Ogu Ogu

My friends and I decided to try the new Japanese restaurant in the same building of the newly opened Japanese hotel...the Okura.  The new Japanese restaurant is called Ogu Ogu.   We all heard about it and we have all passed by it and thought it looked interesting in terms of design.

The decor is modern with the use of wood as the main material.  The wood is used in many fashions to give texture and colour to the place.  There is strategic mood lighting; but a bit dark to see the menus.  Modernised retro furniture adds more interesting design elements to the place.

We started with Lotus Chips (140 baht). With rosemary infused salt.

The next dish was Spicy Tuna Roll (230 baht)...thinly chopped tuna in spicy mayonaise dressing rolled with avocado and tobiko caviar.

The next dish was Dragon Wings (280 baht)...their version of buffalo wings served with whipped blue cheese dressing.

The next dish was Tuna Ceviche (530 baht)...tuna marinade with yuzu dressing served with green tea salt.

The next dish was Sashimi Salad (390 baht).

The next dish was Ogu Ogu Tofu (190 baht)...fresh tofu served with different kinds of salts and ponzu.

The next dish was Assorted Sashimi (950 baht)...a combination of tuna, salmon and red snapper.

The next dish was Grilled Beef Tongue (320 baht)...thinly sliced grilled beef tongue served with green tea salt.

The next dish was Ogu Ogu Salad (390 baht)...their simple rocket and green salad with truffle oil and anchovy.

The next dish was Grilled Pork Belly (280 baht)...thinly sliced grilled pork served with yuzu kosho.

The next dish was Truffle Carbonara Udon (380 baht)...their modern take on traditional carbonara using their udon noodles with truffle infused cream sauce.

The next dish Mentaiko & Egg Udon (380 baht)...udon noodles in egg broth with mentaiko fish roe served in hot stone bowl.

The first dessert was Sake Affogato (280 baht)...our sake sorbet floated in sake wooden box.

The next dessert was Tofu Blanc Manager (280 baht)...soy milk mousse served with ogura red bean and their special green tea gelato.

The next dessert was Baked Apple Spring Roll (280 baht)...served with vanilla gelato and calvados liquor infused syrup.

Overall; I rarely say this but I thought the evening was disappointing.  We went into Ogu Ogu with perhaps too big of an expectation.  The place looked so different and cool that we wanted it to be really good.  It was a let down.

The food was just ok...presentation wise; no issues.  But when it came down to execution and preparation, this was their down fall.  I am not sure if Ogu Ogu actually knows something about Japanese food or their chef was ever trained properly.  Everything was eatable but there was nothing that 'wowed' us or even allowed us to say that this is interesting.  I was actually hoping for something atleast to be 'this is really good'.  But it never materialised.

Most of the sashimi and sushi rolls were of good quality and no issues.  The more unique dishes turned out to be disappointing like the Truffle Carbonara Udon; the only thing different about the dish was they used cream and udon noodles.  There is nothing creative what-so-ever in this dish; this was their chance to truly make this their signature dish if they actually just thought a bit deeper.  On top of that, the dish was infused with too much truffle essence that the dish tasted fake.

There was a dish that we all did agree was not bad at all...the grilled pork belly.  Very good quality pork, good texture, grilled nicely and had a good taste.

The most annoying elements of our evening came down to service and ambiance.  Let me start with the service.  There was no lack of staff in the establishment; but the problem was either they were not trained properly or they really did not care.  Ogu Ogu is split into sections separated by a wall.  For some strange reason the staff preferred to stay on the other side of the restaurant.  So when we needed or wanted something, we could never attract the attention of one of the staff.  We were so annoyed that we began to serve our own sake.

The next thing Ogu Ogu has to decide is if they want to be serious restaurant or a disco-teque.  The freaking techno music was playing so loud that we had to ask twice for them to turn it down because we had to scream at each other to have a discussion.  I do not want to kill their concept...if they want to attract a young crowd who knows nothing about food and just want to listen to techno music all night long; that is their prerogative.  But if this is 'truly' going to be a restaurant; this is where they will kill their main source of business...in my humble opinion, people who want good food will not sit in Ogu Ogu, pay those kinds of prices and be driven crazy by techno music.

In the end; we were a table of 8 people we and we all agreed that we would not return; just for the simple fact that we had a lot of food but we were not full and we were not satisfied.

Address:  Park Venture Ecoplex, G floor, 57 Wireless Rd. Bangkok
(BTS Ploenchit)

Telephone:  02-108-2255

www.ogu-ogu.com