Carpaccio which is seared beef sashimi topped with fine shaved red onion salad. The marriage of true fusion of Ishiyaki Risotto which is the risotto of seared scallops, mushrooms, Iwanori seaweed served in a hot stone bowl. Risotto is already hard to make but to conjure up the idea to make it in a stone bowl is gutsy and wonderful.
Next came the wow factor and simply named Cheese Tofu.
It’s creamy mascarpone tofu, toasted almonds, a touch of honey, served with baguette. It was light and soft and more suited as dessert but I’m not complaining.
Still hungry, we decided on the lightly crispy calamari
To warm ourselves from the chilly cold night, hot pot seemed perfect
And my must have of Tarako Kimchi Udon
So much food, too much to describe, and all so good.
What’s my verdict? I can’t wait to go back and try the other half the menu.
Toratatsu Japanese Tapas Bistro
735 Denman St
Vancouver, BC V6G
