Suki Suki
I have never seen a restaurant fill up as fast as Suki Suki, Deansgate. Within minutes of opening, customers flooded the tables ordering from the wide variety of choices from the menu. I felt instantly welcomed by the staff, who were polite, on-the-ball and extremely useful with recommendations and advice on what meals complimented each other.
It was a charming restaurant, despite its small size, and the air was filled with herbs and spices, making you eager to read the menu and eat the food delivered to you. All in all I felt the atmosphere was catered to a younger audience, with polaroids hung up across the walls showing the closeness of the team and the events they put on, and funny quotes such as “get your bun out”, obviously referring to the Bao Buns they serve, but a clever trick to get you and your friends to talk about it.
We were sat down very quickly, after all, we were the first in the restaurant and we had made a booking. However it was nice to be greeted with a smile and general chit-chat as we made our way up the stairs. As mentioned previously, the restaurant filled up faster than I had ever seen, so we were extremely grateful that we had booked, you would struggle if you didn’t.
After sitting down we looked through the menu, and I was pleased to see in bold pink letters “RAMEN & RICE BOWLS ONLY £10” which was from Monday to Friday, luckily, we were within this time. For a set menu, the choices were varied, you had three different Slurpin’ Ramens to choose from, and incredibly, five different Rice dishes you could choose from. For an extra £5.95, me and Rhys added gyozas and a soft drink.
Personally, I went for the Red Curry, and chose chicken as my protein, I decided to get vegetable gyozas and mango juice with this, after being recommended this by the staff. They complimented each other extremely well and once I started eating I felt I couldn’t stop. The food was absolutely delicious and more-ish and I could not believe the value for money. Dan had the Teriyaki Chicken, he is someone who has not had a lot of Asian food in the past, but nonetheless he praised the restaurant and told us how impressed he was with the design of the space and the food. Finally, Rhys had the Karaage Chicken Ramen with Miso, with a side of duck gyozas and coke. Rhys is a massive fan of Asian Cuisine so was as excited as me to try the restaurant, even when we were waiting he was saying how he has been trying to cook more Asian foods at home! His food smelt especially nice, and presented picture perfect (as you will see below.) He had never tried miso before, and was incredibly impressed with what he discovered.
As a group, we could do nothing but praise the flavours of Suki Suki, they were strong, exciting and mesmerising, and as soon as we left I could not wait to go back. The only thing I could recognise was the waiting time, which, to put it simply, was on the longer side. Of course, we understand that the restaurant was being flooded with people, however when the table of six got their food before us, after watching them order after us, it was a bit of a kick in the teeth. Regardless I can not fault their service, the staff were friendly and checked to make sure everything was okay, and as mentioned previously, the recommendations worked perfectly for us.
After eating our food, I decided to speak to Poppy, and she informed me about the different events that they had hosted and why small businesses mean so much to her. You can see this video below:
I was not aware of the events they had before coming in, but now that I know about them, I am eager to go back, especially if they have another birthday party. Maybe I will go on Valentine’s day, or St. Patricks day, to see how their creativity will flow when there is something to celebrate.
Looking through their Instagram and Facebook, I realised how close the team were to each other, and this showed when dining there. I truly believe that this venture into the small, hidden Deansgate restaurant was a score, I didn’t spend any more than £20, it was filling, flavourful and fun and I can not wait to go back soon.