Our mission: “Guu is Guuu’d!” -For your daily re-charging spot-
ー 今日も一日お疲れさま。でもこれからが本番です！ ー
Guu is known as the first Izakaya (Japanese tapas) establishment in Vancouver, offering the most authentic real izakaya experience to Vancouver locals.
GUU is as close as you can get to the “real deal”…unless of course, if you visit Japan!
Guu is aiming to be your “recharging spot”, where you refill your positive energy through our food and ambiance. Using freshest local ingredients with Japanese traditional culinary techniques (and our energetic passion),
you will find real “umami” in our carefully created delectable dishes that make you feel “Guuu’d”!
What exactly is an Izakaya?
Back in the Edo period (1600-1900), Sakaya (liquor shops) began serving alcohol and providing a place to stay and drink. (Although there is another theory that a “Soba-ya” (buckwheat noodle shop) began serving alcohol with their food, including otsumami into their menus.) Either way, during this period, the population of single men in Japan was a lot higher than that of single women, thus the “izakaya” became a popular casual dining place for men to not just eat and drink but, a place where they felt “at home” enough to start sharing their life stories as well. Needless to say, it did not take long for the popularity of “Izakayas” to boom.
Unlike your neighbourhood pub or bar, food is considered the more substantial item and drinks are the accompaniment to the food.
The “Izakaya culture” in Japan is rooted very deeply with Japanese people and has been for a very long time… probably more than one can imagine. It is often referred to “the place where new ideas are created and cultivated” by generations past and present.
Guu’s Community Service – Ramune Project
Total Donated Amount
(As of April 2023)
$150,000.00
With the immeasurable generosity of our customers, we have raised over $ 100,000.00 since 2008 for the B.C. Children’s Hospital. For every purchase of a bottle of Guu Ramune, 50 cents is donated to the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation. As well as up until November 2015, we have donated to SickKids (a major paediatric hospital in Toronto) through our Toronto locations as well.
BC Children’s Hospital is the province’s only full-service acute care hospital and serves the one million children living in BC and the Yukon. Last year, more than 138,000 children were treated at Children’s Hospital.
Ramune was the first carbonated beverage created and consumed in Japan way back in 1853. At first, Government officials mistook the popping sounds made when opening a ramune bottle, to the sound of gunfire, and they drew their swords.
Today, ramune is often associated with and represented as a symbol of ‘summer’ in Japan, and widely consumed by kids at summer festivals and night markets. Of course, adults drink ramune as well, as it reminds them of summer times long ago when they were kids. It is because “Ramune” is a nostalgic symbol of fond memories of our childhood, we have decided to support the “B.C. Children’s Hospital” through its revenue.
Please continue to support the BC Children’s Hospital through the sales of our Ramune. When ordering a bottle of Ramune or ordering a Ramune cocktail, just remember, we are helping to keep the beautiful and priceless smiles on our amazing children in need.
