Hello foodie friends! Lil’ bun was away for almost two months and the first thing she wanted to come back was some Asian food so where better to go than Sura Korean?
Sura Korean is one of the best places to go for Korean food in Vancouver. I’ve been to the downtown location a couple of times before at their downtown location but this was my first time at the Richmond one. As with the one downtown, there was a large line outside the restaurant when we arrived around 1pm on a Saturday. It took us 20 mins to get in but our food came quickly so we didn’t mind too much.
Sura Korean interior
Sura is known for it’s quality food and ambiance. It’s no wonder that they are given this title because the interior of the restaurant doesn’t give off the “homey” vibe that you would find at most Korean restaurants. Instead, their seats all have a colourful cushion on it and they have bright fabrics throughout their restaurant to add elegant touches.
Another thing that Sura is known for is it’s set menus. They offer this at both lunch and dinner at two price points. I like this because it lets you choose what you feel like eating and the amount of food you’re served. If you choose to order the set meal, your entire group needs to as well so make sure you are dining with like-minded people.
Set menu
On this day, we decided to go with the $15/person SU set course meal.
Daily congee
As someone who has had their share of congee growing up, I had high expectations for this. Luckily, Sura came through with this because it was packed full of savoury pork flavour. It had small pieces of vegetables and pork in it to add texture to the pureed rice porridge mixture. I definitely could have had more than one bowl of this.
Green salad
Nothing much to say about this one. It was your typical crisp lettuce salad with a light yuzu(?) vinaigrette to add sweet and salty notes.
Beansprout and chicken salad
This was originally supposed to be a spicy squid salad but they were out of it for the day even though we came in at 1pm. I was a bit disappointed because I was looking forward to it. They gave us a beansprout and chicken salad instead but I don’t think it was an equivalent trade-off. Lil’ bun loves her Korean bean sprout salad though so she was happy about it.
The salad itself didn’t have much flavor to it. It had a bit of toasty-ness from the sesame oil used to dress it but otherwise, it was bland. There wasn’t much chicken present either and I didn’t even know it was a chicken salad until we were almost done the plate.
Mung bean jelly
I’ve only had this once before and it was fun to eat so I was glad to have the opportunity to try it again. The flavouring of this was similar to the bean sprout salad. It had hints of sesame oil but otherwise no other flavour. The julienned cucumbers, seaweed and carrots on top were marinaded in the same mixture so they were not crunchy in texture. The jelly itself was melt-in-your-mouth soft.
Potato pancake
You either love it or you love it. Korean pancakes are one of Lil’ bun’s favorite things to have. This potato pancake was no different. The shredded potato inside made in reminiscence of a hashbrown but the batter was soft and doughy so it wasn’t crispy like one. I usually stay away from ordering the pancake at restaurants because they are usually lacking in filling and is mostly batter. However, the one at Sura had a nice balance between the two which made it highly enjoyable.
BBQ beef bulgolgi
Ahh Korean bbq, the thing that everyone is actually here for at the end of the day. This Korean bbq was not like any of the ones I’ve had before because you grill the meat on a grid pan instead of one that is flat. Not only does this make it easier to clean but I thought that it helped the meat cook more evenly.
The beef here was cut thick and despite leaving ours on the grill a tad too long, they were not dry and remained juicy and flavorful. They were generous with the amount they gave us too so we ended up having to take some home with us.
Herb pork belly
This pork belly dish was surprisingly disappointing. The pork belly was on t he dry side and the sauce on top didn’t help the cause. The daikon radish that it came with was chewy rather than crunchy so it gave it an odd texture. I will say though that this pork belly wasn’t too fatty or meaty, it was an even balance between the two.
Sweet and sour pork
I liked how crunchy these were on the outside despite being coated in a syrupy sauce. I would say that this pork was more sweet than sour but we enjoyed it never the less. The coating on the outside wasn’t too thick so you could still taste the pork on the interior. It was definitely a welcomed change to the Chinese version of the dish.
Grilled mackerel
They really made an effort to try to get in all varieties of protein in the lunch set. This grilled mackerel was soft and broke apart nicely. It had a slight tomato flavor and I liked that it came with a piece of braised daikon radish. Unfortunately, we weren’t a huge fan of this mackerel because we found it to be too “fishy” in flavor. We didn’t end up finishing it.
Soybean tofu soup
This was my favourite part of the meal. The broth had a strong meaty flavour that packed a spicy punch. I don’t think I have had Korean tofu soup this spicy before but I couldn’t stop eating it. The best part was that it had a lot of tofu, veggies and meat in it. I’m used to having soybean tofu soup with minimal pieces of meat in it so this was definitely a welcome change. I would come back just to have this again.
Korean rice drink
This came at the end of the meal and had a few grains of rice in it. It is a lightly sweetened drink made out of barley. If you’ve ever had maple water before, it is reminiscence of that. I can imagine having this on a hot day because of how refreshing it was.
If you’re a fan of Korean food and want to try a bunch of dishes at a reasonable price, Sura is the place to go. Not only was the pricing reasonable but we had more than enough food to go around and ended up taking leftovers home.