Sun Japanese Cuisine's 10-Course Dinner Deserves Your Attention

Unlike the local-style sushi restaurants scattered around town, or Californian-style Hatsune, Sun Japanese Cuisine offers an authentic taste of Japan. Opened in mid-July and located on the second floor in a quiet alley near Xinyuanjie, the restaurant is a mere there minutes' walk to the west of Great Leap Brewing #45 (otherwise known as "the pizza one"). And it’s the real deal, good enough meet the needs of the pickiest sushi snob.

After being welcomed by deferential waitresses in traditional kimonos, you are given the option to sit around the 10-seat wooden bar, one of three private rooms, or at a table for two along the wall. Three huge modern Ukiyo-e style paintings hang behind the bar, painted by Daybreakswork. Most of the diners on the day we visited were Japanese, although, interestingly, there are five languages on the menu: Japanese, Chinese, English, Spanish, and Arabic.

There are three set dinner options: RMB 380, RMB 580, and RMB 1,080. The first two each contain 10 courses, while RMB 1,080 gets you 12 courses. The set at RMB 380 features two appetizers, a seafood salad, assorted sashimi, shrimp and fish croquette, steamed clam soup, mirin-dried mackerel, chawanmushi (egg custard with fish), assorted sushi, miso soup, and desert. The set at RMB 580 is an upgraded version, with Jamón Iberico (Iberian ham) salad, Australian wagyu croquette, seared beef, foie gras, and uni (sea urchin).

The duration of your time dining at Sun will feel more like a magician’s show than a meal, with the wizardly chef in front of you preparing sashimi, skinning the jumping shrimps, cutting tuna attentively, and using a blowtorch to grill the surface of the saury. The appetizer includes two small dishes, raw fish with natto (fermented soybeans), some fish roe, and baby onion; and bean curd with salted egg yolk. Our sashimi included sweet shrimp, tuna, red clam, scallop, white fish and uni, all of which were incredibly fresh. The Jamón Iberico salad is western style, with wheatgrass and lettuce topped with a thick layer of cheese and Beher’s acorn iberian ham gold label. The shrimp and fish croquette had a crispy crust and tasty filling. 

For anyone new to the serious sushi bar experience, it might be a bit overwhelming – your reaction to every single bite is watched by the chef standing in front of you. The sushi here was expertly made with vinegared rice, and we were urged to finish our round of sushi by the strict chef to ensure it was at the perfect temperature. For one second, I felt if we didn’t finish the sushi at the right timing, either the chef would kill himself or we would be cut up for not treating the food in the right way.  

Dessert includes three options, almond tofu, coffee jelly, and yōkan (red-bean cake). We had the almond tofu, which was soft, sweet and decorated with a goji berry. There are also some à la carte options, such as sushi, salads, sashimi,  soup, and grilled and steamed dishes, but the set dinner offers better value even if ten courses were a bit much for us. There is also a good selection of sake, champagne, sparkling wine, and beer. The meal passed at a perfect pace, not only because of the skills of experienced chef Hao Meng, but also because the fresh ingredients are delivered every morning. So far, the restaurants only caters for up to 13 customers a day to maintain the quality.

This type of service, known as Omotenashi in Japanese, involves the strict entertainment of guests, making sure everything is taken care of from collecting empty plates to topping up your green tea. They even provide masks on polluted days. At the moment, they can only cater up to 13 customers a day to maintain such meticulous quality. For these reasons, and the fact that Sun is one of the best Japanese restaurants I have had the pleasure to eat at, calling in advance is a must. 

Sun Japanese Cuisine
Mon-Sat 5-11.30pm. 2/F, 43 Xinyuanjie, Chaoyang District (135 5217 4797)
粲寿司: 朝阳区新源街43号黑色小楼2层

This article originally appeared in the January/February issue of the Beijinger, which you can read here via Issuu, via the PDF here, or in hard copy at all of your favorite venues across town.

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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Photos: Tracy Wang