Japadog Hot Dog – Edamame Dog

Restaurant: Japadog
Cuisine: Japanese/Fusion
Last visited: January 24, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Downtown)
Address: Northwest corner of Burrard & Smithe, in front of Sutton Place hotel
Price range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5
Service: 3
Ambiance: n/a
Overall: 5
Additional comments:

• Specializes in Japanese hot dogs
• Pork, beef, turkey, veggie options
• Special for Kurobuta sausage: 100% pure all-natural Berkshire pork
• Most popular for Terimayo hot dog
• New Terimayo hot dog menu: ft different versions of mo st popular hot dog
• New Edamame hot dog menu
• Hot, fresh w/exotic Japanese ingredients
• Japanese operated
• Japanese condiments: wasabi mayo etc.
• New condiment – special plum sauce from Japan
• Long lines, busy at peak hours
• Attracts locals, tourists and famous people
• Second location at W Pender & Burrard
• $4.75-6.25

Recommendation: Terimayo, Okonomi

Japadog is a Vancouver institution for hot dogs. It’s something that started here and it’s one of the first Vancouver food carts to really make a name for themselves. Every time I have an out of town guest visit, Japadog is easily on the “must try” list. It’s easy, quick, very “Vancouver”, different, and affordable!

I was planning on ordering the Terimayo, but upon arrival I noticed a new sign featuring their new item the “Edamame Dog”. Obviously I had to try it! They offer a few different versions of it so in the end I decided to go for a combination of the new and the old. I opted for the Edamame Terimayo!

On the table:

Edamame Terimayo – 4.5/6

• Bratwurst, Edamame, Teriyaki sauce, Japanese Mayo, Seaweed $6.25
• I wish I liked it more. It was good, but I was expecting more.
• I love Edamame so I thought this would be a great idea, but I actually like the regular Terimayo better than this.

• There are no surprises here. It’s a bratwurst with Edamame beans and that’s it. The bratwurst was slit and the Edamame beans were actually placed in between the slits.
• Since they used a bratwurst it’s not as flavourful as the 100% beef Jalapeno and Cheddar smokie in the Terimayo. It was exactly the same as the original Terimayo but they replaced the sausage. I think the beef would have overpowered the Edamame beans, but at the same time the brawurst didn’t do much for it either. I needed to add a lot (more than usual) of wasabi mayo to give it more flavour.

• The Edamame just added texture, but not really flavour. There was nothing really special about having them in there and I couldn’t even really taste them. I wanted more Edamame flavour or even just more to it. It was too simple and even tasted too simple.

• A couple bites after I noticed that edamame was also found throughout the hot dog and that was the only part that impressed me…otherwise I would have felt a bit ripped off.
• It’s actually a bit pricey for a hot dog, but it is really good so I don’t mind.