In downtown Vancouver, there's a hot
dog stand on nearly every corner. Most of the time, the wafting smell
of the sausages cooking is delicious and very tempting. And then at
other times, it's more like a stench of old meat that makes you want
to gag. Eating a hot dog from a tin cart on the side of the road is
apparently a gamble and we were not yet brave enough to try one.
During our first week here we came
across one particular stand called Japadog. A line of people were
queuing at the little cart, huddled as close as possible to its red
umbrella. It was, of course, raining but this didn't seem to dampen
the punter's eagerness to get their hands on a Japadog.
As we continued walking, Josh and I
discussed the possibilities of what a Japadog could actually be. We
decided that it's either a cross between Japanese food and a regular
hot dog or a sausage with Hello Kitty's face printed on it. We were
intrigued, but not enough to turn around and line up in the rain.
A few weeks later we were googling best
cheap places to eat in Vancouver. And number one, as voted by critics
and bloggers, was Japadog. Josh and I looked at each other in
disbelief. A hot dog stand is number one?
So it turns out a Japadog is a hot dog
with Japanese toppings (A little disappointed as I was hoping for
Hello Kitty). But how could the voters and the line of people always
at the stand, no matter the time of day or weather, be wrong? We
decided it was time for our first Japadog.
Luckily, our local is only a couple of
blocks away. After a quick walk, we excitedly examined the board of
unusual hot dogs and basically chose two at random. Josh ordered the
Beef Terimayo: a beef sausage with Teriyaki sauce and Japanese
mayonnaise, topped with dried seaweed. I chose the Oroshi: a pork
sausage with grated radish, green onion and special soy sauce.
Terimayo on the left and Oroshi on the
right.
And they were pretty good. The Terimayo
was the better of the two, as the mayonnaise was delicious and the
seaweed was like a crunchy surprise. But don't think we'll be rushing
back now that we know what its all about. It was the element of
intrigue that had us so eager to try one. After I took my last bite,
I said, “At least we can stop wondering now.”
