What is That Smell?

Sometimes the lack of planning leads to good things...sometimes. Thankfully, this was one of those times. On a balmy Saturday afternoon, we just wanted some Japanese nosh coupled with air conditioning and came across Shuraku on Granville Street in downtown Van City. Now anyone who knows Granville, knows that it is pee-central, so naturally that pee wafts into restaurants who have their doors open. It was a balmy day, like I said, so obvi Shuraku's patio doors were wide open to some pungent pee aromas. Not really what you want to have with your meal, but no one inside seemed to be bothered by it. O-kay (eyebrow raise). I was too hungry, so the goal was to eat quickly and get the hell out.

Like lightning speed, we ordered the lunch box and the stone curry.

The lunch box was more food than expected! From the top left - california rolls; shrimp, asparagus, eggplant and zucchini tempura, seaweed salad and beef short ribs. The rolls were aight; the tempura, however, were excellent, coated with an airy (albeit non-oily) batter. The seaweed salad was fresh and light which complemented the hearty grilled beef. Quite a bit of food for one person, but perfect for one very hungry person.

The stone curry, which was a house-made Japanese curry, engulfed the rice beneath it with some righteous chicken karaage proudly sitting atop. This is something I definitely see myself coming back to on a cold, rainy day. Note to everyone: let this sit for a bit to cool down and cut up the chicken so it lets some of the steam out or do what I did and dive in and burn your whole mouth. Verdict: so worth it! I didn't think chicken kaarage could get any better, but enveloped by that curry, oh my, pure bliss.

And about that pee smell...what pee smell? I guess we just became nose blind. Well, what do you know!