FULL PLATE Sura

COMMUNITY

Full Plate Ten years in the making, Sura Restaurant offers an imperial experience fit to feed a king by XINYA LI

Inwoo Park is a 26-yearold Korean-Canadian man who’s lived in Vancouver since childhood, but only occasionally eats simple Korean dishes at home—most of the time he eats Western food. For Park, getting to know more about his Korean culture starts on Robson Street— and between him and his friends, he’s become a pro on the Korean cultural scene there. “I now know where can you find the best kimchi and Korean barbecue,” Park says with a smile, “and that Sura is the best Korean cuisine restaurant in Vancouver.”

Owner Min-suk Kim had been longing for home country food when he decided to open Sura Korean restaurant 10 years ago—though most people rejected his proposal when he first shopped the idea around. Instead, he recruited two friends, Binwoo Park and Sangjo-Han—now partner and master chef respectively—and the three run the business together.

On this Friday night, waiters bustle around the room, preparing glasses of water and setting down kimchi and other small dishes before the customer sits. There’s a busy chaos, though each server carefully writes down the guest’s order and dashes back to the kitchen to inform the cooks. It’s hectic, but each waiter still shows respect to every single customer, smiling and bowing to them when

they finish the meal.

The runaway success of Sura was a bit of a surprise to Min-suk Kim. “Actually, I didn’t really expect that I can make Sura a successful restaurant here,” he says. “All we did is show our passion and respect to every single customer. Every step for making a dish should be careful and cautious. We would like to meet any needs whether it’s service or food. We show them our sincerity and also appreciate them for supporting us.”

The restaurant has its own vegetable garden in Richmond, and it often adjusts its menu based on the changing of seasons. Cold noodles are offered in summer, and various soup dishes warm up the winter menu. Its most popular dish is Squid Bulgogi: made from squid, beef and vegetable with a spicy house special sauce, it’s a dish that’s perfect for cooler weather, paired with freshly cooked steamed rice, wrapped up with red lettuce and eaten like a burrito.

Sura is moving into its tenth year with a flourish: the restaurant has received its third Vancouver Restaurant Awards from Vancouver Magazine and reviews continue to extol its delights—which are well worth the long line up that patiently waits outside on any given night. n

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Chefs at Sura are passionate about their customers and put every authentic dish together carefully