Suntory Japanese Restaurant

We recently decided to try the newly opened Suntory Japanese restaurant in Northampton's town centre. Having previously never eaten Japanese apart from the odd taste of sashimi and sushi we were unsure of what to choose . We had been advised by a previous visitor there to try one of the set menus. This way we would get a good taste of lots of things. A little voyage of discovery. We opted for the Mixed Teppenyaki beef menu (it also came with a Fois Gras option). This gave us a chance to try meat as well as fish.
As each dish was placed on the table we got a very good description of it from the very knowledgeable and attentive waitresses. They had also checked beforehand that we did like sashimi.
Our first dish was a Pickled Salmon dish . Now I'm not a fan of salmon at all but I have to say I really liked this. It was so fresh tasting ( I find salmon a bit too 'fishy tasting' ). It was a very good opening to the meal. I was happy it was on the set menu as it would have been a dish that I would not have chosen to try. This way I had no choice but discovered that salmon can be made enjoyable.

The next course was the Sashimi. For those of you who don't know Sashimi is raw fish not as commonly perceived, Sushi. Contrary to popular belief the little rolls of fish wrapped in seaweed that you can sometimes get in the supermarket is Sushi . If you have never tried Sashimi and are put off by the thought of uncooked fish this is the ideal place to try it for the first time. The fish is so fresh and extremely good. It came in dish on a bed of ice. There was a selection of salmon, sea bass and tuna .Served alongside a little dab of wasabi, daikon strips and a shiso leaf. There was soy if you wanted to dip into that too. Once again I have to say that the salmon was terrific as was the sea bass. My favourite however was the tuna (which was served separately on the dish in a pot). This was absolutely fantastic. An absolute must to order next time off the main menu.

Next we had a hot bowl of Miso soup. A lovely soup with added seaweed. Possibly an acquired taste to some but I loved it.









After the Miso came Tempura fried vegetables along with a large tempura battered King Prawn . Wonderful light, crispy batter encasing a fabulous king prawn with aubergine and sweet potatoes. This was served alongside a spicy dipping sauce which even after dipping the tempura was still crisp.

The main so to speak was Teppanyaki Grilled Sirloin of Beef served with a bowl of stir fried vegetables and a trio of dipping sauces and Japanese style egg fried rice. The beef  and rice both cooked on a teppanyaki grill in sight of the diners. (You can book the table around it to eat and watch the cooking). The beef was cooked perfectly and was furthermore enhanced by dipping into the Terryaki,teppenyaki and soy sauce. Thick, sticky and really delicious.

We decided to opt for a dessert even though we were advised that they weren't authentic Japanese dishes. We went for the one they said that was nearest to a Japanese dish. A banana type pancake served with ice cream. It would have been nice to have something more authentic but however this was still tasty.
To finish we had a fantastic pot of hot Japanese green tea. This was a pleasurable end to a lovely introduction to Japanese food.