Sushi feast @ Suzuran

Suzuran

1025-1027 Burke Road

Camberwell VIC

I don't usually do a review on the take-away food since dining in experience is far more fun and you get to enjoy the food freshly cook at the restaurant.  This time, it is an exception - Suzuran is an exception.  Suzuran is a Japanese groceries store with a sushi bar inside.  It is not just an average sushi bar that you may see, it is a sushi bar that does not have ready made meal, but rather freshly made to your order.  There is no table for you to dine in, so the only option available is to order them and do a take home.  I was surprised on the traffic of the customers that walked out with the sushi platters on their hands - when one walked out, new customer walked in. 

After being fascinated by the foot traffic of customers, I made my way into Suzuran.  After passing the groceries section, I saw what I came for...Suzuran Sushi bar was right in front of me.  I stood there looking at the menu and couldn't make up my mind on what to order since there were so many things that I wanted to eat.  Ooh, difficult decision indeed.  I ended up passing the baton to my companion, Miss P, to do the ordering.  After the order was made, Miss P and I were advised to come back in 15 minutes to pick up the sushi.  Before the pick up time arrived, I managed to pick up few side dishes from the groceries section and Miss P got her hands on the sake.  That's right, the sushi feast wouldn't be completed without a bottle of sake!

Unwrapping the platter made me so excited.  The smell of vinegar from the sushi rice and the colourful sashimi laid down in the platter gave my eyes a feast.  The option that Miss P picked was Sushi & Sashimi for 2 ($39).  In the platter selection of the sushi side, there were four salmon sushi, two king fish sushi, two tuna sushi and five california roll.  On the sashimi side, there were ten salmon sashimi, four king fish sashimi and four tuna sashimi.  The platter came with pickled ginger and wasabi as complement.  

The sashimi were so divine.  The quality of the fish was fresh and nicely cut.  I could taste the sweetness from the fresh sashimi in my mouth.  The fatty salmon sashimi combined with a bit of soy sauce and wasabi, oh my, I was in a bliss.  The roll was nice and filling, the amount of rice was just right and it didn't give you the 'mouth full of rice' feeling when I ate it.  They were generous with the filling inside the roll as well, well proportionate to the roll.  The fish on the sushi was so long...I guess this is the way a proper sushi should be as I also seen similar thing at Kenzan.  The fish piece was fully covered the rice and it also extended out, if I were to cut the fish, I could use the 'tail' part of the first sushi and created a new sushi.  

Miss P and I also ordered Unagi ($5) and Anago ($4.50) to try as well.  Unagi was a freshwater grilled eel over rice, the sauce on the unagi was nice but I found the skin of the unagi made it a bit chewy.  Anago was a salt-water eels, it had a mild sweet flavour and tasted very creamy and soft in texture.  I actually enjoyed the anago more than unagi.

 The star of side dishes were: Chuka Wakame (seaweed salad), Sansai Ika (Seasoned squid) and Forahire Kurage (seasoned jellyfish).  The price were differed on each and varied on the portion size.  So it depends on how much you want to eat, just pick what suit.  They were all tasty and nice complement to the sushi feast.

The sake Miss P picked was Junmai Genshu Hyorei from Ozeki.  We had it served chilled.  It had a dry touch, sweet and a fruity hint when tasted.  I found it paired with the Unagi and our range of sushi well.

For dessert, I managed to pick the Daifuku ($1.85) and  Dango ($1.95) from the counter just before we paid for everything at Suzuran.  I gotta say that it was a right choice both daifuku and dango were yummy and had heaps of filling inside.  The daifuku was covered with white sesame seeds and had azuki red bean paste filling.  The aroma of the sesame seeds and azuki paste made a very good combination.  Dango was chewy and had three different fillings in each - azuki red bean, black sesame and peanut.  They were all very aromatic and flavoursome.  I was glad that I made the right choice picking them as they made the Japanese feast a complete set.

+Disclaimer: The commentary contained in this blog is purely based on my own opinion and experience at the time of visit. Taste is a subjective and yours and mine can be differed.