Restaurant Review - Suka

The Sanderson Hotel is the kind of place that is likely to provoke extreme views. Its long bar is ultra-fashionable, while the purple bar is cosy and serves good cocktails.  Suka is in the place of the ill-fated Spoon, and serves fusion Malaysian/French food. Backed by financier, restaurateur and convicted criminal Jeffrey Chodorow, Suka was never likely to be a dull place. The dining room is off the noisy Long Bar, and in clement weather there are plenty of tables in the courtyard, partly open to the elements.  The menu ranges through fairly classical Asian (not purely Malaysian) dishes like Papaya Salad, through to fusion concoctions such as foie gras with a salad involving Thai basil, red onion and Vietnamese mint. Service was overly precious for my taste, with European staff anxious to explain the "concept" of the dining at every opportunity.  The wine list was actually quite good, organised by grape style, and ranged widely across the world. Mark-ups were the usual central London level, but there were plenty of choices under £40.

The green papaya salad featured rather heavy noodles but lively spicing (2/10). Lobster wonton mee involved lobster that was wildly overcooked and chewy, though well spiced sweet and salt noodles (0/10). Crab meat and fritters in a crab broth was surprisingly tasteless and failed to impress (1/10). By contrast, slow braised pork belly was tender, enlivened with a little chili vinaigrette and spring onions (5/10). Even better was pan-fried foie gras with a vibrant salad of red onion, mangosteens, Thai basil and Vietnamese mint, in which the foie gras was very good indeed (6/10).

The inconsistency continued with the grilled langoustines. The ones that initially arrived were cooked almost to a pulp, and were virtually inedible. I sent these back and was presented instead with very nicely cooked, light langoustines with rather heavy-handed turmeric, garlic and bacon emulsion. This was either 0/10 or 5/10, depending on which version you score. Worryingly the mushy version was "the standard that we do" while the light, correctly cooked version was done "especially for you".    

Beef rendang was slow-cooked and hung off the bone nicely, but lacked the spices that a true beef rendang should have. Turbot was roasted and cooked rather too much, with a surprisingly tasteless tamarind and chilli emulsion (2/10). This was better than a really bad skate sambal, badly overcooked in a milk curry sauce (0/10). Vegetables were actually quite good, with tender bak choi (5/10) and decent Chinese broccoli (3/10), while rice was reasonable (2/10). 

Pineapple panggang (roasted pineapple) was not a successful dish (1/10) but a kaffir lime chocolate fondant was correctly made, with good chocolate with a liquid centre, served with ginger sorbet (4/10). The bill for four, with tap water, two bottles of modest wine and a cheap dessert wine was £435, and this with coffee donated by the staff. This is one of the most erratic meals I have had for years. At its best there was classy cooking, as evidenced by the foie gras and the bak choi.  On the other hand the skate, lobster and initial attempt at langoustines were inexcusable.  It averages out to perhaps 2/10, but at these prices there is a giant value for money question.