I really believe that it was the Japadog that started the food cart revolution here in Vancouver, they’ve been around since 2005, first as a food cart and now as a small restaurant on Robson St.
The name says it all. They specialize in hotdogs with a Japanese twist. Some of the ingredients include seaweed, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, bonito flakes as well as others. You won’t be using boring ketchup and mustard on these dogs!
Their menu at the restaurant is a bit different than at the carts. They have more variety, including side orders of fries with seasonings. I tried and loved their butter-shoyu fries. They also have ice cream dogs.
For my lunch, I decided to try the Oroshi dog – pork sausage, green onion, radish and soy sauce. It was so good! I absolutely loved this flavourful dog. They also have different type of sausages, kobe beef, even pork cutlet. If you’re a vegetarian, they can make any of their dogs with veggie sausage.
Every time I’ve eaten at the carts, there’s always been a massive line up. The restaurant is not any different. We had to wait about 10 minutes to order. But I can guarantee you it’s worth the wait. Japadog is a very unique experience and worth trying out.
The price are reasonable, an average of $4.50 per hot dog, depending on what you order. The fries are an additional $2.50.
Japadog has 4 locations in downtown Vancouver: at the corner of Burrard and Smithe, Burrard and Pender, at Waterfront Skytrain station and the restaurant on Robson Street. There’s also talks of another restaurant coming to Richmond.
