Gyoza King: How life should be

I’ve been in Vancouver since Friday, so am three days into this Reading Week excursion, and in the midst of some fine (dry, if a bit cold) weather, I have to report that I just had one of the best meals of my life. It was at Gyoza King, 1508 Robson and just a few steps west of my hotel (the Empire Landmark, 1400 Robson). I had an order of “seasonal pickles,” a small order (six) of shrimp, pork and chive gyoza (pan-fried Japanese dumplings), and an order of pork and kimchi fried rice.  To drink, I eschewed the interesting list of Japanese-y cocktails and had plain iced oolong tea.

It was magnificent, every bite, every morsel. The pickles were a sort of mild kimchi (I say this as it was pickled Chinese cabbage), but with a sprinking of what I think was shiso. It was delicious and mysterious. Next came the fried rice, served on a plate with a spoon as I’ve become accustomed to with fried rice Japonais. Addictive from the first spoonful; the pork was tender and the kimchi was a perfect spicy accent, rice perfectly crisp-chewy, superb!

About half way into my rice came the gyoza, gossamer things with … ohhhhhhh, just… God. Words fail me. The whole meal was a revelation.

I’ve had many, many good to great meals in Vancouver, including a $150/person feed at Diva at the Met a few years back, and this was the best one I’ve had in this city and one of the best I’ve ever had, period.

The bill? $20 and change, $25 with tip.