Suika

Suika’s been on my list to try after I’ve had good experiences at their sisters restaurants, Kingyo, Rajio and Raisu.

Hours. Their lunch hours are a bit short so watch out for that.

First trip, we dropped in on a Saturday for lunch. It wasn’t too packed.

The bottles of sake that double as a light fixture is pretty cool.

Second time, we came for a late Friday night dinner (around 9:00pm). The atmosphere was completely different; loud and rambunctious. They even sang two happy birthday song, Japanese style.

The inside is dark, moody and intimate. Makes for a fun time with friends or date night.

Lunch menu when we went a few months ago.

Click here to see the fresh menu, drinks and specials.

For dinner, there’s a couple menus too.

Their fresh sheet/food specials is always interesting.

Click here for the drink menu (1 and 2) and special drink menu.

Trip #1
We were hungry and M was in town so she wanted to try everything on the lunch menu (minus the $47.00 dynamic steak).

Sapporo pitcher ($17.80)
Nothing like some day drinking. We shared a pitcher which was perfect with our meal.

Love how the glasses come out nice and cold.

Salad
Light and simple but with a tasty citrusy sauce.

Deluxe Suika makunouchi box ($20.00)
They only make 10 per day so I was shocked to find out they still had some available when we ordered it. Lucky us. Great touch how they have a sheet that explains what every dish is in your box.

For us, the spread included hamburg steak, mentaiko prawns, chicken karaage, kakuni, tuna tataki, cream croquette, eel rolled omelette, marinated cold vegetables and an assortment of pressed sushi.

Great way to sample a bit of everything and perfect for sharing.

Spot prawns ($11.80 for three)
We added a fourth ($3.93 extra) so that we could each have one. I found the texture a bit slimy but fresh as can be.

Even better is that they will deep fry the heads for you (just ask). Perfectly crispy.

Smoked tuna tataki ($7.80)
With homemade chili oil. This was excellent. Generous cuts too.

Hiramasa carpaccio ($11.80)
Lightly seared, mayo and cheese with sesame soy dressing. This was top notch; flavours were fantastic. I would easily get this again.

Tako wasabi ($3.80)
With seaweed. Pretty standard tako.

Lotus roots kimpira ($4.80)
Stir fried and seasoned with fresh spice mix. This was actually quite nice with a mixture of lotus and carrots.

Kyuri-kimchi ($4.20)
Kimchi marinated cucumbers. This was surprisingly tasty; everyone was a fan.

Chicken karaage ($9.80)
Deep fried chicken with Japanese pepper salt. I don’t know how they get their karaage so tender and moist but they do. Filling. In hindsight, we should have just ordered one of the deep fried chicken dishes.

Grilled gindara ($15.80)
Grilled miso marinated sable fish. This was SO SO tender. Absolutely fantastic.

My ebimayo ($10.80)
Deep fried cilantro battered tiger prawns with chili mayo. Another typical dish. I’d probably pass on this next time.

The Hellz chicken ($10.50)
Fried chicken thigh tossed with original Hellz sauce. Our waiter made it sound like it was dangerously spicy so we got the sauce on the side. Don’t worry, it’s totally manageable. Nice bit of heat to it.

Avocado battera ($6.80)
Pressed avocado sushi with seaweed sauce. The sushi rice falls apart quite easily but it’s done right.

The avocado was creamy.

Negitoro battera ($9.80)
Pressed chopped tuna, scallion, avocado, shiso and sesame seeds sushi topped with sesame soy dressing and seaweed paste.

Negitoro was nicely seared.

Trip #2
This time we were a group of 5 but ordered less than when we were with four. Not sure how that panned out.

Grilled duck ($9.80)
Grilled duck breast seared with negi miso sauce, scallion and homemade chili oil. Good but fairly simple.

Tokyo oxtail soup ($11.80)
Slowly braised oxtail & noodles in soy broth topped with dried fish powder and scallions.

Broth was solid and the noodles had a chewy, toothsome bite. B wanted the oxtail to be more tender.

Goma miso tan-tan noodle ($12.80)
Noodles in sesame and miso based soup topped with sauteed ground chicken, burdock tempura and scallion.

The broth had a subtle, underlying heat to it but the flavours were well balanced.

Tako karaage ($9.80)
Octopus slices marinated in plum and perilla coated with whipped egg white and topped with scallion and sesame oil. Not greasy at all and perfectly crispy on the outside.

Grilled salmon cheek and belly ($10.80)
Salmon cheek and belly grilled and topped with yuzu miso sauce. This was fantastic. Way better than I expected. Good sized pieces too.

Truffle chawan-mushi ($9.80)
Japanese traditional steamed egg with prosciutto, camembert cheese, sun-dried tomato and black truffle. I love my chawan-mushi ever since Japan. This was good but it’s a super small portion. Seafood taste is prominent and it’s pretty different with the cheese melted in.

Corn kakiage ($6.80)
Corn niblets fried with cilantro batter, soy sauce and butter. These were crispy, deep fried corn goodies.

Yukimi daifuku ($5.80)
Green tea and red bean gelato wrapped in in sticky rice cake. Basically, ice cream mochi.

Super fresh; you could tell the wrappers were made by hand. Green tea was divine.

Frozen grapes
They also dropped off a small bowl of complimentary frozen grapes for the group.

Great meals both times at Suika. Expect a fun, tasty izakaya experience.

Suika
http://www.suika-snackbar.com/
1626 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC
(604) 730-1678

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