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Real People. Real Reviews.®
Categories: Meat Shops, Cheese Shops [Edit]
1689 Johnston StMon-Sun 9 am - 7 pm
Wow wow wow, this place has been on my list to try ever since every chef or restaurant I love in the city tells me to go here for the prosciutto. So I finally went and got three kinds - duck, wild boar and one I can't remember the name of. Seriously it was like heaven in my mouth! The charismatic Italian man helping us also suggested a machego cheese go along with the prosciutto and it was also perfect.
The prices are definitely high but for the quality I would expect to pay way more! It was an instant crowd pleasing plate at my place paired with some wine.
I'd come back here the next time I host a party for sure but would probably avoid the rush on summer weekends.
A friend of mine suggested to get the jamon iberico from there - it's the only place to get it in Vancouver and it took over 10 years of effort to get it imported into Canada. So that'll be on my list next!
Listed in: The best places to take…
TWO big thumbs up for the bagful of fresh Boerewars I bought, very tasty and great service to putting the last ones aside for me.
Oyama is busy, they have all sorts of great things and I can't really say anything bad about them. You do pay a premium that is for sure. And you're not necessarily paying a premium for superior stuff. If you find niche shops selling particular things you can get just as good quality or better for cheaper, but really that's not a complaint as much as reality.
An example with the Boerewars is there is a South African shop in Surrey that makes them fresh and the price is almost half. But in my case I was just around the corner from Granville Island so I stopped by and picked my sausages up.
Oyama overall is a great one-stop shop for meaty things, and they will not disappoint with their products.
I keep coming back for their honey pepperoni sticks, which is probably the most boring item they sell. But it's fricking tasty!
There are two reasons why I rarely shop here: a lack of money and the fact that my wife's a vegetarian (sort of like Samuel L. Jackson's character Jules in Pulp Fiction "...because my girlfriend's a vegetarian, which pretty much makes me a vegetarian"). I also use my wife as the main excuse not to afford Oyama. But they sure do have an impressive meat and cheese selection! Go rich people!!
Oyama is Oh So Yummy!
My cousin and I picked up 300 grams of pate here yesterday and it was delicious! The Truffle Pate, and Turkey Pate with apricots was to die for. And at $3.99 per 100 grams, its a steal.
Can't wait to try them all!
Listed in: Where to shop at Granville…
OK this is gonna sound awful, but I feel way better buying my cured meats and delicatesen yummies from a woman with a thick german or austrian accent. That said I feel pretty comfortable buying my meat from these fine ladies and gents! Yummy landjaeger, two or three types of shinkenspeck (yeah I have no idea how to spell that), and some very very very cool types of exotic meat salamis. Oh wow, Elk juniper salami, tasty but not amazing.
Between it and the cheese place across the way you can really have yourself an awesome outdoor picnic!
Listed in: Best Places to Get Groceries!, Places You'll Find Me in…
I never fail to find something delightful here.
The most mainstream items are likely the Feenie Weenies, smokies filled with cheese (emmenthal and Mozza - I believe)
Many varieties of lamb and duck sausage for something slightly less mainstream (Lamb & Fig, Duck a l'orange, 'Puck Duck', ...).
Further off the path includes Elk, Venison, ... .
Their options vary with every visit so you cant guarantee a preferred item but *anything* here is worth the trip - even if you have to wait and are buffeted/blocked by passers-by/gawkers. What do you expect in a great public market!
Unfortunately I choose a Sat to go down to the Granville Public Market and check out Oyama; boy was that a mistake as it took at least 20 minutes to even get near the showcase.
The place has it's pros and cons. It was very difficult to really see everything and I found the way things were set up with 3 main show cases it was really easy to lose your spot or to get anyone's attention.
I found the staff to be indifferent when it came to that so I wasn't too impressed. JLZ being a smoker style deli makes sure everyone is served and happy. This wasn't really the case here so because of that I wouldn't go back.
On the pro side, the proscuitto is everything everyone said it was, fresh and very good. I also bought a couple different types of homemade sausages but they went straight to my freezer so haven't tried those yet.
Prices are definitely on the high side but I expected that at the public market and you do pay for quality. But, I would go to Salt Tasting and try it there as the whole experience would be much more enjoyable.
Oyama's products are good but not enough for a shopping experience that turned me off.
OMGOODNESS Oyama, what have you done to me!
my meatless weeknight meals has led to constant meaty weekends!
In a span of one week, I have have eaten Oyama meats THREE TIMES. that never happens! Once at the Salt Tasting room featuring Oyama, and twice at granville island.
Through tasting the tasty super delicious grelots (Salami with Hazelnuts inside) at Salt, I just had to pick up some!... and I wanted a blue cheese to compliment it, so Pedro, my Oyama helper for the day, came and explained to me the different textures, sharpness and types before I just told him that I would go with his recommendation.
I went home with my blue cheese and grelot, cut it up and put a little honey together (like I ate it at salt) and enjoyed a lovely encore sample to what I had last Monday. The blue cheese was definitely not strong and super creamy. I was surprised that I would've preferred something stronger but this was really nice. It's good to know that not all blue cheeses are so intense.
They had this sausage sample that seemd to have bits of apricot in them to bring out a hint of sweetness. Another nice invention from the creators of Oyama. oh how I love you.
Listed in: Unique / Top Knotch / Must Try…
Oh my gosh -
THREE WORDS:
Get
the
PROSCUITTO!
No joke here... there's something about their proscuitto..…
Read more »
Oyama has a great selection of cheeses and high quality chacuterie items that are hard to find elsewhere.
They are pricey, but you definitely get what you pay for.
I'm a pepperoni fan, and theirs is well priced, huge, and not ground too finely. if you like meat in stick format, this is the place for you.
also, for the Spanish afficionados out there, they have a delicious jamon serrano. i also spoke to the manager (? owner?) about morcilla, a Spanish blood sausage with unique spices and rice in it. I've never found it in Vancouver. Turns out they make it once a year! He wrote down my name and remembered to call me when it was made 5 months later. Terrific!
Oyama would get 5 stars if it weren't for the at times agonizing wait times in busy periods. Tourists stand and stare while you are trying to run in a pick up a few slices of serrano and some St Agur. One or two staff seem to lack knowledge as well, but in general they are excellent and with that wide selection and knowledgeable customers I am sure there job is not easy.
Excellent range of cured meats including the king of hams, Jamon Iberico De Bellota. A nice selection of cheeses which is not vast but well thought out. I am yet to try the range of pate which I really should. The sausages are also excellent with a tasty merguez that I enjoyed a lot.
They also stock duck fat which is exceedingly hard to find in this city. Thanks to them I enjoyed some delicious confit turkey legs at Christmas.
Oyama sausages are my best friend :)
I usually go here at least twice monthly. They're simply the best sausages on the planet. Yeah, they have great cheeses and cured meats and all that other delicious stuff, but the sausages are where its at.
Talk about selection! Huckleberry Elk, Coq au Vin, Spicy Italian, Blueberry Venison, Garlic Chicken, and oh so many more. They just beg to sizzled on the grill for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight snack.
If you're ever having a Caesars and Weiners party, as I have done so many times before, you gotta hit up Oyama. And you gotta have a Caesars and Weiners party...
Listed in: My Favourite Island that Isn't
I have never been more excited about ground up meat before in my life...
With a frenzy of people (why did I go to Granville Island on the weekend?) I waded my way to the front of the line. The choices...the selection..the butter chicken sausage??? Okay, save that for next time - because over my sausage fingers (read: dead body), there'll be many more times!
It's all fresh, it's a lotta local, it's really meat-erific!
Come here - buy something you wouldn't normally get - get out your bbq - and grill! Today's random choices were cheese filled all beef, something or another, and European weiners.
And even though the crowds kept coming the smiles from the clerks did too, urging me to "buy more, buy more!" They know I'm a lifer!
Listed in: 5 Star Reviews - You deserve…, Dining In, Granville Island, I never..., Thinking Global, Eating Local
If some tourist handed me 4-6 different kinds of cheeses and asked me for "just a sliver of each" I'd probably sarcastically look around at the huge line of people clamoring for their turn and say something extremely snotty.
Luckily the people who work at Oyama Sausage Company are much nicer than I am and happily set to work cutting, weighing, and pricing my selection of Canadian cheeses. They didn't even flinch when I asked for 6 slices of prosciutto but that's probably because they saw me jumping up and down when I saw the delicious hunk o' ham.
Of course this stuff doesn't come cheap. Usually when I buy $32 worth of groceries I expect the plastic bag to cut off the circulation to my hand and this little bag of epicurean goodies didn't even leave a mark on my fingers but it was totally worth it.
Listed in: Vancouver BC where the grass…
charcutrie paradise. these guys have got it going ON! every time you go to oyama it's packed with folks getting their hands on delicious meats and cheeses. i'm a big fan of their air dried beef, their terrines, and their beer sausage. the diced serrano ham and chorizo is also amazing for paellas!
Though the meats are amazing and we purchased a few salamis and prosciuttos in addition, what drew us back to Oyama after years of missing it was the cheese selection. It's not the biggest cheese selection, but some of the cheese that we purchased - including the very Canadian maple cheddar - have been unattainable at even the best cheese shops in Seattle, a mere 140 miles - sorry, 225 kilometers - away.
The maple cheddar alone makes Oyama a must stop for us when we are in Vancouver and now that we have had their pine needle cured prosciutto and rosemary wild boar salami and their chicken grapefruit mint sausage, we are even more hooked than ever before.
I am glad that Oyama is in Vancouver and not Seattle. If it were in Seattle, I'd have to try something new every week. My heart needs that kind of space.
Buy meat here and eat it. There's not much else to say. Excellent selection, a slice of butchering wizardry. There's no way to regret any purchase you make at this place. Unless your arteries almost clog up from eating their seven types of jerky/sticks - like mine almost did. Really though, it's meat heaven. If I didn't survive, I'd know that on the other end, there were Oyama sausages waiting at the eternal dinner table.
There was a little tiny piece in the NYTimes about Oyama the week before I was planning to be in Vancouver, a layover on the way to blissful skiing in Whistler (that review soon).
Trying to plan out 36 hours of fun in Vancouver, especially with much of that time being New Year's day, can be difficult. But of course we're talking Vancouver here, international city of glass. Beautiful city, and one always willing to stay up late then re-emerge the next day seemingly ready for anything.
So, Salt Tasting Room beckoned, and gave us our first taste of what to expect at Oyama.
I have my one word (yes, the prosciutto was good as well), and that is:
Ginocchiona.
I had never heard of such a thing before. NYC salumi tends towards the traditional. Great examples of Soppresata are made here, don't get me wrong. But where's the fun? Ginocchiona has a essence of citrus flavor that brings to mind the Italian spirit of expermentation that invented the Ferrari. Italians didn't invent cars, but they sure figured out one way to perfect them.
I don't know if Ginocchiona is the invention of Oyama, but it represents a revolution in the craft of making cured meats that we desparately need out here in New York. Or else I need to move.
Oh yeah, great wild boar chorizo too.
Great selection. I've only tried their homemade and their important prosciutto, Serrano ham, duck prosciutto and their lardo. All of it was good. The lardo was cured with some rosemary flavour. The Spanish Serrano was aged longer than the Italian stuff and had a strong but really nice porky flavour.
I'm looking forward to trying everything else.
My only complaint would be that it often takes a really long time for them to get your order as they only have one slicer and that their prosciutto can be pricey. There are cheaper alternatives in the Italian areas on Hastings.
Oyama is known for its sausage, but what really drew me into their storefront was their selection of pates. Having recently been turned onto the tasty wonders of pate, I couldn't resist looking and ultimately purchasing a tasty slice to go with some baguette.
There were maybe eight different varieties of pate- after speaking with the counterwoman, I puchased 100 grams (maybe a 1/2 inch thick slab) of a wild mushroom pork pate. I couldn't wait to try it- the pate was silky smooth with the exception of some bits of mushroom, all melding together to make a delicious product. Paired with a baguette, the pate made a perfectly tasty lunch- the only thing missing was some light white wine to cut some of the richness.
All Oyama's other products look fabulous as well, but I would most definitely come back for a taste of that pate again.
I don't cook but this stuff makes me look like a star.
I can pull up to any chindig with a plate of fennel salami, duck procuitto and applewood smoked cheedar a bottle of wine and I'm a rock star. It's not cheap, but they let you try everything and I like that. I usally just let them pick a few things for my and I just pay the bill.
jen is crazy for the duck fat and fresh sausages. I don't think we've ever spent less than $100 buck but it's worth if for me not to have to cook!
It the first "meal" I made for Jen. Add truffle honey a baguttte and you've got a date.
Oyama is insane! Truly dedicated to achieving their fullest potential as a charcuterie! Oyama is just plain Silly-Good!
OK foodies, gourmands and culinary pilgrims . . . don't get lost or confused as you wander the market past other butchers, delis and other cheese purveyors . . . The Oyama Sausage Company sign hangs like a beacon to safely guide you past these very good purveyors to safely arrive at easily the city's best!
Flanked by a cheese selection to one side and a case of house-made pates on the other, prepare to get lost within a selection of literally hundreds of specialty items.
To start, the cheese selection is a very good and diverse, ranging though all types of milk and consistencies including raw milk (take heed fellow deprived Americans and lucky-as-hell Canadians.) With all the meat choices, it is easy to overlook the cheese, but the cheese here is all hand selected for quality and not simply an afterthought or picnic accompaniment.
Prosciutto, chorizos, salamis, sausages, sandwich meats, bacon, snaking meats, pates, terrines, cooked and uncooked links . . . pork cheeks, pheasant, buffalo, wild boar, goose, duck, chicken, venison, rabbit, lamb . . . PLEASE, SOMEONE SMACK ME! You know, sadly, I probably didn't even scratch the surface . . . This is a foodie mecca of meats (and don't forget, some damn good cheese!)
So blissfully I am asking, and ordering, and sweet lady helping us starts offering us samples, and I keep buying, and tasting and buying and tasting . . . When a man comes up next to us and (within less than 30 seconds) actually gets upset that the lady is offering us samples and we are accepting them. Given the nature of samples at the market, (Anyone not familiar with the market may be surprised to find that sampling a cherry or blueberry will likely set you back 25 cents) I assumed he was in a hurry and perhaps somehow tagged us as tourists.
I instantly felt uncomfortably as he heaved an exasperated sigh, gave me a distasteful look and actually started tapping his fingers on the counter. I decided that I would ask our salesperson to help him so he could order and be on the way, when another employee asked him if he needed any help. Do you know what this bastard did? He actually asked for a sample!!! Score a point for the quirky ironic playfulness of the universe, karma, god or perhaps even my own psyche . . . regardless, I couldn't help but smile! #$@!*%
So I ordered practically everything in 100 gram increments (which is metric for "Wow, that's more expensive than I thought it would be") and provisioned ourselves not only for fireworks in Stanly Park, but for picnics and snacks over the following 3 days on our way back to Los Angeles! Blissfully, happily, Oyama will always be a Vancouver must for me . . . of course, I wish I lived closer!
I really don't want to review any particular item as I feel it would do injustice to anything left unmentioned, but I really must pay tribute to the venison pate . . . unbelievably flavorful and perfectly made! Again, it is all great at Oyama! To boot, they also have all the accoutrements you would need or could imagine from crackers to cornichons.
Ironically, we left the market for a wine tasting and some charcuterie at Salt. Half of Salt's board featured meats from Oyama! For anyone short of time or the prowess to navigate the market's selection, you can get a good taste of Oyama there, but for the savvy, going to Oyama offers 400 times the selection, for a fraction of the price!
Went here based off of the yelp reviews under the search term, "pate," there was plenty to choose from as stated in previous reviews. I really liked how they let you sample the various pates. I saw about 15 diff types of pate. I went for the Mushroom pate and the Pastachio duck I think it was. Very good quality.
I wish I found a fresh baquette to go along with it tho but would diffinitely go back here on my next trip back to Vancouver.
Great, friendly service.
I had my own, on-the-fly picnic in the rain and decided Oyama would be the best place to order my charcuterie; I splurged and got the Parma ham which was sliced very professionally. I am very impressed.
Being a dumb American, I'm not too familiar with the metric system so I took a sampling of how much everyone ordered and 75 grams seemed like the average. I guess the saying, "Go with the flow," works in this case.
If you can't find what you are looking for ask, they will have at least 10 other products along the same lines.
I was kind of out of my element here. Everything kind of looked the same: red, vein-y with white fat deposits interspersed throughout. Came here to pick up some ingredients for dinner. My mom was coming over so my boyfriend--a self-proclaimed foodie, budding chef and about one of the fussiest eaters you'll ever meat--agonized and umm-ed and ahh-ed over what to purchase.
They had a pretty vast selection--never had I seen so many cured meats in one place than here. We finally settled on some kind of speckled bacon to round off this clam chowder we were making that night. It seemed to go down well with my mom as she asked for a second helping of it. They sell prosciutto, chorizo, sausages (lots of sausages), pates and so forth. Meat in every kind of texture imaginable. Yum!
I think the reviews speak for itself. This is THE place to go if you love or 'need' any kind of cheese or sausage or everything in between. Personal favourites (for now) are the Jambon Blanc (simmered with herbs) and the canadian chevre cheese.
always insanely busy, yet oyama staff always manage to stay cheerful and friendly. "enthusiastic" even (gasp!). Maybe it's because they're just as delighted to be serving up their yummy meats, cheeses, and pate/terrines, as we are to eat them!
their deli selection is firstrate, and their seasonal specials are always a must try. Buffalo and smoked hams (rosemary and lemongrass are my favs) are tried and true standbys. If you haven't tried their terrines and pates are great - mushroom pate is lovely and intensely rich, and their duck terrines are all very tasty without being overly rich.
Prices are quite agreeable, considering it's only a fraction more than what you might pay at a supermarket - whether it's for a dinner party or your lunch sandwich, it's definitely worth the trip to Granville!
SOLID SOLID SOLID MEAT
I don't mean to be sassy.
Always walk out of here happy, and prepping to be ripped apart with a huge piece of meat.
come on.... don't think like that.
If you like meat, oh boy, do I have the place for you!
Don't let the name fool you, sausage is only a tiny portion of the cured meats, charcuterie and salumi available here. The meat selection is incredible and puts your average deli to shame (try the boar.) They also have some excellent cheeses.
One note - the meat is not labeled automatically, so it's easy to forget what is what in their colourful paper packages. Make sure to write it down! On a future trip, I will ask if they have labels (or bring a pen.)
Listed in: Granville Island Picks and…
After hearing the reviews of this place I had to see for myself.
OMG !!!!
Amazing !!! On my first attempt to get the coveted merguez sausage I was shot down...sold out. So I settled for a giant slab of popular grove tiger blue and about 2 lbs of andouille sausage. Both were fantastic and I was truly blown away I looked forward to going back to get my damn merguez sausage !!
Attempt number two, nothing again... so settled on 5 yr aged cheddar and roast beef. Great again but still no merguez. Cheddar was rich and savory. and paired great with their roast beef. The beef was perfectly cooked; nice and rare !!
Attempt number three, JACKPOT !!! Finally available and I ordered up about 2 lbs worth. Back home, grilling these bad boys up, I was watering at the mouth. As soon as they came off I almost burned my mouth stuffing those into my mouth.....omg they were sooooo goood !!!! Just spicy and flavorful without being too salty. They had a great texture and just made you want to eat more and more. A new definite favorite place to get my sausage on !!!
honest with the currency exchange
the lingonberry pate is supreme
Impressive and vast, Oyama Sausage is Mecca for really-amazing meat lovers and the gastronomically-curious types everywhere. Oyama is a family run business, in its 5th generation. No doubt the emphasis on serious quality practices has kept this Mecca alive for so many moons. My up-bringing always has me coming back for more garlicky Ukrainian Kielbasa sausage, but the choices are endless and delectable: chorizos, Parma hams, duck prosciutto, double-smoked bacon, incredible pates and terrines, wild boor salami, traditional black pudding and lamb salami, amongst a delicious array of other meats and fine cheeses. Oh right, the cheeses! Although the emphasis is on the meat here, there is a great selection of local and international fine cheeses to accompany that lamb salami sandwich you're thinking about....At least, I am!
Neighborhood: Granville Island/False Creek
Neighborhood: Granville Island/False Creek
Neighborhood: Point Grey
Neighborhood: Downtown
Neighborhood: Fairview Slopes
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