Sunda, Chicago IL
110 W. Illinois St.
Chicago, IL 60654
A new kid on the block in Chicago fine dining, Sunda takes its name from an extension of the geographical continental shelf of Southeast Asia and has crafted as its menu an amalgamation of the various cultures, spices and cooking techniques in the region. Japan, China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand are among the influences for this contemporary Asian fusion restaurant.
Sunda goes for an über trendy vibe with its dark, sleek, cavernous space containing several dining areas including private tables, long communal benches, a cocktail lounge and seating at the extensive sushi bar. A newly opened restaurant, Sunda is already busy enough that diners without reservations are usually relegated to communal or bar seating (which is not really an inconvenience as the top notch service and delicious, innovative cuisine are unaffected).
The menu is a dizzying array of choices ranging from edamame beans to entrees such as a half chicken fried with coconut milk and Thai chilies and a Malay style Chilean sea bass. Appetizers and small plates alone take up two pages of the menu, with entrees covering one page and a full sushi menu of traditional and specialty rolls, sashimi and nigiri comprising the rest of the menu. Sunda has a plethora of sake, domestic and imported beer and wine (red, white and sparkling) offerings by the bottle and some by the glass as well as a long list of specialty cocktails.
With such a range of mouth watering choices, my boyfriend and I were thankful for our server who was polite, friendly, extremely knowledgeable about the menu and able to offer helpful suggestions without a hint of persuasion. We finally decided on a few small plates, sushi rolls and sashimi. As we sipped from a reasonably priced, clear and just sweet enough bottle of sake, our parade of food began to arrive.
Among the several options we had that evening, our clear favorite was the rock shrimp tempura, delectable bits of fried shrimp and walnuts lightly covered with honey. The lemongrass beef lollipops offered five pieces of tender NY strip beef skewered on lemongrass sticks with a spicy chili glaze. Our salad comprised of chili caramelized watermelon pieces topped with slices of unagi fish prepared to taste like bacon. Determined to explore the sushi side of the menu also, we enjoyed a Sunda signature roll of hamachi poke with mango and macadamia nuts in a citrus marinade. Our tastes diverged at sea urchin sashimi- I am willing to try many things but this was just too much for me. My boyfriend cheerfully found it exotic and different. We ended our meal with the “great white tuna” roll, another specialty, which was topped with a crispy potato chip.
While Sunda is definitely not an everyday restaurant, the high level of service and interesting menu makes for an enjoyable evening of fine dining.
For more information, see www.sundachicago.com
BridgetA // Other posts by BridgetA
Tags: Chicago, new, restaurant