Kitanoya Guu Izakaya

Our mission: “Guu is Guuu’d!” -For your daily re-charging spot-
ー 今日も一日お疲れさま。でもこれからが本番です！ ー
Guu is known as the first Izakaya (Japanese tapas) establishment in Vancouver, offering the most authentic real izakaya experience to Vancouver locals. 
GUU is as close as you can get to the “real deal”…unless of course, if you visit Japan!

Guu is aiming to be your “recharging spot”, where you refill your positive energy through our food and ambiance. Using freshest local ingredients with Japanese traditional culinary techniques (and our energetic passion),
you will find real “umami” in our carefully created delectable dishes that make you feel “Guuu’d”!

Back in the Edo period (1600-1900), Sakaya (liquor shops) began serving alcohol and providing a place to stay and drink. (Although there is another theory that a “Soba-ya” (buckwheat noodle shop) began serving alcohol with their food, including otsumami into their menus.) Either way, during this period, the population of single men in Japan was a lot higher than that of single women, thus the “izakaya” became a popular casual dining place for men to not just eat and drink but, a place where they felt “at home” enough to start sharing their life stories as well. Needless to say, it did not take long for the popularity of “Izakayas” to boom.

Unlike your neighbourhood pub or bar, food is considered the more substantial item and drinks are the accompaniment to the food.

The “Izakaya culture” in Japan is rooted very deeply with Japanese people and has been for a very long time… probably more than one can imagine. It is often referred to “the place where new ideas are created and cultivated” by generations past and present.