Monday, January 28, 2013

Ginzado Japanese BBQ

We felt like having beef for dinner...there are no real steak houses near our area so we decided to go and have Japanese BBQ.  However; there are tons of them near us...we did not know which one to try.  So, we asked a foodie friend of ours what he recommended and he told us his favourite place to go was Ginzado on Thonglor.

So Japanese BBQ; here we come....


Luckily we called in advance for a table; when we arrived, every single table was taken by Japanese (a very good sign already).  Our table was being prepared for us and the staff were very friendly.

Before I go into details of the food; the most bizarre, unfortunate and should have not happened...happened.  We got the menus; since we did not understand the menu we focused on the photos of the cuts of meats.  We pointed to the waitress several of the beef cuts we wanted.  No problem....so far.

One minute later the waitress came back and told us two of the three meats that we ordered were 'out'.  Ummmm; ok, that's weird.  So; we chose another two; off she went.  She came back a minute later and told us those one of the two meats was also out.  Now it was getting; unbelievable, annoying and down right pathetic.  We finally told the waitress; "tell us what you have and then we will order that instead".

So far out of the 'five' meat dishes we ordered; only two were available.  Our record was not very good.
The waitress pointed to two meat dishes and we said "ok" we take that.  You will not believe it; the waitress came back very embarrassed to say that one of the meat dishes was out.  We could not even get mad any more because this must have been a joke.  So; we just said "please choose a meat dish for us...any!"


The first order of beef was Kaibisan - Nakaochi (250 baht).


The next dish was Jyo Tan (330 baht).


The next dish was Jyo Karubi (320 baht).


We started grilling the meats and Eringi Yaki (mushroom for 150 baht).


The next dish was Jyo Harami (300 baht).  This was the worst cut of meat.  This was not our choice but it the only thing left.  It was squared chunks of meat but actually, there was no meat.  It was just 'fat'...yucky!


The next dish was Saikoro (330 baht).


The next dish was Yukke (280 baht).  The beef tartare had a rich & deep red colour, it was cut into big chunks and tasted very nice with the added raw egg and daikon.


The next dish was Karubi Soup (180 baht).  The soup had plenty of egg and beef.  At first; the red colour fooled us into thinking that the soup would be very spicy.  It turned out not to be so.  The soup was thick, hearty and very tasty.


The next dish was Ishiyaki Bibinba (250 baht).  This was a very nice rice dish; so full of ingredients that had many textures and flavours.  Actually; this is a meal in itself, but as usual I eat too much.


The waitress mixing the Binbinba for us and separated the dish into individual bowls for us.


There was not much decor.  The restaurant is separated into booths for the BBQ stations.  The lighting was very white and bright; so no real ambiance either.  But there was an energy to the place because all the Japanese people there were happily talking, cooking and eating...that was a nice feeling.


Overall; I am sure Ginzado would have had a better review from me if they had the food we wanted.  I will give them the benefit of the doubt because our foodie friend told us that the 'running out of food' incident never happened to them and that maybe the restaurant was packed with people all day and they were not prepared for it.

The meats were of good quality and good tastes.  It was too bad it was cuts that I did not prefer and enjoy...we had no choice.

The service very attentive and friendly.  We never had to ask for anything; they were always carefully watching and catering to our needs but without being annoying.

The prices are somewhat ok...its the same to all the other Japanese or even Korean BBQ places.  I guess; we will have to come back to Ginzado to see if this is truly the 'best' place for Japanese BBQ on Thonglor.

Address:  117 Panjit Tower, soi Sukhimvit 55 (Thonglor)
Phone #:  02-392-3248

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