Recently I was lucky enough to dine at one of my favorite Japanese izakaya’s, Suika Japanese Snack Bar. I was there with someone who was checking out a VANEATS.ca dining package-Suika Punch. Seeing I love the creations that come out of the Suika kitchen a few more items had to be ordered!
We were served a complementary plate of Salmon Carppacio. Thinking this was a mistake we just sat there looking at it and each other for a couple of minutes until I flagged down a server, turns out it was a gift from Suika-BONUS! I’ve had a single serving of this before in a previous VANEATS.ca package and loved it. The dish has beautifully thin sliced salmon served in a bed of homemade sesame dressing, wasabi mayo topped with scallions and yuzu zest. The sesame really came through and the salmon was melt in your mouth delicious. We gobbled this plate up quick.
Corn Kakiage is one of my favorite items and I haven’t found it anywhere else. It’s battered and fried corn in a cilantro tempura batter and dressed with a soy/butter sauce. When you bite into this you are first struck with how light the batter is and then the individual corn nibblett’s start popping in your mouth. I recommend this to anyone going to Suika.
One of the items ordered t the table but not sampled by myself was the Sashimi “Shake” Salad. It’s Suika‘s creation that features the daily fresh sashimi selection, organic greens, tobiko, shrimp oil and sesame dressing. The prawn cracker was a nice surprise and the fact it only costs $7.80 makes it one of Suika‘s best values on the menu.
The item I had my eye on was the Torotoro Cha-shu plate. Featuring slowly roasted and braised pork that is served with Suika‘s secret spice blend on the side of the plate. The pork totally melted in my mouth and the fat was rendered perfectly. The scallion garnish worked well with the richness of the pork.
After a quick look at the fresh sheet for the dessert selection I went with something I’ve never had before, Sesame Cheesecake. I think it was served with a black sesame sauce that looked smooth on the plate but had a bit of grit to it when it hit my palate, the flavor was earthy without being overly sweet. The cheesecake texture was a pleasant surprise, it was dense and rich-I was expecting something lighter. I really hope they keep making cheesecakes like this and mix it up flavor wise on a regular basis.
Again it was another great meal at Suika and I’m happy the 2 people I was with got to have their first experience and one of my favorite places in Vancouver, you can also find their sister restaurant Kingyo Izakaya on Denman street in the West End, check out my past review here.
