I went to Goro + Gun a while ago. Just a little behind on my blogging. Located in the former West Restaurant and Bar location, it is definitely the largest ramen serving restaurant in Calgary. It’s not exclusively ramen; there are other Japanese influenced Asian dishes on the menu.
Hubby and I started with the okonomiyaki. It is a traditional Japanese savoury pancake. I quite liked the taste and concept. There was pork belly topped with ginger, bonito flakes, mayo, and teriyaki style sauce over a fried green cabbage batter. It was a fairly substantial appetizer and something that I have not tried before.
I went with the Miso ramen for my main. The noodles are what I would expect with ramen; yellow, slightly curly with a chewy texture. The broth was tasty and more like creamy tonkotsu if compared to Shiki Menya’s. I liked the added flavour of the black garlic oil.
Hubby and I shared the dessert which was a black sesame creme brulee. It was served with what tasted like a rice cracker on the side and topped with what seemed to be deep fried crispy noodle. It was a very interesting and unique dessert. I love the richness of black sesame, which works well in this case.
Lovely wine rackOKONOMIYAKI green cabbage, green onion, pork bellyMISO RAMEN bbq pork, kikurage mushrooms, red ginger, green onions, misoSesame Creme Brulee with Rice Cracker
There’s been a quiet restaurant revolution going on in this part of Edmonton Trail for some time. All sorts of different places are popping up. From rustic casual to fish and chips to a Mexican Taqueria. CEREZO is a take on Japanese fusion much like Carino. They serve tapas which I quite like as I can sample a variety of dishes. The restaurant is located in a small house off the main street; it is easy to miss if you are not looking.
Onto the food. Our first dish was an assortment of sauteed mushrooms served with thin slices of toasted baguette. I love the rich earthy flavors with a hint of garlic. Next was the duo of quiche. One was chicken and the other, tuna. It was topped off with melted cheese. The crust of the quiche had a sweet quality which complemented the dish nicely. Also a touch of heat from some kind of hot pepper. The deep fried spring rolls had a rich shrimpy flavor. It was dusted with a lemon garlic salt which added a burst of flavor. To counter the strong flavours of the preceding dishes, the savoy cabbage and bacon in the dashi broth was a nice change. The gravlax salmon was presented beautifully. There was a dab of wasabi, garnished with lemon zest. The mascarpone cheese was a nice twist on cream cheese. The salmon swam nicely in the yuzu sauce.
The dessert menu was presented in a unique way. There was a selection of cakes, mousse and tarts, all of which could be paired with your choice of ice cream. I choose the strawberry shortcake with salt ice cream. The salt ice cream tasted like vanilla with an aftertaste of fleur de sel. An interesting combination. Hubby enjoyed his chocolate covered green tea mousse with matcha ice cream.
Service was really good to start off, but then it got busier and it was a little slow. Still, definitely worth a return visit.
MenuDaily SpecialsSauteed Mixed Mushrooms with GarlicDuo QuicheCrispy Shrimp Spring Roll and NibitashiSalmon SashiDessertChocolate Covered Green Tea Mousse with Matcha Ice CreamStrawberry Shortcake with Salt Ice Cream
I knew there would be another visit. A friend wanted to go for her birthday. She asked for the Chef’s tasting menu, for the four of us. What we got was a selection, chosen by the chef from the regular menu.
We started off with the yam tempura, which were not part of the tasting menu. Sweet potato cut french fry style fried in tempura. It was amazing.
Up next was the Tai miso soup. Sort of a luxury miso soup, with a variety of mushrooms. Tasty.
Pan fried sushi grade tilapia with steamed tofu, oyster, king and shiitake mushroom in soya bean brothSeared seasoned New York steak thinly sliced dressed with homemade spicy vinaigrette
The spicy chicken was indeed spicy, it reminds of the flavors of gojujang sauce.
Fresh chicken stir fried with seasonal vegetable in house made spicy miso sauce
The pork belly was tasty. It tasted of Chinese five spice with soy undertones. Here’s a version of the recipe. He mentioned it cooks for six days.
Slow cooked pork belly in house secret recipe sauce (Okinawa style)
What really shines are his house specials. Okonomiyaki, a Japanese style pancake. The bonito flakes got the audience going as they looked like they were fluttering in the air.
Japanese style pancake with bacon and mixed vegetables sprinkled with dry fish flakes top glazed with otofuku sauce and mayoSeared sashimi grade ahi-tuna served on top of a variety mix of seaweed with a touch of kani-su and house miso dressing
Here’s another house special, the Treasure of Ocean roll. The dry bean curd wrap was an interesting touch.
Soya bean wrap, steamed prawn, avocado, red tuna, tobiko, tempura and spicy mayo. Topped with sweet sesame mayo.
At this point, I thought we had about eight or nine dishes, but when the server asked if we were still hungry, one of my friends said yes… So we got another three dishes and dessert. Not hungry anymore, just a bit full.
Deep fried breaded horse mackerel served with a sweet soy based vinaigretteCrab meat, mayo, avocado, red tuna, mango, sweet may, wasabi tomiko
I really like the yam chips that came with the Ayumi Unagi. The rest of the dish was good too, but I was too full to properly enjoy it.
BBQ eel, avocado, sweet shiitake mushroom,. Served with house made special sauce and tobiko.
There’s always room for dessert. I had the mango panna cotta. The mango syrup reduction was very rich and flavorful. The banana bread was an interesting touch.
Tiramisu, mango panna cotta and banana bread
We had the opportunity to chat with the chef, Oscar, and his wife, April. They are both very genuinely nice people who really care about their food. As we left the restaurant, we realized it was quite full and sort of amazed how quickly our food came out.
