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Where can you find Japanese A5 Wagyu in Vancouver?
If you live in Vancouver, you may know it’s difficult to find Japanese A5 Wagyu. Here’s the good news! ABURI Market located at 1350 Marine Dr, West Vancouver, BC V7T 0B5 sells Grade 12 (highest grade) A5 Wagyu Beef and a variety of other beef cuts. This market is located in the West End of Vancouver with certified Japanese butchers working daily. They will likely have every cut of Wagyu beef you’re looking for either pre-cut or whole. You can ask the certified Japanese butcher to cut for you on the spot. The most common cut you will see is Yakiniku, which translates to grilled meat. It’s a style of cooking bite-sized meats, typically over gridirons or griddles like what you do at Korean or Japanese barbecue restaurants. If you want a slightly healthier alternative, they also have Sukiyaki cuts, which are even thinner, to “swish swish” in hot broth, including a section where they sell pre-packaged vegetable sets and a variety of broths for hot pot. Great for the upcoming cold winter season!
Read about the Japanese Wagyu Grading System and see my full recipe, A5 Wagyu Beef Carpaccio
They have two locations. The other one is Aburi To-Go by Minami located at 1112 Mainland St, Vancouver, BC V6B 2T9, Downtown Yaletown where they have a smaller selection of wagyu cuts, but if you want a vast variety, the West End location is where you want to go. These markets don’t just sell Wagyu Beef, they have products imported directly from Japan that you cannot find locally elsewhere along with some of your other favorite Japanese products, and even a local product section supporting local businesses. For prepared food, they have daily fresh sushi, sashimi, oshi, bento boxes, donburis, and hot foods like chicken karaage. They have a section where they sell Japanese plate ware, cookware, and even knives. There is outdoor seating and a large shared table indoors where you can heat up your food with complimentary microwaves to eat lunch or dinner.
What else does ABURI Market sell?
Well, I got to spend $200 CAD there and I picked out some awesome products I’d like to share with you. Whenever I went to Japan, as soon as I entered one of the convenience stores or even a 7-Eleven… I was always amazed at how fun the branding was for their drinks. The marketing and branding there is next level. Flavor-wise, they all taste great, seriously. Japan is one of my favorite places in the world for its culture, but especially its vast selection of food choices.
I got four different drinks:
Asahi Mitsuya - I recognized Asahi from the beer but I never knew they had non-alcoholic drinks. This was a carbonated apple, orange, and mango beverage. Out of the four drinks, this was my least favorite. I would give this 6/10.
Boss Sweet Latte - This was the first drink I had. While having my lunch there, this was a great option to help me feel energized with a bit of a caffeine boost. I would give this 8/10.
Asahi Craft Cola - Another Asahi non-alcoholic drink. I normally don’t drink cola, and try to stay away from it as much as possible due to the high sugar content, but this was actually pretty good. It tasted like a flat cola which I actually prefer oddly enough. I would give this 8.5/10.
Nectar Peach - There are small chunks of peach in this drink. This one was on sale, probably because of the real fruit they have inside. This tasted more like a boba-style drink with toppings inside which I enjoyed. I would give this 8/10.
If you’ve ever been to Japan, they also have great, convenient dessert options to choose from found in grocery or convenience stores.
Azuki Green Tea Bean Cake - I wish I got to try this, but my mom picked this out for herself.
Hokkaido Matcha Ice Cream - This tasted like real matcha, unlike some of the other matcha flavored ice cream I’ve had in the past. I would give this 8/10.
Hokkaido Milk Ice Cream - This was super addicting and I wish they had these in tub sizes, though a tub would be gone in a week max. I would give this 9/10.
COCONAMA CHOCOLATE - I’m a sucker for truffles, and because they were salted caramel flavored, I was sold. These are made locally here in North Vancouver, one of the many local businesses ABURI Market supports. I would give this 8.5/10.
Their in-house Aburi Soy Sauce is one of the best tasting soy sauces I’ve had. I first tried this soy sauce last year and really liked the combination of sweet and savory it has. It’s a specially brewed soy sauce from Japan that has a natural umami flavor profile, perfectly balanced with a clean finish, no added preservatives. I would rate this 9/10.
There are many other products I picked up (check out the video below) that I have not tried just yet, so stay tuned to see me try some of them out on my food videos in the future! Make sure to follow me on Instagram @willhkwong to be one of the first to see!
If Japanese Wagyu is pricey and not accessible for you, you can substitute using a tenderloin cut for about 1/3 of…