Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Suikin

As usual; the restaurant scene in Bangkok is difficult...when you ask a person where is their favourite Japanese restaurant; you will get a so many answers.  For all their many reasons; they will tell you why they believe their favourite Japanese restaurant is the best...and as usual; the other party will disagree.

We have several friends who have raved about Suikin.  We have never been just because its a part of town we seldom think of going for dinner.  So a friend said it was time that we try her favourite Japanese restaurant.  One key reason is that Suikin specialises in tofu...the largest tofu selection in town.


When entering Suikin; we were pleasantly greeted with a dramatic dinning room.  Dim lights gave the place a dramatic setting.  The room was long with two main dinning sections.  The design is very simple yet you can tell a lot of thought went into making simple look 'elegant'.  The mix of concrete and wood gave the place a warm and earthy look.


The first dish was Goma tofu (90 baht).


The next dish was Mineoka tofu (90 baht).


The next dish was Kinpira gobo (70 baht).


The next dish was Hiya yakko tofu (70 baht).


The next dish was Daikon salad (160 baht).


The next dish was Hokke (290 baht).  The whole fish was fresh, grilled to a shiny golden brown and was cooked perfectly.  The meat was tender and flaky.


The next dish was Soba sushi (160 baht).  This was a very unique dish; we never had it before. Instead of using sushi rice; the rice was replace with soba noodles...and it was not bad at all. The texture & colour was not what we are used to but that is part of the excitement of eating something different.  The soba noodles did add another flavour dimension.


The next dish was Tsuzumi (880 baht).  The dish had a good selection of fish that were fresh, each one had good texture & tasted good.


The next dish was Spicy tuna roll (250 baht).  Japanese restaurants have to re-think of calling this dish 'spicy' tuna rolls; I did not have any sensation that it was spicy.  However; the tuna was very fresh and the dish was nicely presented and it tasted very good.


The next dish was Karasumi (270 baht).  Another very unique dish we have never tasted.  Japanese version of Bottarga sandwiched between daikon...a daikon sandwich.  AND it was yummy.  Bottarga and daikon together; you can already tell that the flavours will be bold...bitter, salty, sour, acidic and a some sweetness to round it up.  Very nice!


The last dish was Wakadori yaki (120 baht).  Simple grilled chicken.  Nothing special...it was just to fill up the tummy.


Overall; Suikin is not bad at all.  The food is good but I would not say outstanding.  In my opinion; there are better sushi restaurants in town.  They do have very unique dishes that I have not seen in other Japanese restaurants which for sure makes Suikin an interesting place to go just cause of that.  Another amazing aspect is the huge selection of tofu.  Who would have guessed that tofu can come in so many textures, shapes and tastes...but they do at Suikin.

The prices are reasonable & comparable to other Japanese restaurants in town.  Suikin has a good setting and is comfortable.  The service started ok but as the evening passed on, it just disappeared. It was closing time and we were the last guest in the restaurant.  We were told there was last order which is normal....but after a few minutes; we wanted to ask for hot tea; there were no service staff.  They just disappeared.  I had to get up and look for staff; which I found.  Then after a few minutes; we wanted the bill and again; no one around.

I find this rude and actually obnoxious.  I have no idea what they were doing; but there should have been atleast one person taking care of our table.  They are lucky that service charge was included in the bill...I should have asked for it back!

Address:  548/7 Embassy Park Plaza; Ploenchit Rd. 
Telephone #:  02-252-2002-3

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