Suika

Loud, crowded, dimly lit, great food, better booze, just the way an izakaya should be!  The service is excellent and no less than what you would expect if you were in Japan.  My only gripe, and it's a personal gripe so don't look at this as a black mark on Suika, is the pricing.  Being the same owner as Kingyo, you get Kingyo pricing which is a bit more than say Guu.  Again, that's just a personal gripe because a) I'm not in the right tax bracket to drink there comfortably every weekend, or b) I'm just kechii (stingy).  Haha, probably a combination of both.

Nice bonsai, but I think it's dying.

I want this for my home - a chandelier made from sake bottles....pure awsome.

Suicka/suica is watermelon, and I think that's why those little bottles were up there.

I had a small taste of Niigata....I felt like splurging this night so I spent a couple of extra bucks on some good sake,  I guess I just didn't feel like drinking the typical Gekeikan which is barely fit for cooking and cleaning engines. 

We got amaebi, which was good but not as memorable as the one I recently had at Guu with Garlic.

Fresh wasabi (or from the tube at least) is heavenly compared to powered stuff.  You can actually taste the little bits of wasabi root in there.  I love this stuff and can just eat it straight.

Gyutan - or beef tongue....I know what you're thinking, sounds gross, but actually tastes really good.

Black Cod, or sable fish....it's really hard to screw this fish up because it's so inherently flavourful on it's own, and it's loaded with fat so all you have to to is add heat really.  But in any case, it's heavenly with all kinds of sesaoning, including miso. 

Chicken karaage.  It was good.

Sirloin Steak on a stone grill.  Nice and rare to medium rare.  There wasn't a whole lot of seasoning, but it really didn't need it.  It was a glorious cut of beef and the garlic chips on top were great with every bite.

Yaki-udon with clams and negi.  Holy crap this was good.  We should have ordered another one....wait, I think we did.

As usual, I like to get the ebi heads deep-fried.  They taste like giant shrimp chips, but better yet, they are an excellent friend to any sort of alcohol you may have on the table.

I don't remember what kind of salad this was, but it had lots of stuff in it and I don't remember complaining about the taste.

Haha, a plate of fat.  I thin they called it Toro Chashu, but it was really just a heavenly plate of fat and it tasted good.  My companions couldn't stomach too many pieces of this so I had to take charge and help them finish it. *burp*.

Ebi mayo, as if we didn't have enough ebi from earlier, these deep fried prawns came with the typical chili mayo sauce that most izakaya come with....tasty, even though it's nothing new to me.

The Green Tea Creme Brulee was absolutely incredible.  Normally, I don't bother with deserts at izakaya, but I had so much salty food, I was craving something sweet.  Unfortunately , I personally didn't order this.....yet.

I had the ice-cream daifuku....or at least that's what I thought they labelled this as on the menu.  Esssentialy, it was just a mochi skin on top of a scoop of ice cream.  You can actually buy actually ice cream daifuku at T & T now.  Either way, this was good and it was what I ordered....however, I really liked the Green Tea Creme Brulee so we ordered two more, haha!

Food-wise, you definitely get a bigger variety at Suika, many dishes have not been tried at other local izakaya.  The great thing about izakaya is they are never afraid to try all these weird and wonderful combination to create these incredible little tapas.  And if you don't like it, you're not stuck with a huge plateful of food you hate.  Suika definitely holds of the title of innovative at the moment. 

The place is fairly new and line-ups are not uncommon, but give it a few months, and it might be easier to get a seat at this place (hopefully).  I love the fact that all these izakaya are opening up around town.  Just like all the ramen shops popping, the increase in supply will demand high quality for hopefully competitive prices.  Plus it should reduce the wait times to get seated at these places.  There seems to be an infinite demand for authentic Japanese food and drinking holes, which should keep the market healthy.  Suika is definitely on my list of places to go when I have a couple of extra bucks in my pocket.