A bad experience with Cudo vouchers left us hungry on a Saturday night on Cleveland Street. I had a feeling the night would end up with us looking for a plan B, so I had one of my eating out guides with me. The question “what to eat?” was thrown in the air and Gladys thought Japanese would be nice. Lucky us, the guide showed a Japanese place very close to where we were.

Sushi Suma was packed, so we got a number and were sent upstairs. The wait wasn’t too long, although time perception tends to be strongly skewed by hunger. Good thing is that service was reasonably quick (but not always polite).

A small bowl of complimentary bean noodles is provided for every customer (yeah, it was cheat night for us, very hard to avoid in a Japanese restaurant). The noodles were lightly but nicely flavoured.

Bean noodles (complimentary)

The equivalent to the “supersize” script in Japanese places seems to be “do you want miso soup and rice with your meal?”. Hard to resist, no? Al and I love miso soup and are convinced that a bowl every few months can’t be that bad. So we said yes and didn’t regret it.

Miso soup ($2)

Agedashi tofu was another freebie, but I didn’t try it. Too much soy in a day for me.

Agedashi tofu (complimentary)

Finally, our dishes arrived. We ordered a few to share between the three of us, expecting sizes to be fairly small, as it’s the case in most Japanese eateries. We were gladly surprised by the generous servings. Kaiso salad, mixed seaweed salad with Japanese-style dressing, arrived first, and yes, it had lots of cheap and bulky cabbage, but it wasn’t bad at all (hello mayo!).

Kaiso salad ($8.80)

Next came the sashimi. I wasn’t a big fan of the presentation. That aside, the sashimi was okay. Not the freshest fish in the world, but not days old (I think/hope!).

Sashimi ($16.80 for main size)

The yakiniku (pan-fried thinly sliced Scotch fillet and veggies with garlic-soy sauce) was my favourite dish of the night. Again, a huge plate even for big eaters like us. The sauce was delicious, and reminded me of the dishes my aunties used to prepare.

Yakiniku ($16.80)

Finally another great dish, Una ju box, a grilled eel fillet with a “special” sweet sauce served on rice. Gladys wasn’t very sure about the eel because she hadn’t have it before but she loved it. It was indeed tasty.

Una ju box ($)

We managed to finish all but the rice where the eel sat, and were completely stuffed for a mere $22 a head. Pretty cheap, and highly recommended.

Sushi Suma
425 Cleveland Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02)9698 8873