of mojitos and other madness: suju

mention mandarin gallery and japanese food and most people would think ippudo....to be honest, this girl would too, as it has been on my list of must try places after the crowds die down. but there is actually another jap joint at the gallery and thanks to my sis and famliy who dined there during their launch, i was fortunate enough to inherit the dining vouchers, so i gamely ventured there for a girls lunch out with my mom and niece.

hidden behind timber panels, suju quietly stands it own a couple of doors down from the very busy ippudo. with an open sushi bar concept being the main focus of the place, this is definitely one of those places that i wouldn't mind dining at alone, just so that i can take the whole food prep experience in by the bar! but it was all good, we sat close enough to see the chefs at work and between entertaining e and sneaking glances at the bar, we managed to catch some of the prep for my mom's tempura course and my chirashi don.

priced at sixty-eight, the five course set lunch was really good value. it began with six kinds of appetizers ranging from the familiar tamago roll and edamame to quite delicate and refined rice cakes and squid. it reminded me a little of the kaiseiki course i enjoyed at goto, with special fresh ingredients flown in from japan and fantastic presentation.

next was the sashimi course which consisted of a nice selection of very fresh seasonal fish and awesome melt in your mouth hotate. the main tempura platter had freshly battered and fried vegetables and a huge prawn, which was devoured by e in record time! the tempura was quite well done with none of the usual overly battered and drowning of the veggie in oil. served piping hot and with a touch of sea salt, the tempura platter definitely had mom and e smiling. completing the course was an annin tofu dessert, which turned out to be a japanese spin on the almond pudding. it was a tad to strong for me but overall while the dessert was a bit of a let down, the rest of the courses definitely made up for things!

while mom and e worked though the tempura course, i tucked into a huge bowl of chirashi. it is only in times like these that i very easily polish off the entire bowl of rice...topped with five different types of fresh sashimi, hotate, ikura, tamago and seasoned wild mushrooms, at thirty six bucks, suju's chirashi is pretty good value for money. i was a wee bit disapointed that there was no uni as raved about by my sis but overall, the chirashi don definitely hit the spot for me.

final verdict? worth checking out if you are in the area and not in the mood for a twenty minute queue for ramen *grin*