If anyone ever thought vegan food is boring or limited, they need to come to COFU Chinatown. This Japanese izakaya in Vancouver‘s downtown east side is a spectacular example of how epic vegan food really can be. After one tasting menu experience, you’ll be a convert, in the best of senses – I promise. And since we know the Japanese all live to a ripe old age, who doesn’t want to be converted to a healthier, more delicious, sustainable way of eating?
Izakayas are a form of Japanese pub, typically serving one dish at a time and after work, much like a Spanish tapas bar or similar. They’re places where one often sits at the bar and watches the chefs work. They’re both informal and yet also a work of art. A casual place to dine, where attention is given to the dish at hand, and that dish is prepared with care. Food is typically ordered slowly, leisurely, and over a period of time, with each dish coming out as and when it’s ready.
New Trendy Kid On the Block
COFU is a new chain in Vancouver that brings the best of Japanese dining with a plant-based twist. There are three spots – COFU Chinatown, which is the izakaya we went to; COFU Pressed Sushi, where we went to a few weeks prior to a comedy show on Granville Island; and Hush Coffee Store. Each COFU destination features a unique culinary philosophy. COFU Pressed Sushi is casual – a sushi joint with only plant-based options, featuring incredibly versatile dishes like aubergine sushi (which was insanely good) and a wide array of non alcoholic beverages. Meanwhile, Hush Coffee is a serene cafe, where one can recline with a warm coffee whilst finishing some work. COFU Chinatown is arguably the most refined of the spaces, a spacious dining room perfect for hosting events, date nights, family gatherings and much more.
COFU Chinatown is a stunning space to behold. With a moody dark interior, minimal lighting, and a gigantic wooden bar area (though it only sits 6 guests!), it’s an ode to Japanese minimalism at its best. It offers a seasonal menu that changes every three months, and a depth of sakes and alcoholic drinks. It’s dark, sophisticated, and definitely an impressive place to bring your guests. Quite the ‘escape’ from the streets of Vancouver’s downtown Eastside.
A Very Decadent Vegan Date Night
We came one December evening for the tasting menu, a set seating time at 8 pm with two other guests. The chef was behind the bar, and preparing the food, which of course, was entirely plant-based. The menu was extensive, featuring 17 tasting dishes to work through over the hours, with a mysterious take-home gift at the end. We were told that the menu may change without notice due to the nature of “Omakase”, which means “leaving it to the chef’s discretion”.
The idea behind the menu is that it’s a thoughtful expression of Japanese culinary artistry guided by the seasons. Each dish is meticulously put together by hand, entirely from plants, and inspired by the moment, so there really is that spontaneity that means each night it’s different. The emphasis is on showcasing the purity of plant-based ingredients in a beautiful aesthetic, and offering everything in small mouthfuls of balanced, deep, perfectly matched flavours.
Their regular dining menu is inspired by shōchikubai (松竹梅), which translates to pine, bamboo, and plum. Instead of a set tasting menu, it invites diners to choose their appetisers and pick an amount that suits their appetite. It ends up looking like a Shokado Bento, which is a traditional Japanese meal served in a divided box and inspired by tea ceremony culture. Each part of the box features a small, balanced dish, and thus, across the box, one gets a range of flavours, textures, and experiences.
A Tasting Menu To Tantalise the Taste Buds
We opted for this mysterious tasting menu, trusting our server’s recommendation, and opted for the matching sake tastings since we knew so little about sake. We trusted Chef Ko Tanimizu and owner-chef Akiko Gulkison to put on a show for us and guide our senses through their delicious and well-thought-through journey.
We started with an appetiser of house-made deep-fried tofu, orange and peas, which was deliciously simple yet complex in flavours. A clean mouthful to kick off the meal!
Then we had the incredible brussel sprouts with balsamic soy, a recipe we’d love to recreate at home somehow, before having the more creamy dish of steamed soy milk custard, topped with shitake mushrooms, spinach and Japanese plum. This was delicious and very moreish.
Next was a clear, cleansing broth of clear soup, made with house-made plant-based soup using veggie crepes and peels generated in the kitchen. They do not waste at this restaurant and each meal is made with so much intention. We finished our appetisers with veggie skewers which were insanely good: king oyster mushroom wrapped in soy protein mix with house-made teriyaki sauce. Phenomenal!
We then moved to the sushi course, and started with potato ohagi, made with potato, daikon radish and sesame with broccoli. An incredibly delicate sushi that we would never have guessed was made from potato.
Next was a nigiri of tororika, made with bell pepper. Toro means tuna, and paprika means bell pepper in Japanese, so this was done by applying multiple cooking methods to create its unique texture and flavour with the Zuke-method. Incredible. Then we had nigiri of avocado, lotus root and Japanese plum – a sweet and savoury sushi that was unbelievably good.
Following this was another unusual yet delectable combination of nigiri made with peach and grapes. Our next dish was a show stopper of flavours, a gunkan made with black olives, Asian pear and mustard. Such a strange combination on paper, but utterly incredible.
We paused at this point with an intermission of miso soup & rice-bran pickles (offering 3-day and 5-day pickles – so delicate and yet so different in flavour). Next, we had nigiri of veggie eel, made from eggplant, creating crunchiness with nori chips in the middle – divine, and finally nigiri of koi, made of pickled daikon radish, cucumber and raspberry. Another sweet and savoury delight.
We finished our meal with a sushi rice risotto made with sweet potato and carrot, sided with a carrot chip, delicious, and a handroll of seasonal mushrooms made with shimeji and enoki mushrooms, low-heat cooked and smoked, wrapped in nori seaweed with ponzu sauce on top. This was utterly incredible, and I would have probably eaten three more if my stomach wasn’t bursting already.
Lastly, we had a sponge cake with maple soy sauce and sesame topping, a lightly sweet dish to wrap up the meal.
Before we moved to dessert (!!) of seasonal sherbet, offering beetroot and lemon flavours, and a confection of Tea Matchaofkoahkuto (Japanese amber sugar, taking three days to make) and Kyoto Uji ceremonial matcha. The matcha was wonderful, the most authentic flavours and ingredients from Japan, and a real treat. The desserts paired perfectly with.
Throughout this incredible meal, we had sake pairings that were exquisitely put together – each sake matching the dish at hand so wonderfully, it was clear as day that COFU had gone above and beyond to create an enriching, delectable, and truly impressive experience of a meal.
And it didn’t end there!
At the end, as we were stuffed to the brim and very merry, they gave us a take-home gift of COFU cake, filled with house-made red bean paste. We took this home and had it for breakfast, gently heated up, with our morning tea – though I can’t say it was anywhere near as good as the matcha we had.
This was truly an impressive feast, and we cannot wait to return in the coming months once the new menu is out.
COFU is truly a place to bring your non-vegan friends and blow their minds away with how impressive vegan food can be. These flavours are bound to mind-boggle even the most advanced of palates and leave a memorable impression on everyone that comes through this door. We wish COFU the greatest of success in spreading their phenomenal food across BC and the rest of the world. We just need a cookbook to inspire us to take their vegan deliciousness home!
COFU Chinatown
488 Gore Avenue
Vancouver, BC
V6A 2Z6
Canada
