SUIKA SEATTLE

This past weekend, my friend and I decided to try out this Japanese restaurant located in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. Suika (Japanese for watermelon) offers a variety of fusion inspired foods with an interesting twist. This spot is hard to miss since it is basically a hole-in-the-wall and there aren't major signs outside indicating its location. However, the inside is nice and cozy featuring a cool collage of old video games and a chandelier made of used sake bottles.

Duck Carpaccio

Negitoro Tartar

Ma-po Rice Cakes

 

Mentaiko Kimchi Udon

Green Tea Crème Brulee

 

The menu wasn't too large or overwhelming and had a good variety of foods. There was offer a special sheet for the day which we also ordered off of.

We went for 3 appetizers/starter dishes: Duck Carpaccio, negitoro tartar, and ma-po rice cakes.

 

Duck Carpaccio: The duck could've been sliced a little bit thinner, but other than that it was great. It wasn't too gamey in flavor and it paired really well with the shiso (a type of perilla/herb) jelly. The added bit of bite from the kaiware (radish sprouts) and green onions also gave the dish a more pleasant experience all around.

 

Negitoro Tartar: Negi (a type of green onion) and toro (Bluefin tuna belly) were added and mixed together in a kimchi marinade over a bed of greens with some citrus yuzu and teriyaki sauce on top. It was served with a side of garlic bread crackers. I really enjoyed this and found all the flavors to mesh well without being to overpowering or too spicy. I just wish that they gave a few more crackers to eat the tartar with.

 

Ma-po Rice Cakes: This was basically a ma-po pork over grilled/baked mocha (rice cakes). The flavoring wasn't spicy enough for a 'ma-po' dish but you could taste the ma-po essence of the dish. The rice cakes were way too thick and definitely felt like you were chewing for forever. I think if the rice cakes were sliced thinner, it would've been easier to eat. I didn't really care for the combination of ma-po and rice cake either and would rather have the rice cakes baked with a traditional shoyu & sugar.

 

 My friend ordered the Hellz Ramen for her main dish and I got to try a bit of it. It wasn't as spicy as the name would indicate and I wish there was actual ox-tail pieces in it. However, the broth was tasty since it was an ox-tail broth so I guess that somewhat makes up for it, for me that is.

 

My main dish was a Mentaiko Kimchi Udon: Most people have udon in a soup broth but this was in a drier style with the mentaiko sauce mixed in which I think I actually prefer. Mentaiko is spicy marinated Pollack roe. The udon was coated with this mentaiko sauce and had chopped bits of kimchi on top with nori (seaweed) flakes and green onion as a garnish. It was definitely a heavier dish but it was exactly what I hope it would be. There was the fishier essence of the fish roe and isn't something I'd recommend for someone not into seafood. The spiciness was just right and the added bits of chopped up kimchi layered in for a nice texture and another layer of flavor. I would recommend this for seafood lovers and anyone that's willing to try a different type of noodle dish! Udon noodles are my one of my favorites so the texture in this dish was very enjoyable.

 

Green Tea Crème Brulee: This dessert is different than your traditional crème brulee despite the fact that it is made with green tea. The brulee part itself was more of a frozen/ice cream type texture yet it still had the crunchy fired/burnt sugar layer on top! The green tea flavor was noticeable and the dish overall wasn't too sweet which is always nice. This was definitely a palette cleanser. There was a nice azuki (red bean) puree sauce to the side that paired nicely with the green tea and also some light whipped cream as well. I loved this little treat and would try this again in a heart beat!

 

I love the ideas behind the different food creations going on here at Suika. Since I'm not drinking alcohol, it may be of interest for those you who do to check out their drink menus. They have a few specials as well that include watermelon which is fitting since Suika in Japanese means watermelon!

If you try to go in without a reservation, be prepared to wait, especially on the weekends. The place can get crowded pretty quickly especially with the small size of the whole restaurant.

I definitely want to come here again to try some other things out for sure. If you're in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle and are craving for some Japanese food, check this place out!

 

 

Readers, do you guys like Japanese food? What are your thoughts on Japanese fusion foods? Let me know!

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

SNACK REVIEW: Grilled Corn flavored Japanese Cheetos

 

Today's snack post features this grilled corn flavored Cheetos I came across. I think it is a sweet grilled corn w/ butter, but since I can't read Japanese, I'm not 100% sure!

 

 

Think of your normal cheesey cheeto, without all the orange, and you have the simple corn snack. Imagine the flavor of a sweet yellow corn, right of the grill, topped with butter--THAT's what you get with this snack. This cheeto definitely captured the flavor of sweet corn really well without being overly sweet or salt.

I'm also a sucker for ALL things that has to do with sweet corn flavor (I like the majority of Asian snacks that are a 'sweet corn' flavor) and this one was no exception. I think this one will resonate more with people since Frito Lay and Cheetos are a very recognizable brand. I found this at my local Japanese grocery store for around $2.69 a bag. If you're by an Asian or Japanese focused grocery store, definitely try to find it and check it out!

 

Readers, have you tried Japanese Cheetos before? What are your favorite Japanese snacks? Let me know!

 

 

RECIPE: Spaghetti Squash Shrimp Salad - Vietnamese Style

 

I want to incorporate more of my favorite recipes into my blog so I will be doing that today! Today's post features this salad recipe my mom and I made awhile back for part of our Christmas dinner meal. We do the usual 'American' dishes (mashed potatoes, turkey, roast, stuffing, etc.) but we always add a little extra something special to the mix! This recipe is a Spaghetti Squash Salad with shrimp and a Vietnamese fish sauce style dressing. If you're a fan of Vietnamese food, check out the recipe after the jump!

Ingredients for Salad

1 Whole Spaghetti Squash

1/2 of an English Cucumber*

Handful of Thai/Red Basil*

Handful of Cilantro*

1 Lb of wild shrimp

Dressing

1/2 cup Fish Sauce (add more or less for personal taste preference)

2 tablespoons Sugar

1-2 Limes

1/2 cup to 1 cup of Water

1 Red Thai chili pepper

*indicated raw ingredients

Directions 

For the shrimp:

I recommend de-vaining the shrimp with the shell on so when you steam them to cook they don't shrink too much in size. After cleaning the shrimp, steam cook them until they turn orange in color. After they are cooked, let them cool down. Then you can shell them and butterfly them in half.

For the salad:

Cut the spaghetti squash in half and bake it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Let it cool until you are able to handle the squash. You will then be able to seed out the squash with a spoon and notice the seeds are loosened up and easy to dispose. After the seeds are gone, spoon to scoop out the squash. You will notice the spaghetti like strings coming loose. If you need to, a fork will help loosen the strings up as well. Place aside in a bowl.

Julienne the cucumber and roughly chop the red basil and cilantro.

For the dressing:

In a small pot, add fish sauce, water and sugar over low heat. Stir to make sure sugar is fully dissolved. You can use this time to see if you need more or less of any ingredient, there's not really a precise measurement to this recipe; a lot of it was just by taste. Remove from heat and add the juice of 1 lime. Chop the red chili pepper and add it to the sauce. Again, this is all on personal taste preference so add a little at a time to find the balance you prefer.

In a large bowl, toss all salad ingredients together: squash, cucumbers, herbs and shrimp. Drizzle the dressing into the bowl a little at a time and toss as you go. I would recommend keeping a few slices of shrimp and some cilantro to the side for an added garnish on top and voila, you're done!

I prefer this dish cold so I would recommend chilling it in the fridge an hour before serving. Keep it light on the dressing as you toss since other guests may want more or less. Place the remaining dressing in a bowl along the salad. You can even serve the salad without adding any dressing at all so people have full control of their dressing portion. And enjoy!

Readers, do you like Vietnamese food? What are your favorite Vietnamese dishes? Let me know! 

DECEMBER NATURE BOX REVIEW

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a nice holiday/break!

For today's post, I have my December Nature Box review! I made sure to try some items I haven't had before so there so nothing would be too repetitive. Let's take a closer look!

1) Lemon Pucker Pistachios - If you like sour lemon flavor, then you will love these! These really will make your lips pucker. The lemon flavor is intense, but not overly lemony and it pairs well with the pistachio flavor. It isn't salty either so it makes for a cleaner tasting snack. I could see myself ordering these again.

 

2) Orange Apple Fruit Chews - These are the same in texture as the Watermelon fruit chews I've had before. The orange flavor is a bit more predominant than the apple, but overall, you can't go wrong with this treat. If you're a fan of fruit snacks, then definitely give this a go.

 

3) Honey Macadamia Pretzel Pops - I enjoyed this one quite a bit, but I couldn't really taste any of the macadamia nut in it. It reminded me a lot of the Salted Caramel Pretzel Pops where they had both that salty and sweat thing going on so I would either stick with one or the other. Flavor wise, I couldn't see much of a difference. The shell coating on the honey macadamia one felt a bit harder than the salted caramel ones.

 

4) Lemon Tea Biscuits - I didn't order this one, but it was given to me as a filler for another one that ran out of stock. I wish when that happens, Nature Box can notify you so you can pick something for yourself. These weren't bad, but I wouldn't pick them again. It is a nice sweet lemon flavored biscuit I can see pairing nicely with some black tea, though I wouldn't select them for myself.

 

5) Peanut Butter  Nom Noms - I was definitely expecting more peanut flavor out of this one. The peanut flavor was mild and I felt like the cinnamon in it stood out more. I love the texture of this and the oats throughout but I will probably stick to the Dark Chocolate Nom Noms more.

 

 

Readers, what are your favorite type of snacks? Have you tried Nature Box yet? Let me know!

SNACK REVIEW: O'Zack Limited Edition Matsutake Flavored Chips

 

Today I have a quick little post on this Limited Edition Matsutake (pine mushroom) flavored O'zack  chip. O'zack is known for doing a lot of different seasonal and limited edition flavors so when I saw this flavor, I knew I had to try it out.

 

Matsutake are highly sought out pine mushrooms found in Asia, Europe, and North America and especially in the PNW climate. It has a unique aroma and flavor profile that makes this fungi prized by the Japanese.

 

Now on to the chip. The chip itself has a unique texture--not quite hard like a Lays potato chip but a little fluffy, almost like a Pringles but with more air. As you can see from the pictures above, you can notice the little air bubbles (almost like a popped chip). As you bite into it too, you will notice a soft crunch. The flavor of these chips is spot on to the flavor of Matsutake. Since I've had Matsutake before, I can say that these chips have that true pine aroma to the chips. With a little flavor booster and some salt, this snack makes for an addicting treat. The flavor of the pine mushroom is very different compared to other types of mushrooms so it may take some people awhile to get used to if they are not familiar with anything like it. However, as a unique and limited edition fall flavor, I would definitely try to get your hands on it if you can! I found mines at my local Asian/Japanese grocery store for around $2.59 a bag.

 

Readers, have you tried any limited edition flavored chips? What are some of your favorites? I'd love to know!

NATURE BOX - NOV '14 REVIEW

  

Time for a quick snack overview on my November Nature Box!

I really wanted to try some more

 

1) Italian Bistro Pretzels: A thicker pretzel bite with Italian herb seasonings. This wasn't my favorite and was a little bit dry to be honest. The pretzels had a garlic & parmesan cheese coating to it which was a little bit salty for my taste. I probably wouldn't purchase them again

 

2) Mango Orange Fruit Chews: Loved these ones! Just like the carrot apple fruit chews I mentioned last month, these come five in individual packages. It is definitely more of a tropical flavor and the mango and orange are balanced well without having one over power the other. I would highly recommend this one, especially if you love fruit snacks.

 

3) Dark Cocoa Nom Noms: This was such a rich tasting treat! Strong on the cocoa and not overly sweet, this is perfect for the chocolate lover out there. It has oats in them which makes them very hearty. I would definitely recommend this one, especially if you like chocolate.

 

4) Tart Apple Mango Crispy Chews: This is the only item I re-ordered from last month . I loved these per usual and gave half the bag to my friend to try and she liked them as well. This definitely has more of a mango flavor than apple and the puffed rice in the snack adds for a nice texture. I'd recommend this one, again.

 

5) Salted Caramel Pretzel Pops: I'm a huge fan of almost anything with salted caramel in them and this one was no exception. The salted caramel flavor was wrapped in a hard coating around these the pretzel pop. It was a nice balance of sweet and salty, though it may be a bit too salty for some, but suits my taste buds just fine! For a crunchy snack, I'd recommend this one, especially if you are into the whole sweet/savory trend  =).

 

That's it for last month's Nature Box subscription. As always, I do have a code for anyone that is interested for $10 off their first box from Naturebox.com. Use code: share10off.

 

Readers, what are your favorite type of healthy snacks? Have you tried Nature box yet? Let me know!

BIRTHDAY WEEKEND: Revel and Schilling Cider House in Fremont.

A couple weekends ago, I was able to celebrate my birthday (super last minute) with some of my girl friends. We wanted to venture to a different area of Seattle than are usual Capitol Hill and this time we went to the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle just west to the University District.

 

 

 

Revel



We started off at the cutest Korean fusion place called Revel. None of us have been there and it is always fun to try somewhere new. The menu isn't too huge so it wasn't overwhelming and we were able to try a bit of everything.

  

 Our first dish that came was a noodle dish: Dungeness crab, seaweed noodle, spicy red curry, crème fraiche. It was definitely different than anything I've ever had before but the combo was divine! The seaweed noodles were nice and al dente, the curry wasn't too spicy, there was an overall sweetness to the dish and the crab added a nice flavor and seafood texture. The baby bok choy added a nice fresh crunch to the dish as well.

 

Next were some appetizers: pork belly, kimchi, and beansprout pancake and the short rib, pickled shallot, and scallion dumplings.  Pork belly and kimchi is just always such a nice combo and in a pajun style pancake it added an extra crunch to it. The dumplings had a crush that was reminiscent of a Mexican dessert crust and the meat inside was nice and moist.

The last item we had was a rice dish (like a bibimbap) that had an egg yolk with short rib, sambal daikon (sambal is a type of Indonesian hot sauce, and daikon is a type of raddish) with mustard greens. This was probably my favorite dish! When you mix everything all together, you get a flavor and texture medly going on. Then there are sauces on the side that you can add to your liking including, a soy sauce mixture, fish sauce, gochujang (a type of Korean pepper paste) and I think ssamjang (another type of Korean spicy paste with Korean bean paste).

 

Of course you can't end the night without dessert and since it was my friend and I's birthday month, they gave us two candles to celebrate =)

I can't remember the name of the dessert dish but it consisted of this thick pudding, salted caramel, apples, dates, and rice puffs and OOOooo it was amazingggg! Not overly sweet or rich, just the perfect amount

 

 

 Schilling Cider House 

 

The last stop was Schilling Cider House which is a place where, as you guessed it, sells hard cider drinks. We had never been there before but saw some good reviews on trusty 'ol Yelp and decided to head in. The guy helping us was a bit awkward at first, but warmed up to us when we said we had no idea what we were doing. Basically, each of those samplers you see are $2 each and a whole flight of 6 samples is $13.45 (tax included). Such an awesome deal to be able to try the drinks you wanted! We decided on trying our own flights and pick and choose the drinks. I can't remember all of the ones I had but what comes to mind is sriracha lime, baked apple, a cider with melon, blackberry cider, and a pumpkin ale cider.

 

Sriracha lime tasted like pho without the beef stock and was a bit weird. Not gonna lie, and it definitely did have a kick. I'd recommend anyone to try it at least once since it is so unique and different. Baked apple cider was delicious and tasted like a better version of Martinelli's apple cider since there was alcohol in it. It wasn't overly sweet and the apple flavor was nice and crisp.

The cider with melon was my least favorite. I could barely taste any melon flavor and it was lacking in fullness and flavor. I don't recommend that one. The blackberry cider  was absolutely delicious! The berry flavor was present and it added a nice sweetness to the cider. Again, it wasn't overly sweet and is another favorite. The last cider I can remember and probably my favorite of the bunch is the pumpkin ale cider. If you love pumpkin flavored things, this is one too try. There was a definite pumpkin tone to the cider without it being overly pumpkin like pumpkin pie. It had a mellow sweetness to it that matched the pumpkin flavor just right. I highly recommend this one!

 

That's it for my quick little Birthday weekend post =) I hope you enjoyed it and enjoyed all the food posts. If you live in the Seattle area or ever come to visit, I definitely recommend checking these places out and the Fremont area in general (plus, you can see one of the major tourist attractions, the Fremont Troll!)

 

Readers, do you enjoy Korean food or Korean fusion? How about ciders (alcohol and non alcohol!) Let me know in the comments!