Suika Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Vancouver

Long review coming as I LOVED everything about this place, and want to do it justice. Shoutout to Erika for the amazing service! 10/10 for presentation, service, flavour and food selection. I tried a variety of items, so I’ll star (*) the best and highly recommended ones.

*Savoury Duck Udon: delicious cold sesame noodles with slices of marinated duck. Duck isn’t smoked or anything particularly special in flavour, but it’s tender.

*Roast Beef Salad: tasty house-made vinaigrette w/ tender carpaccio and garlic chips

Tenderloin steak bowl: very tender and generous portion of steak served on rice.

Hamachi carpaccio: love their sauces, beautiful presentation and fresh hamachi sashimi

Ebimayo: large and juicy shrimp, great portions for an appetizer

*Wasamayo Brullop Fritters (Brussel Sprouts x Scallop): unique creation, deep fried nicely and paired with a deliciously creamy dipping sauce. Not a strong taste of wasabi.

*Assorted Sashimi: very fresh (clean taste with lots of selection - I had bluefin tuna, scallop, hamachi & sockeye salmon)

Salmon Pressed Sushi: One of their most signature and most popular orders, but I was too captivated by the sashimi and savoury duck udon to have an in-depth taste test of this. Saucy and flavourful, topped with some fish roe.

*Yuzu Shirley Temple: citrus-y flavour with calpico and soda (my favourite of the drinks I tried)

Kiwi Shirley Temple: not a fan of this one. I’ve never tried kiwi drinks anywhere else before, but I think it’s difficult to get this flavour into a drink in general.

Strawberry Shirley Temple: Decent as well

Frozen Matcha Brulee ($6+): best dessert here, paired with a light red bean sauce and whipped cream on the side. I’d recommend getting 1 per guest, as you won’t want to share this! It’s definitely a great way to end off the meal, and isn’t heavy at all. The caramelized crunchy brulee top is amazing.

EDIT (Visit on 2021-12-24) Suika ALWAYS has amazing dishes, service and presentation – I’ve never been dissapointed. I recently went back and tried some new items.

Makunouchi Box (Christmas & New Years Special) $42: This beautiful 9-grid box came with otoro steak, crab mousse, steamed abalone, crabcream fry, real crab chirashi, seafood bara chirashi, wagyu chirashi, chicken wings, and truffle demiglace hamburg.

I can’t stop gushing about the OTORO STEAK!! – it is so incredibly creamy and literally melts in your mouth. The crabcream fry was also a favourite (deep fried balls of crab mixed in a sort of creamy cheese-sort of mixture). Every bite in the box was unique and was very fun to try and share.

Bluefin Toro Belly Sashimi ($21+): Highly recommend this as well. It is extremely fresh and also melts (but not as amazing as the otoro).

Fizzy Grapefruit Cocktail ($9+): very refreshing drink with Japanese sake w/ citrus liquor (2oz).

Beef Stamina Bowl ($18+): very well marinated beef short ribs, that had a very unique and delicious house made yuzu-kalbi sauce. I’ll never say no to a leaky egg, and there is kimchi on the side. It was a tad bit salty, and I had a lot of...

Now, what can I say about this place?! It's gotta be one of the most consistently good restaurants in Vancouver! This is laurenvancityfood's (checkout her Instagram) favourite place in all of Vancouver! The service is always top notch, the drinks are all so amazing, and the food in so consistent and good. No matter what you try, you won't be dissappointed! From the meats, to the appies, the noodles, the sushi - you can't go wrong (just depends on your taste, of course). Great job, Suika, you are a cut above the rest. A to A+ in my books.

As for the dishes, the sansyo cheesecake was to die for, probably one of the best in Vancouver! It was smooth, light, and really had a nice cheese flavour. Thinking about it makes me want to have another one. For the unagi bibimbap, I loved that dish! It had a nice balance of flavours, and my friend actually ate it, even though she does not like unagi. Heh. We also had a chance to try the sansho pepper arrabbiata udon, which had a nice kick but nothing that would send people screaming. We also tried the beef tongue, which was so tender that it would almost melt in your mouth. The other awesome dish was the aburi salmon, which had this sauce that really made it come alive. A little acidic, and sour, made it divine. Another dish that we tried was the Taiwan ramen, which a nice taste to it. It was more of a subtle dish that settled in to the mix. Lastly, the show stopper was the truffle mushroom yakiudon, it was that good - reminded me of a risotto but in noodle form. Mind-blowing goodness! Lastly, the drinks! We had the opportunity to try the sansho ginger tea, which I loves - all their drinks are always made well and taste great. The second one we tried was the ginger sansho ginger gin tonic, which was light and had a nice refreshing mandarins flavour. Careful, it is deadly because you can't really taste the gin, which I love.

I've had their food tons of times and I have never been let down in every aspect. 😌

Oh yeah, if you go for anniversary or a birthday, be aware they really know how to celebrate them. If that's not your thing, you can always ask for a quiet one, which is...

NOISY/HYPER

NOT REALLY TRUE JAPANESE (all of them speak it from front of house to back of house) but they are more fusion style.

NO GREEN TEA SERVED (cold water no ice is automatically brought to the table when you get seated. Napkin chopsticks and no sauce dish for wasabi.

Menus .... If you've had a tiring day... and this is your first visit.... This menu will make you cringe. A few photos wouldn't kill your printer.... Nope none of the menus have pics.

They are upfront though, about 2 hours max dining time. Starts from time you sit down. Which is nice and fine, they were a bit slow to take order. Took 7 mins and flagging them down to come take order

Guy serving our table. Parrots, wasn't helpful beyond parroting how do you want the prawn head cooked X or Y, but when we asked for clarification he just repeated. I pointed at a picture on my phone of what I saw someone else post for the sushi platter I was ordering , and said "you mean the head for this" and he said yes...: those midget things? The head? We're eating that???? Lol okey well ask my parents, I don't plan to eat the head of that lmao.

Crazy atmosphere they yell every table being seated and the kitchen says something in unison (no idea what) and they appear fully booked. Was at the front with reservations and the guy was on the phone telling them (it was 5 pm) the night was fully booked and no availability even for table of 3.... For even 8 pm.... So definitely reserve.

This place would be best suited for parties or those looking to get almost rowdy.... You'd fit right in. If you were looking for a peaceful dinner with beautiful plating.... Plating you'd get... peaceful? I'm sure the neighbours put up soundproof next door lmao

I've included pics. You're better off taking pics off the internet and pointing at that and say I want that where is it on the menu (so you know the price ) but everything coming off the menu you'd pretty much be ordering it as a mystery heehee.

We won't be back. My parents like it more quiet. Hahaha but I'm paying so they put up with it.

Dinner was $140.00...