Services: 5/10
Scale: [ 1=poor ----- 5=average/standard ----- 10=outstanding/exceptional ]
Once again that I have to mention about the "Baby Boom" of sushi bar in Bangkok. There have been so many new sushi bars during the past few years. Most of them are even serving similar stuff: ranging from sushi and sashimi sets (of course with toro, hamachi and etc. that come from the very same suppliers), variety of rolls, and recently the trend of omakase. Well, honestly they are just really enjoyable but most of them are not at high standard and dearly cost: you can end up with bill more than THB2,000 per head easily. Ok, people always say hang on, you will get xx% discount if you use this and that credit card to pay. Oh boy, all the same marketing scheme everywhere. Why isn't there any proper sushi place with the right pricing?
Anyway, let me get back to the main topic of this blog. Yuutaro is not an exception for the sushi bar baby boom. It was launched towards the end of 2013. It is located in Soi Sukhumvit 51. If you come from Sukhumvit Road, Yuutaro will be on the right hand side at the end of Soi Sukhumvit 51. The place is grand and there are so many parking lots which is really great. Even you do not drive, Yuutaro is also within a walking distance from BTS Thonglor station. The interior is not spectacular but fairly cosy. I do like the fact that the place is really big and each table is kept at a good distance from the neighbouring table. The sushi counter can accommodate around 10 guests.
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| Yuutaro @ Sukhumvit 51, Bangkok |
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| spacious with many parking lots |
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| large sushi counter |
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| comfortable dining room |
When I glanced through the menu, I was rather shock with the pricing of dishes here (or I did overreact). Admittedly, they are really expensive especially the raw fish part. From the moment, I did expect some really good meal here. Let me give some example of pricing: THB400 for tonkatsu, THB800 for crunchy crab roll (spider roll), and THB1,500 for aburi sushi set (seared matsuzaka, otoro, scallop, botan ebi, hamachi, and salmon). After the meal, I was sure that this would not be a regular place for me to have sushi. Overpricing from my point of view. I expect more on cooking skill and quality from this range of pricing, not just the expensive kind of ingredient.
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| sake for the night |
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| condiment to go with sake |
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| roasted ginkgo |
Having googled to do some research before visiting,
toro tsuke inaniwa udon (6/10) was in our top list to be ordered as it looked pretty yummy. The dish came in a small bowl consisting of inaniwa udon at the bottom topped with fatty tuna, soft boiled egg, nameko mushrooms, ikura, and a piece of uni. THB900 for this, I must be made to have ordered it. It may combine all the good ingredients but flavour of each one seems to cannibalise each other. It was fun but not wonderful. As for
zeitaku maki (6/10) and
wagyu toro roll (7/10), they were lovely enough to be pleasurable. Zeitaku maki was decent but the mayonnaise with sushi has always been the overwhelming part for me. The wagyu toro roll, which was tender and almost melted in the mouth, was a more approachable modern maki for me.
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| toro tsuke inaniwa udon (THB900) |
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| toro tsuke inaniwa udon |
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| zeitaku maki (THB1,200) |
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| wagyu toro roll (THB2,400) |
We did also have
sashimi omakase (6/10) to try. The set consisted of otoro, hamachi, kampachi, salmon, ama ebi (sweet shrimp), hirame (flounder), and hotate (scallop). The portion seemed to be decent for this menu but the quality was not up to my expectation. You can probably see from the picture below that the colour of each piece does not look that fresh. This was also the similar case for
ikura gunkan maki (5/10).
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| sashimi omakase (THB2,200) |
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| otoro - fatty tuna |
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| ikura gunkan maki (THB360) |
For non sushi dishes, we had
tempura moriawase (6/10),
buri kama shioyaki (6/10), and
wagyu beef tobanyaki (6/10). Both tempura and buri kama shioyaki (grilled yellow tail jaw with salt) were pleasant and of standard quality. Tempura was crisp and enjoyable whilst grilled yellow tail jaw was of enjoyable texture. However, the pricing of grilled yellow tail was rather high. Lastly, the wagyu beef tobanyaki was an enjoyable piece of wagyu steak in Japanese style. The quality of ingredient was acceptable. But having wagyu beef grilled in this style does not bring the best taste out of good quality beef. Yes, it was tender and juicy but it lacked the natural scent of beef and can be too oily.
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| tempura moriawase (THB350) |
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| buri kama shioyaki (THB1,200) |
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| wagyu beef tobanyaki (THB2,500) |
For dessert,
green tea lava cake (5/10) was ok. It was served with green tea ice-cream. The fondant texture was just right and not overcooked. When cut, the green tea lava just flowed out immensely: a little too much and too liquid in fact. It would be more enjoyable with denser liquid.
Chocolate yuzu soufflé (2/10), on the other hand, made us laugh coincidently concurrently. The portion was so small; tiny in fact. Around 1.5 inches in diameter, I suppose. It was ridiculously small, I have to say. The texture was sure not soufflé. It was dense with no fluffiness of soufflé character. The chocolate and yuzu scents did not seem to pair well in this case too.
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| green tea lava cake (THB200) |
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| chocolate yuzu souffle (THB200) |
Yuutaro @ Sukhumvit 51, Bangkok - ยูทาโร่ @ ซอยสุขุมวิท 51 กรุงเทพฯ
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