Marulilu

While watching the Japanese Netflicks series "Midnight Diner; Tokyo Stories", I learned that there was a wonderful thing called Omelette Rice. We haven't come across it often locally ( it might be that I am just not trying hard to enough to find it). We had it and enjoyed it at Dae Ji Cutlet house but we are certainly not qualified as experts.

Don't blink or you'll miss Marulilu Cafe on Broadway near Cambie. We had browsed their web site and saw that they make several versions of omu-rice and some other things that set us to drooling.

We started with a Rice Burger. This one is a bit teeny but the plate is only $7.99 with a bright tasty salad with sesame dressing and miso soup. The burger is sukiyaki, with greens and a well seasoned and toasted rice bun. Two burgers are only $12.99 so don't cheap out like I did.

Mabo Tofu Don seemed like an interesting bit of fusion. It was mildly spicy ground beef with tofu over rice. The spice was not the Szechuan peppercorn type that I expected. To be honest, I get more spicy spaghetti sauce than mabo tofu. I am not complaining. It was very enjoyable.

Finally, there was the Garlic Omurice with Mushroom Tomato Sauce. The omelette was delicate and perfectly cooked but the rice was definitely not garlic rice. The tomato sauce, rice and egg made a tasty combination but I'm fairly certain that the sauce is basically tomato soup. Once again sort of humble style home cooking is what I am feeling. 

In addition to the Japanese choices, they do all day breakfast, coffees and desserts. The folks here are very friendly. There is seating here for a couple of dozen or so but I'm under the impression that they are mostly occupied. Be prepared to wait a few minutes. We feel like it was worth the wait even though not everything was what we expected. 

For what it's worth, we give Marulilu , 3 1/2 out of 5.