On a sleepy Wednesday morning after snoozing my alarm for nearly an hour, the only thing that got me out of bed was the text reminder that my Suna Breakfast order was on the way.
Suna Breakfast is a startup co-founded by Christophe Gerlache ’20 and Pedro Bobrow ’20, who aim to revolutionize student mornings by delivering pre-ordered breakfast to students’ doorsteps. After taking a break to make business improvements, Suna officially relaunched on Monday, March 18th. In conjunction with their relaunch, Suna also announced an exciting new partnership with Cornell Dining: All of Suna’s dishes are now made by Cornell Dining from organic ingredients.
Ordering my breakfast through the free Suna app was effortless. I simply created an account and completed my order within a minute. The app is quite aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. It includes photos of the menu items as well as small icons that flag dishes if they contain nuts, are vegan or high in protein — so I know exactly what I’m getting. Suna offers an impressively large menu with four different breakfast sandwich variations: an acai bowl, an acai mixed berry smoothie as well as avocado toast made both with and without egg.
I decided on the acai bowl (cheaper than the acai mixed berry smoothie) and the avocado toast with egg. I was given a 10-minute expected delivery window and was guaranteed that my order would be free if it was even a second late. Despite staying up way too late the night prior, I fell asleep with a sense of ease knowing that I would not have to worry about how I would fit breakfast into my morning.
The next morning, I rolled out of bed and awaited a text message from Suna. Sure enough, a text came precisely at the beginning of the 10-minute delivery window notifying me that my order was ready! All I had to do was step outside of my dorm building to retrieve it. As someone whose breakfast typically consists of scarfing down overnight oats or eating a sugary muffin from a campus eatery, getting a beautifully packaged breakfast delivered directly to me felt uber-luxurious. I was already giddy about Suna’s seamless delivery process, so could hardly wait to dig in and try what I ordered.
I decided to try the avocado toast with egg ($5.99) first. According to the Suna app, this dish consists of sourdough toast spread with scallion oil (garlic, scallions and olive oil), topped with a heaping layer of avocado, sesame seeds and a fried egg. The first bite was bursting with flavor. I quite enjoyed how the crisp outside contrasted with the pillowy soft inside of the sourdough toast. I was not a huge fan of the scallion oil or sesame seeds merely because I prefer my avocado toast to be simply seasoned with sea salt, pepper and lime juice. The egg was delicious and tasted very fresh.
The acai bowl ($6.49) was made with acai, yogurt, apple juice, banana, strawberries, honey and granola. The acai was a beautiful dark purple color that was complemented nicely by the granola that topped it, which was a delicious toasty flavor. Plus, it had the perfect amount of crunch. I wish that the bowl had a slightly thicker consistency, larger strawberries (they were miniature) and more blueberries. The bowl also had a strong artificially sweet flavor, likely because apple juice was included as an ingredient. Overall, though, the bowl was good considering its low price. I picture this acai bowl with the addition of a spoonful of almond butter, which would add the perfect creamy texture to thicken the acai, as well as an added boost of protein, which we all can appreciate in a meat-free breakfast.
I have to admit, I was pretty shocked when I saw that each of my chosen menu items were priced under $7. Nowadays, breakfast items like avocado toast and acai bowls tend to have super hiked-up prices, so $7 is something of a steal. Given the generous portion size, affordability and convenience of these two dishes, I would recommend that Cornell students try it out. However, these dishes lacked the natural, organic quality that Suna promised. The acai bowl tasted overly sweet and had a shortage of fruit chunks. I also found the avocado toast’s seasoning a bit too strong for breakfast, and would have preferred a milder flavor.
I am excited to see Suna’s presence grow on campus and to try their other menu items in the future. As Ron Swanson of TV hit Parks and Recreation once said, “There has never been a sadness that can’t be cured by breakfast food.” If you struggle with breakfast, give Suna Breakfast a try! It might just be the trick to getting you to your morning lecture on time, or at all.
Price: $
Overall: ★★★☆☆