5.10.2015

Suika

 Hello everyone!

The other day it was my friends birthday so we decided to go to Suika on Broadway. I've never been to this place before but my friend told me it is absolutely amazing. I had really high expectations for this place and was super stoked to finally get to try this place out.

Since it's located on Broadway, majority of the parking spots are meter parking. We were able to find a spot on one of the closer side streets and paid approx. $3-$4 in parking for two hours.

The exterior of the building was rather simple and didn't really stand out much. The interior on the other hand was pretty unique. It definitely gave a Japanese vibe once you walk in. When you walk in you see a traditional wooden cabinet which acts as a reception desk. They also had a very cool light fixture in the centre of the dining area. It was made out of Japanese looking bottles. I thought it was a very cool idea and definitely gave the place character.

When I sat down, I noticed that their logo was a watermelon. That moment I knew Suika was to represent watermelon. I thought it was such a cute logo and I loved how our napkins, cups & cup coasters had a watermelon on it.





They have a crazy list of cocktails on their menu. The one that stood out to me was their Suika Mojito (aka. watermelon mojito) $8.50. I will definitely bring Phil back here because he LOVES watermelon and he LOVES mojitos. So the two combined would be the ideal combination for him.
Two of my friends ordered the Boston Mojito (aka. fresh ginger mojito) $8.00. Ginger is freshly made in house and the flavor was definitely unique. My friends really liked the freshness of the ginger taste. My other friend ordered the Fresh Lychee Gray (soho, fresh grapefruit & sugar rim) $7.50. I tried it after taking a sip of my watermelon mojito and I think that's why I think her drink was rather sour because my drink is extremely sweet. Everybody thought her drink tasted great and would highly recommend it as well.
Overall all the drinks we ordered were fantastic and would highly recommend just trying whichever one fits your taste! They have a wide range of different flavours in cocktails and that's what I love about this place!

They have a daily special menu which changes everyday and they have a standard dinner menu. So we ordered a few on each menu to try out more items.

First off for appetizers, we got Ebi-Mayo $8.80. The tiger prawns were huge in size and was evenly mixed with the batter. It was served with chili mayo on it and it tasted great!

Next, was the Takowasabi $3.80. I've never heard or seen this in my life so I was kind of skeptical in trying this out. My friends said if your not a big fan of wasabi you won't like this. But for the heck of trying everything out, I decided to try one. You take a seaweed and you just place the wasabi mix in your seaweed and roll it up and eat it. My first one I didn't put that much wasabi and it was actually very flavourful. You can definitely feel the wasabi flavor going up your nose. (**If you ever have a stuffy nose, this will definitely clear it all up!**) For my second one I decided to put more of the wasabi in it and I thought it was fine and tasted amazing!
 
 
I saw a picture on Instagram that was posted by a food blogger from Vancouver and she posted a photo of this 9 dish box from Suika. So I knew this was a definite must order to try that day. I ordered this Suika Deluxe Box ($12.80) not knowing what was in these 9 little cups until it arrived so it was a surprise for all of us girls.
 
 
From left to right:
Top- Tuna, (some sort of panned fish, forgot the name), eggplant
Middle- Tofu, Deep fried salmon, cracker with cream cheese
Bottom- egg pudding, pork, veggies
 
Overall, we thought it was pretty interesting. I think it is worth it to try this once but I don't think I'll order this again because I rather order a specific dish I like and just eat that instead of these 9 items.


On to our main course, we ordered the 5 kind Sashimi plate $25.00. We chose local tuna, fatty tuna, salmon, sweet shrimp & scallop. All of them came with three pieces. It was very fresh and everything tasted great!

Next up, we got the Salmon Carpaccio ($8.80) which contained fresh salmon, veggies, onions and some nuts lathered in a sesame soy dressing. Thought this dish was okay, nothing spectacular but was nice to try! The salmon was very fresh and matched the soy dressing very well.

We also ordered the Grilled Duck $8.80. The duck breast was already sliced up and was extremely juicy. It was paired with side tomatoes & granny smith green apple slices. The tomatoes and green apples were lathered in a special sauce which contained balsamic, soy, butter & Japanese pepper. It was a very interesting combo to eat the Grilled duck with the tomato and apple slices and I actually kind of like it! I would never imagine these combos would work but I think they compliment each other very well.
 
Next we got the big juicy fat AAA Beef Filet Steak $19.00. This was so satisfying that no words can describe how great this tasted. This steak was already chopped up and was placed on a hot plate which slowly simmered the steak when it arrived on to our table. On top of the steak was fried garlic chips. The steak itself already had a lot of flavor but if you prefer an extra kick of flavor, it also comes with fresh shichimi spice & soy onion sauce. The steak was extremely tender and juicy! I would highly recommend ordering this!


On the daily special menu, they had a Pulled Pork Bibimbap $9.80. I forgot to take a picture of the rice before our waiter mixed it but below is a picture of the mixed bibimbap. FANTASTIC flavor and it wasn't heavy pulled pork flavor. The sauces used were very different from what I imagined it'll be. It tasted fantastic, had great chunks of pulled pork in the dish and by far one of my fave bibimbaps I had in my life. I would definitely order this again!

Obviously we had to order some sushi at a sushi restaurant. Just like the saying on the menu "NO SUSHI NO LIFE".  We ended up getting Aburi "shime-Saba" Sushi $12.80, which is seared mackerel pressed sushi. The rice was not compressed well enough and did not have a sticky consistency, therefore once you try to pick up the sushi with your chopsticks, the rice automatically detaches and falls apart. The mackerel tasted great but was rather disappointed how the rice didn't stay together.

Near the end of our dinner, we totally forgot to order the Corn Kakiage $5.80, so we additionally added that at the end before dessert. It is corn niblets deep fried in cilantro batter, soy sauce & butter. Love this dish of deep fried corn and will definitely order this again.


Last but not least, we have to order dessert! The best part of the meal!

We ended up getting two desserts to share. First off, we got the Earl Grey Tea Crème Brulee $4.80. Soft inner texture with a crispy top. Great subtle flavor of the Earl grey and really goes well with the whip cream.

Second, we got the Matcha Brulee $5.20 which was HIGHLY recommended by my friend. And she was absolutely right, this dessert was FANTASTIC. Great matcha flavor, tasted like eating matcha ice cream but with a crispy texture on the outside. Amazing dish to end our night at this restaurant.
I would highly recommend getting this dessert!

Okay...so it didn't quite end at dessert... we ended up ordering a bottle of Sakagura Nigori Ume (Plum Wine $28.00)
Great flavor and tastes nothing like wine. It tasted just like plum juice and I'm pretty sure all girls would love this type of drink.

Service: 4/5

Food: 4/5

Price: $-$$

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Mothers Day!
-Jess



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