The Suminoya buffet is one of our old favourites when it comes to a satisfying Japanese Yakiniku BBQ smorgasbord for group catch ups, so I was glad to find out that they had added a few new items onto the menu when we visited for dinner recently.
The restaurant is tucked away in a lane way near Martin Place and for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of trying the Suminoya buffet before – the set up is essentially that you choose the level of menu you’d like to order from, 60 minutes to order whatever you’d like off that menu (via their handy iPad ordering system) and then 90 minutes to eat your meal. Each table is equipped with tabletop BBQs for you to cook your chosen meats and huge extractor fans so you don’t end up smelling too much like your food at the end of it all.
We went with the Premium Buffet ($60 per head for adults, half price for kids) which allows you to order sashimi, seafood and a big variety of yakiniku meat for the BBQ (including wagyu) – this is the better value option if you like sashimi, as that’s not available under the basic Gourmet Buffet option and it’s only $10 more to go with the Premium option. The sashimi was a tasty appetiser, with some very fresh cuts of salmon, tuna, kingfish and scallops on the platter.
Sashimi
We got a mix of premium wagyu beef to start off the BBQ, our old faithful Wagyu Beef Harami (which is the juicy beef skirt) and one of the new beef offerings, which was the Wagyu Beef Loin – a super tender cut that tasted deliciously buttery once grilled, especially if you pop the meat into an on trend “ban” a.k.a. a fluffy bao for a gourmet beef sandwich.
Wagyu Beef Harami
Wagyu Beef Loin with Bans
It’s not a Suminoya dinner in our books without some Beef Tongue – for the uninitiated, these thin slivers are one of the most tender cuts of beef and they are so popular with the patrons that Suminoya actually put a limit of 1 platter per table unless you go for their unlimited Beef Tongue option.
Beef Tongue
While you’re waiting for your BBQ meats to cook on the grill, you can also tuck into some flavoursome side dishes like their comforting Curry Rice or the tasty Eel Rice which is one of the boy’s favourites. We also love getting their Seafood Salad which features more of their fresh salmon, wakame seaweed and lettuce all drizzled with lashings of Japanese kewpie mayo. It’s a great way to break up all the meat.
Eel Rice and Curry Rice
Seafood Salad
On the seafood front, we also liked the Garlic Prawns which come in a small foil cup for you to pop onto the BBQ grill too. They take a bit longer to cook than the beef, but are worth the wait.
Garlic Prawns
To finish off, you can’t go past their classic Green Tea and Black Sesame Ice Cream combo – the rich and creamy flavours of both hit the sweet spot.
Green Tea and Black Sesame Ice Cream Combo
It’s always a very satisfying meal at Suminoya with all that delicious chargrilled meat on offer – we enjoyed the updates to Suminoya’s menu which are just enough to make this traditional yakiniku restaurant more on trend and to keep things interesting, even for longtime fans like us.
Excuse Me Waiter dined as guests of Suminoya
Suminoya
1 Hosking Place, Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 9231 2177
