RA Sushi's Newest Summer Additions

Ra Sushi, the Gold Coast’s sushi hot spot  is taking on bar fare, with a twist. I had the pleasure of spending a Monday evening checking out some of their newest offerings. First off, the cocktails. There is a lot to be said for drinks that come in at under 200 calories and actually taste good. My personal favorite? The Lycheetini. None of these drinks are so sweet that you feel like you drank some Kool-Aid and that’s a good thing! Probably because RA uses reduced calorie sweeteners and real fruit. Say what you will, but these were delish. Also notable was the Strawberry Saketini. This has been a personal daydream of mine since I first discovered a Saketini. Fruit+Sake= win. However, if you like your Sake warm, you probably won’t love this drink.

The app list was interesting and unexpected. An asian take on the ubiquitous hot spinach dip that every bar seems to offer: Edamame Spinach Dip. It tasted nutty and cheesy, and included house-made wonton chips. Next up on the “Ameri-Asian take on bar food” list were the assorted tacos. Yes, you read that right: taco shells made of deep fried rice paper, with spicy salmon, RA chicken, and RA shrimp. And Guacamole. In my opinion, the guac overpowered the delicate tacos, but the concept was tasty. And crunchy. The knockout was the garlic edamame though; so simple, but so delicious!

For main courses, the offerings included an expected Salmon and Green Bean dish, some mussels, and different varieties of chicken wings. The wings themselves were decent and the flavors were spicy, but tasty. But why am I eating chicken wings at a sushi bar? This was my question throughout the meal. I’m not sure what I expected, but I would never guess that RA Sushi would go the TGI Friday’s route of sushi restaurant. The mussels also surprised me, but apparently mussels are like chicken wings at bars. They were flavorful and garlicky; not unlike the aforementioned addictive edamame. Dessert included Mochi Balls which were refreshing, unlike the 100% humidity and 90 some degree temps awaiting me outside.

RA is now a solid place to stop in for happy hour with friends who don’t dig sushi and want the usual bar fare. Creative twists on “bar food” aside, I might order an app the next time I head in, but will be sticking to their amazing maki rolls going forward.

In case anyone was wondering YES, they have a flat screen TV to watch the game with those wings and tacos. Just don’t order a beer- make sure to get a specialty cocktail or choose a glass of wine from their newly expanded list:)