Sushi Tengoku - not any more

Thursday night, I was craving sushi. There was one condition: it had to be BYO, because I had in my possession a killer bottle of Eden Valley Reisling. James Busby I believe, but I can't remember the exact name. Anyway, I know that this wine goes very well with sushi.

When I was attending university at UNSW back in the day, I remember going to a little hole in the wall on Anzac Parade, Kensington called Sushi Tengoku. This literally translates to "Sushi Heaven". From my previous experience I remember they had a very good pipi miso soup and also that the sushi was delicious, made with generous large pieces of fish.

I was excited to go back, alas I was to be disappointed. First of all, as my friend and I entered the restaurant we were greeted with stares from hungry looking customers, but not a single waiter or waitress in sight. The decorations were non-existent except for some soy sauce stains spattered on the walls.

The decor was horrible and the table was sticky. Ambience: minus 20.
The only waiter in the place finally emerged but did not acknowledge us. Finally, I found what was supposedly a menu, but was actually a piece of paper that we were supposed to fill out with the number of each item we wanted. My friend and I were trying to contain our disgust so we decided that we should at least try what we came for: the asari miso soup (pipi or vongole inside). I searched that list, but to my horror, I could not find it. That was the final straw. We got up and left...for Sushi Suma!!

When we arrived at Suma (http://www.sushisuma.com/), we were so relieved to be acknowledged by a waitress, who asked us politely to wait in the waiting room upstairs. We didn't mind this at all since the ambience and decor was two hundred times better than Sushi Tengoku and we could order from a proper menu. We were even given clean wine glasses so we could start drinking while we waited.

It didn't take long before we were seated downstairs and our food was immediately brought to us. Compared to this, Sushi Tengoku could have been called Sushi Jigoku (hell).
The food was great here, I loved the sushi, but the Crab Croquette is my personal favourite. The wine went well with all the food here too and the corkage was ridiculously cheap.

At the end of the night I was again pleasantly surprised. This time by how reasonable the bill was. As I sit here writing this review, I can't help but feel disappointment for Sushi Tengoku. The place had so much potential, but it's as if the owner has just given up and lost inspiration. They could really use some help. I want Chopping Block (I think thats what its called the restaurant tv show), to help them out and really kick their asses. And bring back the miso soup!!