japanese restaurant suju 酢重, mandarin gallery.
i like going to mandarin gallery, because it's a quieter bit of orchard. entering the place always makes me feel that i've just escaped from the hustle and bustle of orchard.this was their menu, made up of mainly teishoku.
some tables were occupied when we entered, but shortly after we got seated, they left. probably because we were there late for lunch- it was two in the afternoon. i like that they're open for lunch till five, with a last order timing of four-thirty. really good for a leisurely late lunch, or tea time. most places are only open till latest three, so this was great, especially since neither of us had anything particularly pressing to do after.
choosing what to order was easy for me- i like a variety of things, so i immediately decided on the suju plate set ($27) which came with six different types of dishes, miso soup, rice and a mini dessert. L was deciding between the various types of grilled chicken that they had, and eventually got the torimomo shichimi yaki teishoku ($24).
L said that she wished they could've been more generous with the shichimi on the chicken; she could barely taste it. that being said, she liked it well enough, especially the grilled, crispy chicken skin.
the six dishes were miso eggplant, mentaiko, kinpira burdock root, beef, grilled gindara and tonkatsu. all the dishes were really good, but what stood out were the miso eggplant and grilled fish. the miso was very different, with a deep savoury taste that L said was a bit like alcohol. the fish was grilled just right, with a crispy, salty skin. the bones on the surface of the fish were grilled till they were crunchy bits- couldn't stop eating it. the tonkatsu was good as well, juicy and didn't taste oily. i wonder if they rotate the dishes of the suju plate set though. it's worth coming back just to try the others if they're just as good as what i had today.
i also liked that the miso soup bowl was as large as the rice bowl. substantial amount of soup given, no stinginess there. the rice was of exceptional quality, and L was raving about it.
my set also came with a dessert, which was the suju custard pudding. the custard was smooth and paired well with the bittersweet caramel sauce. a very good end to our meal.
service was attentive but not intrusive. they replenished our tea without us asking. also liked that even though L's torimomo set was supposed to take 20-30 minutes to prepare, they took care to serve both our sets together- very rare in singapore.
food here was of exceptional quality. simple stuff, but done really well. would absolutely come back for more.
japanese restaurant suju
#04-05 mandarin gallery
http://www.suju-masayuki.com/shop/menu-rse.php
