Review: Suminoya, Sydney

If there ever was a competition for the closest place to Heaven on Earth, I would personally make CERTAIN that Suminoya was on the shortlist.

The idea of this place is sheer genius. An all-you-can-eat Japanese BBQ which, for a mere $49 (for the Premium buffet - do NOT, and I repeat, do NOT just opt for the cheaper version. You'll regret it and have it haunting you in your nightmares for the rest of your culinary life) you can eat ALL the Japanese style BBQ meats, as well as fresh salmon sashimi, various salads, grilled eel and other seafood your stomach can handle for 2 hours.

And it is because of this place, that the new term "food babies" was discovered. I believe the official entry in the Oxford English Dictionary is this:

Food Baby: n. (pl. food babies) The phenomenon where one's lower abdomen protrudes out of the top of one's jeans/skirt as a result of overindulgence in food, leading to a physique similar to a pregnant woman. Many resolve this issue by loosening their belts/not wearing a belt to begin with. - "Oh gosh I feel my food baby growing."

Garlic Butter Prawns
I think we order like 10 foil cups of these babies. Oh gosh they were so nommilicious! Possibly not as flavoursome as your typical plate of garlic prawns, but good enough to satisfy the temptation.

Let's all take a minute of silence to admire its glory under the exhaust fans.


Excuse the blurring. I'm still a newbie at shooting in low-light.
This was my bowl of Seafood Salad. I know a lot of people might flame me for the following declaration, but I'm going to do it anyway, just because I've just had 3 glasses of wine and I feel like I'm invincible.

"This is possibly my favourite dish at Suminoya. And I would have it every night if I could."

There, I said it. I have confessed my sin and I feel better already.

The bowl of salad contains a few slices of raw salmon, sliced prawns, marinated seaweed and mixed lettuce, drizzled with a deliciously light Japanese mayo dressing. I definitely recommend this to provide a bit of contrast to all the meat you eat at the place. The tanginess of the dressing really cuts through the richness of the meats.

The above picture shows one of possibly 10 plates of fresh sashimi we had. By 10 I really think I meant 20, 'cause we really demolished them good. We ordered roughly 5 salmon and 5 kingfish on each plate, and I think the rest of the table demolished 3 plates by the time I finished photographing everything so that WW ended up having to put a slice of salmon on my plate before it ran out again. Beef Harami & Beef Loin
I personally prefer beef harami over the beef loin because I believe it tastes sweeter. WW begs to differ and says that he couldn't taste any difference. Pity I don't have a picture, but the uncooked harami comes to the table looking like it's been marinated in a slightly darker sauce, while the beef loins looks a very bright red - almost as if it hadn't been marinated at all (but I'm pretty sure it had). Either way, I'm pretty content eating either one. They're my favourite meats on offer (yes, over and beyond the Beef Tongue).

I was told that this was the Mixed Seafood. To this I responded a shocked, "WHAAT? BUT THIS IS JUST SCALLOP TRIMMINGS!"

I ate it anyway. What's in a name anyway? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

So...when it came to dessert, I believe to call us over-to-top would be quite the understatement.

Here, my fellow troopers, is the map of our planned attack on the dessert region on the menu. It would require us demolishing mountains of Lemon Sorbet, guarded by the lone Coffee Jelly in the north-western region of the battlefield, until we reach Mount Green Tea & Vanilla Ice Creams with Red Bean. There is to be no stopping for breaks in between as our target will not stay in position for long. This is an ambush! There will be NO leniency for incompetency!

Clearly I've never been in an army, or cadets, or anything of the like. But my whacked up imagination takes me places. It's like I can be high without having to spend money, smoke bad stuff that kills my lungs, or inject chemicals into myself. Economical isn't it?


That's my Coffee Jelly. The white stuff on top is condensed milk, which makes it only the more yummier. Some people think that the coffee jelly is too strong, and really quite bitter. However, I started drinking double-shot unsweetened cappucinos before I learnt how to ride a bike (true story), so I was game enough to try, despite the look on DW and MW's faces.

I had my coffee jelly with this - Green Tea Ice Cream. The combination could only be described as...the-O-word-in-a-teaspoon.

Haha. I kid you not. This stuff was good. Even with the corn flakes (yeah what the heck right?) and red beans.

And so who finished all the Lemon Sorbet on the table?


Well...there's five right there. And RY finished them good.

Seriously.

No. Seriously.

We completely annihilated the army of ice creams and sorbet. We nommed that stuff good.

Suminoya
1 Hosking Place, Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9231 2110

P.S. Definitely book. There's usually a 6:30pm session and a 8:30pm session. While you can eat for 2 hours, orders will only be taken in the first hour.