<![CDATA[natty's pantry - Natty\'s review: Sunda]]>

"Showcasing East Asian and Southeast Asian regional cuisine with flavorful dishes, a full sushi bar, and a fun concept of building your own Ramen/Poke bowl."

Sunda Restaurant Chicago has a contemporary design featuring custom Troscan Design chairs. The sushi attracts the eye with a hanging sculpture containing 1,500 wire fish that create a good ambiance to make you feel like you are brunching/dining with an ocean vibe.

No matter what kind of food you are in the mood for Sunda is serving up all kind of regional cuisine from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, China, and Singapore. This place has such a beautiful atmosphere which makes it a great spot for brunching or dining with a group of friends and family. Their selection of small dishes are perfect to share and enjoy a little Southeast Asian experience and taste.

I visited Sunda in the month of the coldest day in Chicago. There was a bowl of Ramen craving that was on my mind. Build your own Ramen bowls was really what had caught my attention from the menu. It comes with Poached Egg, Ramen Noodles, Scallions, Bean Sprouts, and choice of broth of Miso | Tonkotsu. Then you can choose an extra topping to match your satisfy ( detail below).

Nowadays we have so many options of places for a hot Ramen bowl in Chicago and this place is one of the places that I would recommend for Ramen. They have broth that is complex in taste and gets a huge depth of flavor.

Here is what is my brunch looked like:

Brunch can not be complete without Mimosa. Don’t you agree with me?
The Lychee Mimosa is how I choose to start my brunch. With exotic a perfume and fruity flavor, the lychee is so juicy and perfect to use in this fragrant mimosa.

Sunda has so many choices to satisfy your cravings. One of my favorite section of the brunch menu is Dim Sum.They offer 5 different choices of steamed buns, Shiitake Edamame, Lumpia, and Oxtail pot stickers.

They figured out a way to put a tasty amount of flavor into each dumpling. Each and every single one comes with unbelievably aromatic braised oxtail, is served with caramelized onion jus and white wasabi cream.

OXTAIL POTSTICKERS: braised oxtail, caramelized onion jus, white wasabi cream

Steamed buns or Mantou is a simple plain steamed bun. You can see it in the Chinese restaurant that this bun come with filling; it’s called Baozi. Sunda adapted this concept to make their unique steam buns that assemble like a sandwich. They are a plain steamed bun cut in half and served with a filling in the middle.

Their Pork Belly, Pickles, and Hoisin is my favorite. It comes with an incredible pillowy soft steamed bun and taste so good with the juicy pork belly that comes with bright and crunchy pickled veggies with a touch of hoisin sauce to top it all off.
Roasted Duck, Scallion, and Hoisin sauce served in between their soft steamed bun.
Oxtail pot stickers

STEAMED BUNS : PORK BELLY/DUCK

STEAMED BUN WITH PORK BELLY

STEAMED BUN WITH DUCK

Tocino on crispy rice patty.

Tocino is a famous breakfast dish served in the Philippines. It is made with pork shoulder that had been marinated with Kapampangans spices and grilled until it has reached a caramelized and tendered texture. Sunda puts an Eggs Benedict spin into this dish. I enjoyed the tenderness of their caramelized pork, delicious spices with a perfectly poached egg, spiced hollandaise, and the best thing is it comes with crispy rice patty.

TOCINO ON CRISPY RICE PATTY: marinated pork, poached egg, spiced hollandaise, side salad

For the Signature Crispy Rice Sectio:.

This is a trendy food that has been adapted from basic sushi rolls with a crispy texture of rice and choice of your desired toppings. They offer 4 choices of Spicy Tuna, Wagyu, Seafood Dynamite, and Chili Albacore Sashimi.

This is the Spicy Tuna that comes with a crispy sushi rice base. It is a healthy way of enjoying spicy tuna that I am thinking about. Most of the spicy tuna that is available in so many other restaurants is mixed with mayo which gives the creaminess taste and texture. For this Spicy Tuna dish, fresh tuna is mixed with Masago, chives, Sriracha, rayu (chili oil), and jalapeño. All of these ingredients make mild taste with a super fresh tuna.

SIGNATURE SPICY TUNA CRISPY RICE : masago, chives, sriracha, rayu, jalapeño

Ramen

Build Your Own RAMEN BOWL: Assembling your own fancy Ramen with a group of friends is such a good idea for weekend brunch. They also offer a signature Ramen that you can choose from SZECHUAN SUMO SOUP and SEAFOOD RAMEN.

It comes with Poached Egg, Ramen Noodles, Scallions, Bean Sprouts, and a choice of Ramen Broth of Miso or Tonkotsu (if you like more intense flavor go for Tonkotsu).

It also comes with fun additional options to satisfy your desires :

Oxtail Pot Stickers
Tempura Shrimp
Dumplings
Black Cod
Chilean Sea Bass
Sliced NY Strip
Braised Oxtail
Poached Shrimp
Roasted Duck
Braised Pork Belly
Shredded Chicken
Bone Marrow
Mushrooms
Tofu
Kimchi
Extra Egg
Bok Choy
Kai Lan
Seaweed
Udon Noodles

Here is my ramen bowl: Miso Ramen broth, Chilean Sea Bass, Bone Marrow, Mushrooms, Bok Choy, Poached Egg, Ramen Noodles, Poached Egg, Ramen Noodles, Scallions, and Bean Sprouts.

SZECHUAN SUMO SOUP: This rich Tonkotsu broth with Szechuan spice and udon noodles comforts me when I have to fight with freezing cold weather outside. This one is the best ramen bowl in the city that I ensure you will enjoy. Served with Tempura Shrimp, sliced NY Strip, Oxtail, roasted duck, Pork Belly, and Chilies.

SZECHUAN SUMO SOUP: udon noodles, tonkotsu broth, tempura shrimp, sliced ny strip, oxtail, duck, pork belly, chilies, szechuan spice.

Build Your Own RAMEN BOWL (NATTY'S STYLE): Miso broth, Chilean Sea Bass, Bone Marrow, Mushrooms, Bok Choy, Poached Egg, Ramen Noodles, Poached Egg, Ramen Noodles, Scallions, Sprouts, and miso ramen broth.

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