Haraheri: Japanese izakaya in Vancouver

We checked out Haraheri, which used to be formerly known as Guu Garden in downtown Vancouver. Even though the name has changed, the restaurant menu and style is still very similar from before. It is still a Japanese izakaya-style restaurant featuring small tapas and lots of drinks.

We came here for dinner and drinks with a big group of friends (table for 8). This review is based on an in-dining experience.

Interior

The interior hasn’t changed much (or at all). They still have a large patio that’s really awesome for summer dining. I wasn’t sure if patios were heated.

Since we are a large table, we were seated on the left side of the restaurant where they have cool tables that are situated inside a hole, so you are sitting on a cushion on an elevated platform and your legs will go into a hole where the table and everyone else’s feet also are. Note that you need to remove your shoes to sit at these tables so it might be best to wear some socks.

Food

Since it is izakaya style, we order a lot of dishes to share. This is what we ordered for 2 people:

Dashimaki Tamago ($3)

This is an oden-style item and is a pan-fried beaten egg with dashi broth. It looks really unimpressive but my boyfriend loves tamago dishes and we found the dashi broth to be super flavourful and full of umami. Definitely something I would like to drink on a warm day.

Mekyabetsu ($8)

This dish a plate of deep-fried brussel sprouts with garlic salt. I always love brussel sprouts and Haraheri’s are pretty good (so was Guu Garden’s lol). The brussel sprouts are not bitter or soggy and not overly salty.

Duck breast ($14)

This is a warm dish with roasted cha-shu duck breast, seared with a miso mayonnaise, scallion and shichimi pepper. I quite liked this dish and I am a fan of duck breast. I liked the miso mayo that was used. For $14, I actually thought this portion was reasonable.

Cajun salmon oshi sushi ($14)

I’ve tried the oshi sushi at Guu Garden before and I never really liked it, but I wondered if Haraheri made theirs differently so we tried ordering it. For $14, you get six pieces of block shaped, cajun salt seared salmon sushi with lemon pepper and lime jelly, topped with pea shoot.

Unfortunately, it was similar to Guu Garden’s oshi sushi before too and I didn’t like it. The reason being it was quite sour with the lemon pepper and lime jelly and it didn’t taste like the conventional salmon oshi sushi you might be thinking about.

Mentaiko aglio e olio ($14)

This is a Japanese pasta dish featuring fettuccine all’aglio olio with cod roe, yuzu kosho, topped with scallion and black tobiko. The appearance of this pasta dish is quite misleading as it looks quite simple and bland (not a saucy pasta in any way) but the taste surprised me. It had a slight kick to it (very small amount of spicy!) and it tasted very refined. I actually thought the dish was quite sophisticated despite its nonchalant appearance.

Today’s special: some sort of fish cheek

We ordered 2 items off of their daily special menu so unfortunately I don’t remember the name or the price, but one of the dishes we chose was this marinated fish cheek dish. I really liked the seasoning on this fish and it was very tender and easy to eat with chopsticks. Keep in mind that you won’t get a giant piece of fish meat but small bits you can kind of munch on and a side of pickled veggies.

Today’s special: Unagi and seafood steamed chirashi

Another item we thought was interesting to try was a steamed chirashi. I’ve only had sashimi chirashi bowls where they put the sashimi on top of a bowl of rice, but never a steamed one. They use a wooden steamer similar to the ones you will find in dimsum places, and inside we have an assortment of seafood and the most important item inside is the unagi (eel).

Sadly, I didn’t really like this dish too much as I found the steamed seafood to be too bland and simple.

Today’s special: Kabocha crème brulee

I was really full but my boyfriend insisted we order the kabocha (pumpkin) creme brulee. The texture of the creme brulee was off because it was much thicker and not as smooth as creme brulee should be, but it had a strong pumpkin flavour to it. The top of the crème brulee was also a bit too burnt and the sugar layer was not very even.

Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

We had a really enjoyable dinner at Haraheri with our friends. I highly recommend their mega sapporo and yuzu cocktail drinks if you are looking for drink recommendations. I would also like to recommend any selection of their chicken karaage as it is a signature appetizer from Guu Garden – big juicy junks of chicken and a great mayo sauce.

I find that Haraheri and Guu Garden and very similar and aside from the name change, I don’t think anything else really changed. Menu is still similar, daily specials are still similar, and drink offerings are the same. Interior is the same as well but I’m not sure if the management has changed.

Out of everything we ordered, I liked the brussel sprouts, tamago oden, and duck breast the most. Again though, the chicken karaage is actually my favourite here but our friends ordered a giant plate to share so I didn’t include it in this review.

It is still an awesome place to drink and chat with a group of friends, but since it is based on sharing and small plates, prices can add up so it’s definitely not a cheap place to eat and drink. I recommend coming with at least 4 people in order to try a variety of items!

Sincerely, Loewe