Gyusen is the newest kid on the block on Robson Street. They quietly opened their doors earlier this month. Gyusen is bringing the authentic taste of chargrilled Japanese beef tongue to Vancouver straight from Japan. Gyusen is the first of its kind and I’m so happy to see a restaurant specializing in beef tongue. It is one of my favourite things to eat and I rarely see it in Vancouver (aside from BBQ spots like Gyukaku, izakayas or Chinese BBQ shops).
In addition to their sets that feature exclusively beef tongue, they also incorporate this delicious ingredient in other familiar Japanese comfort foods. They have a Gyutan Don Set served with avocado as well as Gyutan Curry and Gyutan Udon!
Click here to see the menu. For the month of July to celebrate their grand opening everything is 20% off! I’ve included the main menu highlights below.
Gyusen Menu
Chef’s Selection – Beef Tongue Sets
Their Chef’s Selection beef tongue sets come with oxtail soup, pickles, mugi-meshi (Barley rice) or Udon. The main is a variation of thick or thin cut beef tongue. There is the option for the more specialty cuts as well.
I had the Atsugiri Gyutan Set (8 pieces for $25.99) which features their thick cut chargrilled beef tongue. This was the best dish to get a good taste of what Gyusen has to offer. There is an option for rice or udon and I went with rice because nothing is tastier with thick beef tongue.
The chargrill flavour was very prominent and the beef tongue was very tender. The simple salt marinade greatly enhanced the taste of the meat. The oxtail soup was flavourful and was reminiscent of seolleongtang (Korean Ox Bone soup). The only downside for me was the pickles did not have a balanced pickle flavour – it was too salty for my preference.
Japanese Comfort Food with Beef Tongue
Nimono ($14.99) features beef tongue, daikon and konjac. It’s a very comforting bowl with lots of earthy flavours. The daikon was so tender and full of flavour from the beef and other ingredients. The only downside is that this dish does not come with rice, so you will need to add that on yourself.
Gyutan Don Set ($16.99) features beef tongue on top of barley rice, avocado and an onsen egg. It comes with ox tail soup and pickles. The flavour was good on this dish and the egg really elevated the dish. The avocado added some richness to the overall dish, but I don’t think it really added much.
To finish off our meal, Gyusen sent out one of their signature dishes – Amazake Tempura. Amazake is a traditional sweet, low-alcohol Japanese drink made from fermented rice. The texture of this dessert reminded me of classic Chinese dessert – deep fried milk (炸鮮奶). The fermented rice flavour is very light, it was just like eating crispy milk.
Overall I enjoyed my experience at Gyusen. The staff were following COVID-19 safety protocols and were very prompt with tea refills. They noticed that I was taking photos and offered to reheat my food for me (which has never happened to me before!) If you have never tried beef tongue before, this would be a great introduction.
