Eric H.
Yelp
The recently opened SOSU izakaya on Burnet Road is just a smidge north of Barley Swine. The parking garage of the complex is free, with access from both Burnet Road and Burnet Lane. SOSU occupies the north corner of the building.
Approaching the premises from the northern egress of the parking garage, the sidedoor of SOSU features a pickup option where you ring the doorbell. That side of the restaurant also houses the bathroom hallway.
Curling around to the main entrance on Burnet Road, you'll see a colorful clockwise rotating projection of SOSU on the sidewalk that will attract your attention.
Walking in the front entrance, you'll be greeted with "irasshaimase" and you'll be directed to choose your seat, whether at the bar, table, or high top.
For first timers, the staff will explain that you order by QR code. Unfortunately, they don't have WiFi setup at the moment, so if you have poor cellular reception here, I did see some tablets. Perhaps you might be able to order from those.
Filtered water and small waxy paper water cups are found off on the side, next to the two small pots of soy sauce. One pots is labeled gluten-free soy sauce (in fact it's a Kikkoman Tamari) while the other is soy sauce. I was impressed with the specific tamari they offer. However, I did notice after pouring the regular soy sauce there was some dust floating on top. I suspect it was from the saucer: their saucers are stacker in top columns, right side up, and I had taken one of the top ones (oops).
We ended up ordering 7 items, and everything came out very quickly. I opted for a Thai Milk Tea, which was pretty refreshing for me. It came well-iced.
Their Sunomono features fresh cucumber, wakame, and Tosazu jelly. I did not detect any sesame seeds (listed as an ingredient), but no biggie. The dish was refreshing. However, I did find myself wishing the cucumbers were more coated with the Tosazu, because the vinegary savoriness is what makes the dish exciting. Instead, the Tosazu jelly was scattered around the perimeter, rather than being mixed amongst the cucumber slices. Nonetheless, the presentation of the dish was beautiful.
About the Hiyayakko Onsen: this is their take on silken tofu with a wonderfully soft egg. It's a cold dish. The egg has the most amazing texture (or lack of texture) and a very clean taste, and a gooey yolk. In contrast, the tofu, which is supposed to be silken, had some resistance when cutting into it with a spoon. Secondly, the flavor of the tofu had a pronounced soy flavor to it (think of edamame), rather than a very clean light flavor. Of course, the other elements incorporated into this dish were very good: in particular, the Tsuyu sauce imparted a very nice flavor. A good amount of bonito was on top, along with some seaweed and scallions. A tiny dallop of wasabi hung out just below the rim of the bowl, which went well with the tofu. Overall, I thought the dish was put together well, with the primary weakness being the tofu itself.
The Hamachi Serrano had five wonderful slices of hamachi, each topped with slice of serrano, sitting in a very shallow puddle of passionfruit ponzu, all of which complement the hamachi. These were fun to eat, and I would order them again.
The Hokkaido Berry features thinly sliced scallops that have small cubes of strawberry, some "wasabi salsa" and tiny spherical rice crackers sitting atop a bit of yuzu vinaigrette. The scallop was wonderful. However, I didn't really taste strawberry. It's possible that the strawberry wasn't particularly flavorful given that we ate during January in Texas, but I didn't try the strawberry alone. It could also be that the spicy wasabi part overpowered the strawberry. The rice crackers added a nice crunch. I would also order this dish again. It was very well put together; I'd recommend eating it with a spoon.
I also ordered a Negi Hama hand roll. Basically cubed hamachi and scallions. I found myself wishing the hamachi was seasoned a bit more than it was, since when eating the hand roll I detected two distinct flavors: hamachi + scallions, and rice. Adding just a dab of tamari to each hamachi cube helped bring the flavors closer together.
The Classic Gyudon was excellent. The onsen egg is spectacular. The seasoning for this beef over rice bowl was great. Plus it comes with a shiro miso soup that gives you a warm fuzzy feeling. I may come here for lunch sometime, which is also when they offer their donburis.
Overall, I was very satisfied with their dishes and especially their seafood, sauce preparations, and choices. The weaknesses of some of the dishes were from specific ingredients, and some of the dishes were just a tad shy of something to really pull all the flavors together within a bite. I'd definitely come here again; the staff are wonderfully friendly, and eating here doesn't take long.
