My friend was hosting birthday dinner for her friend, so about a dozen of us were dining at Gyoza Bar. A very trendy and Yaletown-ish restaurant on Pender that just opened in May 2014 – another sister of Minami and Miku restaurants.

From our table, we could see the inside of the kitchen. It wasn’t all that appetizing to see all these people crammed into a little space making gyoza like a factory with their wet blue gloves through the window. I think they should have left out the window. Poor design choice, in my opinion.

Window to kitchen right by our table. Is this necessary for a high end restaurant? It was full and busy, giving it a very lively atmosphere. I ordered the Free Range Chicken Broth Ramen with Mediterranean Salt base $13.50 topped with Chicken Char Sui and egg. The ramen was good, especially with a hint of garlic in the broth. I’m not sure of the price. I guess being a free range chicken adds cost – plus eating at a higher-end ramenya. I tried a sip of the soup of the miso ramen and it was sooooooo salty. I’m glad I didn’t order that one. In fact, it was miso flavour with a block of butter that you were suppose to melt in the hot broth…ick…For a person who buys a small block of unsalted butter PER YEAR and only uses up to half, seeing a chunk of butter in one bowl was…I dunno, I could almost feel the oil oozing out of my pores…LOL. In the end, several girls who ordered it ended up taking the block out after melting only a bit of it.

Free Range Chicken Broth Ramen with Mediterranean Salt base $13.50 Sauce for the Teppan Gyoza: spicy garlic soy or umami soy sauce

To share, we ordered the Fraser Valley Pork Teppan Gyoza 15pc $16. I thought it was a good deal, and it was very tasty. The other specialty gyozas on the other hand were pricey. For about 6-8 pieces, $12 for gyoza was over the top. It was fancy, but I actually preferred the more traditional taste from the Teppan Gyoza instead.

Service was excellent, and the atmosphere was nice, although the AC was a bit too strong on a cool wintery night. Would not mind returning again to give it another try, but keep in mind, you’ll be paying premium (probably the most expensive in Vancouver) for ramen and gyoza.

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