Few people know about this new treasure of an izakaya just off the busy path of Robson. We walked by a huge lineup for Guu on Thurlow and decided to try elsewhere. Still craving tapas, I remembered seeing Kakurenbou a couple weeks prior.
So instead of waiting in line at any of the other more known places like Hapa or Kingyo or Guu, we walked up and got a seat immediately. Walking by here, it's very deceiving in making you think it's tiny place when in fact, it actually extends quite a bit inwards. The ambiance is absolutely gorgeous.

Drinks were FANTASTIC!! Each one of the cocktails we ordered were perfection - no complaints. The food was very good with the exception of one seared steak dish which was full of gristle and unchewable. We were only half-way done when the flames went out and being so gristle-y, we couldn't imagine eating it more raw than the previous bites. We asked the server to relight the flame and just mentioned that the dish wasn't very good. We did not expect her to take it off the bill, but she did. We were very happy she did because it saved us the $20.

My fav dishes were the garlic croquettes and the cold udon.
Dishes were on the expensive side (esp. the $20 steak dish feat. 10 bite-size pieces). Total of 6 cocktails (well-priced, btw) and 8 small dishes cost the 3 of us $135. Luckily, they took the twenty something dollars off the bill for the steak!

Service was excellent.

Situated off-Robson, it probably doesn't get too many walk-ins. Out front looks like a pretty good Japanese restaurant. Almost reminds us of a place in Kyoto, right down to the salt piles by the door.

Inside, the place is easily the most well-decorated places we've been to in recent memory. We could be at any restaurant in Kyoto if it weren't for the ceiling height. Almost worth checking out for the interior! (Yes, the w.c. is very nicely done too, and clean). We were greeted at the door by an elderly lady in a kimono-like outfit (yes, just like in Japan).

Service was very, very good. Waitress was very attentive and took care of everything except for a minor glitch where she disappeared for about 10 min. or so. I'll assume it's a necessary break, cause it was exceptional otherwise.

Now on to the important bit, the food. I have to admit I had high expectations, maybe this will colour my evaluation, because unfortunately, it turned out to be "another izakaya" place. I guess we were hoping for something more different like the fare that we sampled on the streets in Kyoto near the riverside. Forgetting about that for now, the place actually has quite a few dishes which are quite innovative and different than that offered by other izakaya places (like tofu skin "sashimi", tasty daikon salad and a soy broth pork shabu). They don't really do sushi on the usual menu, but do have specials. I was disappointed that they had Atlantic salmon sashimi that day and not our local Pacific species (which I prefer).

For seven of us, the total bill after tax and tips (no alcohol) came to just over $30 per person. (Keep in mind for our group size, they automatically tacked on a gratuity. No problem in this case due to the great service).
I would say this is a bit on the expensive side compared to some of the other places (like Guu and others), but it is quite a different atmosphere. Given that they do have unique dishes, done well and the fab service, I would say this is a recommended trip. Just not a regular destination unless you have deep pockets.

Beautiful restaurant, decor is gorgeous. But that and its great drink menu is about all going for this restaurant. Besides the great presentation, the food was very lack luster in flavor. The mackerel was so boney it got stuck in my throat a couple of times, literally had to choke it down. Can't remember the name of the dish but butter fish or something like that, it was so dry it was rubbery and we had to wash it down with liquid....etc etc. None of us left feeling there was even one dish that was worth coming back for. We all left feeling like it was money wasted. Out of all the izakaya restaurants in the Robson area this has been my least favorite and I definitely would recommend spending money elsewhere. Really too bad considering how beautiful it is.

Kakurenbou.... hmmm it is an interesting name, since I asked the staffs what it meant.. "Hide & Seek" - very unique!!. I was greeted with pleasant smiles as I entered in the front door, it was a WOW when I first saw it, as I was standing at he bar, I was very curious to see what was inside. As I entered, it was a different feeling and it just gave me a warmth & cozy feeling to be. Its very rare I would see Japanese restaurants with the same atmosphere & ambiance as this. Our waitress came by and asked how we were doing & asked what we liked to drink.. of course I always start off with japanese green tea.. it was served nice & hot and the aroma to the tea was magnificiant. As starters I order the Edamame (3.80), it was served on a small shallow basket & taste was too perfection (think I had over 3 orders that night). Looking through the menu with many many selections I had to try many different things.. I first ordered the chicken gizzards - which came out nice and crispy outside & crunchy from the inside, it was served on slice red onions and i guess with a special sauce - this was the good combination. Next, I ordered the Daikon salad - this is a refreshing & very light salad served with bonito's on top & a light sauce. Next, was the crispy chicken karage - this got my eyes wide opened when it was served, it was covered with rice crispys on the outside, i took a bit at it and boy it was so good, nice & crunchy from the outside & moist inside, was done to perfection.. we had to have 2 orders that night. Next, japanese omelet - this was a delicacy, I'm not much of an egg person, but this dish was presented very well and the eggs was nicely done & covered with their special sauce. After sitting for awhile, I ordered the roast beef dish, 5 pieces of sliced beef top on top of a bed of mixed greens & its dipping sauce, it was very different and the beef was a good quality beef, nice & tender. I also ordered the Katsu Tuna - this was a breaded & deep fried and served with a special sauce, about 5-6 pieces were served per order with a bed of salad. Lastly, I had ordered the agedashi tofu, chicken skewers and ebi-mayo. The tofu was served in a bowl with 4 pieces and topped with mushrooms & a special sauce.. it was nice and very different then any other Agedashi's I ever had. Chicken skewers came in a plate with 5 pieces that looked like sausages. it was served with 5 different flavours, it was flavourly. Lastly, the ebi-mayo, this is a to die for!! about 6 larges prawns lightly battered & deep fried, wasnt over cook and served with pickled red onions, avocado chunks & topped with a special mayonnaise dressing, it was fabulous!! I couldn't resist had to order another dish.

For dessert, I ordered the Lycee creme brulee & the strawberry panacotta ... i loved the panacotta, it was just right! the brulee was very good but i wish it was a bigger portion.

Our friends had ordered a bottle of sake around the $50 market, it was very nice & refreshing.. I did notice there were large bottles of sake which cost around $350-$400 which it was imported from Japan, I need to bring about 10 friends just to finish that bottle.

Service was perfect, they were around everytime I needed them. And the most important of all was I noticed the washroom stalls were very CLEAN!, its rare to find a washroom so clean & tidy and the neatest thing of all...... they had toothpicks at the sinks!!

Overall, this is an awesome place to go for dinner with a different environment. Food is awesome and our friends did compliment on it as well.. For sure I will dining here more often for izakaya food. I highly recommend to anyone who is looking for good food with an incredible environment..

You should check it out yourself.

Checking out reviews at places I've tried & been too... I was shocked when I saw the last review from Japanse.

I was there beginning of Thursday night, it wasn't crazy busy but the dining was filled with customers drinking & eating... I came about 8pm without a reservation, hoping they had a table for me rather than sitting at a counter. I was greated by an elderly lady in a kimono, she was pleasant and ask if i could wait for a 5mins. In less than 2 mins, my table was ready for the 4 of us. I was seated down & the menu was handed and advised about the chef's recommendations. They had a two-sided drink menu with many selections of red wine, white wine, champagne, beers & sakes. Service was very prompt, the server came over and asked if we decided on what to drink and if we wanted to start with any appetizers.

I ordered a Sapporo pint (draft) and friends ordered the So Horny martini, Kakurenbou & Teddy cocktail. In about 30 secs, our server came back with a small compliementary dish. I thought this was great becuz, while I was waiting for my drinks, I could snack on some soy bean sprout salads.

Going through the menu, we decided to ask the server recommend what their signature dishes were & what she would recommend. She recommended the Tako wasabi, Japanese Prawn crepes, Red Tuna sashimi, Crispy Chicken Karaage, Toro Katsu, Edamame, Japanese Roast Beef, Salmon Avocado Mille Fieulle, Stonegrilled filet mignon.

We were big eaters so we decided to take her recommendations, it was great becuz, everything didn't come at once unlike going to Hapa or Guu where all my dishes came out so fast, there was no room and the food got a bit cold.

Our drinks looked amazing & they were AMAZING!! Im not much of a martini drinker but I tried the So Horny and it was delicious!

Servers were around when I needed them and they were changing my plates after 2 dishes..I thought this was awesome b/c as an individual eating out alot, usually dont get the kind of services at any other restaurants.

We ordered our second rounds of drinks which is the same becuz we all enjoyed the first ones. We were quite happy with the service & food. The dishes were very presentable & very tasteful. Just the dishes they serve the food on was very nice and all different styles too. The red tuna sashimi was very fresh and crisp. The crispy karaage was amazing, and shocked me b/c it was coated in rice crispy ... its a too die for dish. Filet mignon was really tender, juicy & tasteful and served on a very hot stone plate.

Desserts was ordered, they only 3 items so we ordered it all. The lycee brulee was amazing, the blancmanche was very different but the japanese was parfait was the adventurist one. It had corn flakes, sesame ice cream, green tea ice cream, red been and topped with some maple syrup. - I loved the brulee so much, I had to order another.

It was 10pm when we were all done, and there were a ppl at the bar drinking as we could hear them laugh. Guess they were having a great time.

Our bill came and it was less than $200 cluding 15% tips. I thought it was very very reasonable as everything was at par!! Its a place where I definitely will come back soon on a weekend which I should book in advance.

I had an awesome time!! A place where i would go often for dining, where its not loud and rowdy.

My friends wanted to go for dinner one night and someone suggested this new little Japanese restaurant. I had never heard of it before but I am always up to trying new places.

When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was the amazing decor. Obviously someone put a lot of time and thought into it.

We were immediately greeted and seated. The service was quick and friendly. Drink orders were taken and then we were left to peruse the fair sized menu.

We tried quite a few of the tapas style dishes and they were all really tasty. The ebi mayo was our fave so we ordered a second round of that one!

For the portion sizes and the tastiness factor, I would say the prices were fair.

Definitely going back there. Gotta get more ebi mayo!

So we decided to have a girls only night and I heard through some friends about this new little place that opened just off Robson so we decided to have dinner there.

First impression walking in was "Wow" ... the decor is quite detailed and very cozy, they sure rebuilt that entire little space!
We were seated near the back by a nice looking wall with carvings on it. Took a min or 2 to soak in all the high ceilings and wooden poles layout.

The service .. well they were overstaffed, lots of employees walking around but they weren't very experienced or knowledgeable at all, never asked us for 2nds for drinks (which is probably a good thing, more on that later). I take that due to the establishment being pretty new.

Time now to get into the reason we came here, to try the food and drinks!
Well looking at the menu it looks like the chefs put a lot of time into thinking up creative dishes (some were obviously taken from other restaurants though). Some just sounded weird (Raw fish and kimchee?)
What really got us were the prices! Here's another "Wow" .. but this time not a good one, all the dishes are $10+ with many near the $20s. Then when the food came out, it was smaller than we expected as well! That's a recipe for disaster, overpriced on the menu, shrunken quantity on the plate. Looks like they need to cover the costs of the extensive renovations by overcharging the poor customers! We are not by any means 'cheap' but at those prices we could not bring ourselves to order like the little piggies that we are! (4 somewhat thin asian girls)
The drinks were refreshing and tasty but once again the price point was beyond my understanding. Most drinks hovering around the $10 and we don't drink beer but from the looks of it they were pricier than most places we frequent. Definitely couldn't afford to get 3-4 rounds of drinks for all of us but they never asked anyway.
We had to walk to another Japanese restaurant up Robson afterwards to fill our bellies with food and alcohol without spending obscene amounts of money!

Otherwise a nice cozy & classy place for meet-ups and dates just for the decor alone!

This restaurant is a brand spanking new addition to the Robson St. area izakaya scene. Always in pursuit of this city's hidden gems, I was excited to find that it had finally opened.

First impression upon entering: The place is tiny and beautifully appointed. Dark, luxurious woods, ambient lighting and an intimate layout make this a great place to take a date. There is also a bright and sunny glassed-in "patio" upfront. Staff were very friendly, welcoming and professional. The restaurant was much quieter than your average izakaya joint - no yelling out to greet the customers, no noisy large groups. In fact, it was quite upscale and relaxing (but please, nix the Kenny G!)

My main complaint is that the price point is way too high for the quality/quantity of food offered. I say this having visited several other izakaya restaurants in the area, so I believe I have a solid basis of comparison.

Green tea, which is gratus at most Asian restaurants, was $3. A glass of iced oolong was $3.50, no refills, and the glass was actually about half the size I expected it to be. Dishes average at around $10 for tapas sized plates, with some of the meat dishes edging up above the $20 mark. The quantity of food simply does not justify the price, nor does the quality. For example, I ordered the agedashi tofu (at $9.50) and was presented with three pieces of tofu in a very large bowl. Tasty, indeed, but a lot of money for very little tofu. The other dishes we ordered were in fact quite mediocre. The teriyaki chicken came with four tiny (about 1.5" squared) pieces of dark meat chicken on a plate of greens. Not a whole lot of food for the $11 or so dollars. My date and I shared five dishes, which ran us $75 including tip, and we were absolutely STARVING an hour later. We'd have needed twice the amount of food in order to be satisfied (and neither one of us are particularly voracious eaters). The food is nicely presented, but not knock-your-socks-off beautiful, like some other local places. There was no "wow" factor in any of it.

Service was fantastic. Our server was prompt and polite, and was very interested to know how we were enjoying our meal. She was there when we needed her, but not so much as to be intrusive.

So, to recap: Prices are high for what you get. The quality, quantity and presentation need to be improved, or else the prices should be lowered a few bucks a plate. There's a ton of competition in the area, and this restaurant is going to have to work hard to stay competitive What they do have going for them is their intimate atmosphere. If they could improve the food, I would definitely eat there over some of the noisier, more crowded places, but for now, I'll take the crowds in exchange for beautiful, tasty and satisfying food.

As this restaurant is brand new and probably still trying to find their legs, I will return in a month or two to give them another shot.