Ki Shin @ All Seasons Place, Bangkok

Cuisine: Japanese

Map: Ki Shin @ All Seasons Place, Bangkok - คิชิน @ ออลซีซั่นส์เพลส กรุงเทพ

Price: THB400 per person without alcohol (what I paid for, lunch menu)

Visited: 21 October 2011

Food: 6/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 4/10

Services: 5/10

More photos of Ki Shin on happ-it.com

At last, I have a chance to write something on this blog after a long time......so many reviews to catch up now T__T. Let us this time bring you to an elegant and luxury Japanese restaurant in the town centre: "Ki Shin". This restaurant is located on the 1st floor of M Thai Tower at All Seasons Place on Witthayu Road. This place does serve fine traditional Japanese food in wide variety as well as set lunch. This atmosphere of this place is somewhat contemporary Japanese with sushi counter at the front. There is also private rooms available.

During lunch time, this place can be packed with businessmen around this area but less customer for dinner. Pricing of set lunch here is somewhat in-line with other places but dinner menu can be very expensive without careful order. We were there for lunch this time and had set lunch. On the service side, it is just an average standard, nothing impressive for this kind of luxury restaurant though. If the service is more friendly, it would make this place much more attractive.

Entrance

Atmosphere

Menu

For this time, we had Steamed Rice topped with Grilled Eel Set - ชุดข้าวหน้าปลาไหล (6/10), Tendon Set - ชุดเทนด้ง (5/10), and Vinegared Rice topped with Seasoned Raw Tuna Set - ชุดข้าวหน้าปลาโอ (4/10). They were all rather nice and came in beautiful decoration, especially Grilled Eel Set, but not impressive. Grilled Eel Set and Tendon Set had rather good standard taste and quality but Tuna Set did let us down a bit from its small portion (say 7-8 slices of thin cut tuna T__T), comparing to the price. Side dishes that came with each set were just salad, typical miso soup, and a small portion of appetiser.

Personally, we prefer lunch of Suikin more for Japanese restaurant around Witthayu and Lang Suan areas. Ok.....if we are happen to be here during lunch time again, we may sometime give it another. Otherwise, coming here specifically to give Ki Shin a visit is perhaps not the case. Not sure if dinner menu would get better, let us try it for dinner and keep you updated when we have a chance then ^^.

Steamed Rice Topped with Grilled Eel Set

Tendon Set

Vinegared Rice Topped with Seasoned Raw Tuna Set

Ki Shin @ All Seasons Place, Bangkok

Floor 1, M Thai Tower

All Seasons Place, Witthayu Road

Lumphini, Pathumwan

Bangkok 10330

Thailand

คิชิน @ ออลซีซั่นส์เพลส กรุงเทพ

ชั้น 1 เอ็มไทยทาวเวอร์

ออลซีซั่นเพลส ถนนวิทยุ

แขวงลุมพินี เขตปทุมวัน

กรุงเทพ 10330

Open Hours: 11:30 - 14:00 and 17:30 - 22:00 daily

Tel: +66 (0) 2252 3866

Web: http://www.ki-shin.com/

Rakuza Tokyo @ Grass Thonglor, Bangkok

Cuisine: Japanese

Map: Rakuza Tokyo @ Grass Thonglor, Bangkok - ราคุซะ โตเกียว @ กราส ทองหล่อ กรุงเทพ

Price: THB1,200 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)

Visited: 8 July 2011

Food: 6/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 4/10

Services: 7/10

After popping by Mugendai a few times, Rakuza Tokyo on the ground floor of Grass Thonglor looks rather yummy and we then had this chance to try it out. First of all, this place is surely not a cheap place. Food choices are both traditional style and fusion style. Decoration is rather modern and we could not really feel the ambient of Japanese except the sushi bar at the front. What we love about this place was the services, every staffs are lovely and polite. Again, it is situated in Grass Thonglor, hence parking valet is the option we suppose, else taxi or BTS Thonglor.

Rakuza Tokyo @ Grass Thonglor

Sliced Fresh Tuna with Black Truffle Ponzu Sauce - ทูน่าสไลด์ตกแต่งด้วยซอสเห็ดทรัฟเฟิลและพอนสุ was a yummy choice. Rather good and quality tuna with sour ponzu sauce was enjoyable but could not really feel the hint of truffle though: perhaps our tongues had gone numb (6/10).

Sliced Fresh Tuna with Black Truffle Ponzu Sauce

Forgot to take a proper note for this one, hence apologise if the name of the dish was wrong T__T. Boiled Salmon in Soy Sauce - แซลม่อนต้มซีอิ๊ว was rather typical. Strong taste but not too salty, a delightful one to try (5/10).

Boiled Salmon in Soy Sauce

Soft Shell Crab Salad with White Miso Dressing - สลัดปูนิ่มราดน้ำสลัดเต้าเจี้ยวขาว was just ok. Just a plate of salad with soft shell crab that was not properly fried. We would prefer it to be more crisp though (4/10).

Soft Shell Crab Salad with White Miso Dressing

As sushi lovers, we thus could not miss out sushi as one of option in the meal. Overall, ingredients were fresh but tasted not so spectacular. Rice was also not so special but acceptable. We think that chef skill would have so much influence on the taste and texture of sushi (5/10).

Norwegian Salmon Sushi - ข้าวปั้นปลานอร์วีเจียนแซลม่อน
Uni (Sea Urchin) Sushi - ข้าวปั้นหอยเม่น
Ikura (Salmon Roe) Sushi - ข้าวปั้นไข่ปลาแซลม่อน
3 Kinds of HonMaguro Sushi Tasting Plate (Otoro, Chutoro, and Akami) - มากุโระคัดพิเศษ 3 อย่าง (โอโทโระ, ชูโทโระ และ อะคะมิ)

Norwegian Salmon Sushi

Uni (Sea Urchin) and Ikura (Salmon Roe) Sushi

3 Kinds of HonMaguro

Another of my favourite was Aji Tataki - ปลาทูสดสับกับต้นหอม. As long as aji is fresh, you would hardly be disappointed with this dish. A typical Japanese dish that always goes well with ponzu sauce. It had a bit of chewiness and fat to combine (6/10).

Aji Tataki

Negi Toro with Potato Strips - โทโรสับบนมันภูเขาเส้น was a near impeccable combination. Crisp potato strips with fatty negi toro and spring rolls, what more would you want. This is just a matter of quality of ingredients. It also tasted of sweet flesh of negi toro (7/10).

Negi Toro with Potato Strips

Shirauo Kara Age - ปลาเงินทอดกรอบ was not so great as expected. The best one so far was the one at Nippon Tei. Here, the size of fish was rather big give softer texture and hence less savoury (5/10).

Shirauo Kara Age (Deep-fried Silver Fish)

Rakuza Tokyo @ Grass Thonglor, Bangkok

264/1 Grass Thonglor

Sukhumvit 55

Khlong Ton Nuea, Watthana

Bangkok 10110

Thailand

ราคุซะ โตเกียว @ กราส ทองหล่อ กรุงเทพ

264/1 กราส ทองหล่อ

ซอยสุขุมวิท 55

แขวงคลองตันเหนือ เขตวัฒนา

กรุงเทพ 10110

Open Hours: 06:00pm - midnight daily and noon - 02:30pm during weekends

Tel: +66 (0) 2714 9897

Web: http://www.facebook.com/RakuzaTokyo

Omu: Omurice & Cafe @ Park Lane Ekkamai, Bangkok

Cuisine: Japanese

Map: Omu: Omurice & Cafe @ Park Lane Ekkamai, Bangkok - โอมุ: โอมุไรซ์ แอนด์ คาเฟ่ @ พาร์คเลน เอกมัย กรุงเทพ

Price: THB250 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)

Visited: 5 June 2011

Food: 6/10

Atmosphere: 6/10

Value for money: 5/10

Services: 5/10

Omu @ Park Lane, just by its name we probably no need to mention what its menu would consist of. Omurice comes from the word "omelette" and "rice", being fried rice wrapped with omelette. It is a famous Japanese fusion cusine. This restaurant is surely specialise in omurice and is just recently opened. We, somehow, just found our photos of this place when we had a chance to pop by Park Lane a few months back. Still have memory of the taste and atmosphere in mind but cannot really remember dish by dish though. Hence, this would be a really brief one. On the location side, if you know Ekkamai Road well then you probably know that it is not far from BTS Ekkamai station: a couple of minutes walk perhaps.

Omu @ Park Lane Bangkok

The Exterior

The Interior

Overall, each dish was enjoyable with a matter of difference in coupling sauce, e.g. demi-glace, tomato sauce, cream sauce, curry sauce, hayashi sauce, and etc. Stuffing fried-rice had tomato ketchup as the core ingredient. Each dish had some final touch of unique ingredient to add more variety, e.g. deep-fried pork cutlet, baked cheese, and bacon or mushroom. This may not be a place worth a special detour but surely an enjoyable and delightful if you happen to be around this place already.

Omurice with Mushroom and Aubergine in Tomato Sauce

Omurice with Mushroom and Bacon in Cream Sauce and Hayashi Sauce

Cheese Baked Omurice in Curry Sauce

Omurice with Deep-fried Pork Cutlet in Demi-glace Sauce

Omurice with Deep-fried Pork Cutlet in Demi-glace Sauce (inside)

Omu: Omurice & Cafe @ Park Lane Ekkamai, Bangkok

18 Park Lane Ekkamai
Soi Sukhumvit 63, Sukhumvit Road
Khlong Ton Nuea, Wattana
Bangkok 10110
Thailand

โอมุ: โอมุไรซ์ แอนด์ คาเฟ่ @ พาร์คเลน เอกมัย กรุงเทพ

18 พาร์คเลน เอกมัย
ซอยสุขุมวิท 63 ถนนสุขุมวิท
แขวงคลองตันเหนือ เขตวัฒนา
กรุงเทพ 10110

Open Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily

Tel: +66 (0) 2382 0138

Web: http://parklanebangkok.com/omu-japanese-omurice-cafe/

TongJingKung Ramen @ Sukhumvit 24, Bangkok

Cuisine: Japanese (Ramen)

Map: TongJingKung Ramen @ Sukhumvit 24, Bangkok - ทง จิง กัง @ ซอยสุขุมวิท 24 กรุงเทพ

Price: THB250 per person (what I paid for)

Visited: 23 June 2011

Food: 7/10

Atmosphere: 4/10

Value for money: 8/10

Services: 4/10

For many years that we have been visiting this ramen restaurant in the town centre of Bangkok, TongJingKung Ramen @ Sukhumvit 24. This may be just a small ramen shop, unlike those huge brand like Ramen Champions that we had mentioned before. It is operated by a Thai local owner. We could really say that everything here are just so good with reasonable price. One evident is that every single time we give this place a visit, there are always many Japanese popping by for ramen and hardly any Thai: this must surely be a good sign for authentic food. Nevertheless, parking here can be trouble as you will have to park your car somewhere in Soi Sukhumvit 24 and walk, else just come by other mean of transport. The nearest public transport is BTS Thonglor or MRT Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. 

TongJingKung Ramen @ Sukhumvit 24

The Menu

We managed to try quite a number of side dishes. Let us begin with Peerang Toufu - เต้าหู้กับไข่เยี่ยวม้าทรงเครื่อง. This definitely is one of the highlight of this place. Firm tofu with soft preserved egg and loads of spring onion to be eaten with soy sauce. This was really something (7/10).

Wakame Salad - ยำสาหร่าย was given to us as a complementary. Well, how much could you go wrong with Wakame Salad as long as it is fresh. Nice but typical (6/10).

Peerang Toufu - เต้าหู้กับไข่เยี่ยวม้าทรงเครื่อง

Wakame Salad - ยำสาหร่าย

Next was Karanegi Chachu - หมูชิ้นกับต้นหอมทรงเครื่อง. This is our most favourite dish of TongJingKung Ramen. Slices of pork belly to be eaten with well flavoured spring onions. This was wow. Really tender and flavourful (8/10).

Karanegi Chachu - หมูชิ้นกับต้นหอมทรงเครื่อง

Gyoza - เกี๊ยวซ่า was also a good dish to order here. Really crisp dough skin and juicy pork stuffing (7/10).

Gyoza - เกี๊ยวซ่า

Karaage Fried Chicken - ไก่ทอดคาราเกะ was also recommended. The dipping sauce was not an ordinary like other places. However, we felt that chicken were not properly fried to give such crispiness, otherwise this would be an enjoyable dish to accompany ramen (5/10).

Karaage Fried Chicken - ไก่ทอดคาราเกะ

Coming to our main dish of the night, Ramen. We did try 3 different ramen this time, one of which was a mini size: Tantan Ramen - บะหมี่ญี่ปุ่นซุปข้นใส่งาบด, Miso Ramen (No Vegetable) - บะหมี่ญี่ปุ่นใส่ซุปมิโซ (ไม่ใส่ผัก), and Mini Tonkotsu Ramen - บะหมี่ญี่ปุ่นซุปข้นใส่ขิงแดงเล็ก. We must say that they all were equally delicious, depending of personal preference. Each ramen, soup, and broth were well prepared with care. Pleasant and delightful (7/10). I would not be saying much and ramen here. All I would say is splendid, come and try yourself is the best way to find your favourite ramen here. Personally, we love the Tantan Ramen.

Tantan Ramen - บะหมี่ญี่ปุ่นซุปข้นใส่งาบด

Miso Ramen (No Vegetable) - บะหมี่ญี่ปุ่นใส่ซุปมิโซ (ไม่ใส่ผัก)

Mini Tonkotsu Ramen - บะหมี่ญี่ปุ่นซุปข้นใส่ขิงแดงเล็ก

TongJingKung Ramen @ Sukhumvit 24, Bangkok

Soi Sukhumvit 24

Khlongton, Khlongtoei

Bangkok 10110

Thailand

ทง จิง กัง @ ซอยสุขุมวิท 24 กรุงเทพ

ซอยสุขุมวิท 24

แขวงคลองตัน เขตคลองเตย

กรุงเทพ 10110

Open Hours: 11:30am - 02:00 pm for lunch and 05:00pm - 11:00pm for dinner, close on Monday

Tel: +66 (0) 86 772 5122

Web: http://www.tongjingkung-ramen.com/

Hanaya Restaurant @ Si Phraya Road, Bangkok

Cuisine: Japanese

Map: Hanaya Restaurant @ Si Phraya Road, Bangkok - ภัตราคารฮานาย่า @ ถนนสี่พระยา กรุงเทพ

Price: THB420 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)

Visited: 26 May 2011

Food: 6/10

Atmosphere: /10

Value for money: 8/10

Services: 6/10

This time we had a chance to quickly visit Hanaya Restaurant @ Si Phraya after a long time. As anyone who is familiar with Hanaya, it is the first Japanese restaurant in Thailand which has been around since post second World War and is run by a Japanese family. It is well-known for its traditional and authentic food, including choices of udon and sushi, unlike the quick and ready-to-cook style of Zen and Fuji chains. Some of my favourite dishes here are tamago yaki, tonkatsu, and unagi nigiri. On the other hand, coming here may not be so easy as either BTS and MRT is still a few kilometres away for the nearest station. Hence, driving may be the best choice, otherwise taxi. Once getting here, you may think what kind of place it is. As the main entrance is like a small dark alley which you would know what is going to be ahead. Don't be surprise with it and just go straight ahead, the traditional restaurant in zen interior is right there.

Hanaya Restaurant - ภัตราคารฮานาย่า

The Menu

We started our meal with a few side orders. Wakeme Salad and Potato Salad were rather typical but tasteful, especially Potato Salad which was really smooth (6/10). The other dish was Tamago Yaki or Grilled Omelette. This one was splendid, one of the best in town (7/10).

Wakame Salad - ยำสาหร่าย

Potato Salad - สลัดมันฝรั่ง

Tamago Yaki - ไข่หวานย่าง

Next was Boiled Beef and Potato. I found this dish was interesting. It looked like a simple dish of boiling beef and potato and carrot with soy sauce but it was one of the kind that you cannot put down your chop sticks (6/10). 

Deep-fried Silver Fish is one of my favourite usually. Nevertheless, I was rather disappointed this time as it was not crisp but chewy. Well well, consistency does matter (3/10).

Boiled Beef and Potato - เนื้อต้มมันฝรั่ง

Deep-fried Silver Fish - ปลาเงินทอดกรอบ

On the raw fish side, we managed to have the ordinary Sake Nigiri and Aji Nigiri. Both came with rather larger than normal portion. Taste was as good as ever. While Salmon was a little fatty and sweet (6/10), Aji or Horse Mackerel also contained sweetness and was not fishy at all (7/10). I also ordered a piece of Tamago Nigiri which was, of course, very good.

Sake Nigiri - ข้าวปั้นหน้าปลาแซลมอน

Aji Nigiri - ข้าวปั้นหน้าปลาทู

Tamago Nigiri - ข้าวปั้นหน้าไข่หวาน

Tonkatsu was rather disappointed this time. It usually came in a large portion and crisp. This time was rather small though. Highlight of this tonkatsu was the sauce that came with. It was not like in other places at all, brown-orange in colour with hint of sweetness and refreshing (4/10).

Tonkatsu - หมูชุบแป้งทอด

Next in line was Tofu Steak. Well, it was not one of the best but enjoyable: rich in taste but soft (5/10).

Tofu Steak - สเต็กเต้าหู้

The last to enjoy was Saba Steak. Something you will not be disappointed here. Well grilled and delicious (6/10).

Saba Steak - สเต็กปลาซาบะ

Though I found that some of food here is now below the standard it used to have. I would still recommend anyone to try this out. Pricing is reasonable and well below many Japanese chains in town. All time favourite Japanese restaurant since childhood it is.

Hanaya Restaurant @ Si Phraya Road, Bangkok

683 Si Phraya Road

Si Phraya, Bang Rak

Bangkok 10500

Thailand

ภัตราคารฮานาย่า @ ถนนสี่พระยา กรุงเทพ

683 ถนนสี่พระยา

แขวงสี่พระยา เขตบางรัก

กรุงเทพ 10500

Open Hours: 11:30am - 02:00pm for lunch and 05:30pm - 10:00pm for dinner, close every 2nd and 4th Sunday each month

Tel: +66 (0) 2233 3080, +66 (0) 2234 8095

Honmono Sushi @ Thonglor 23, Bangkok

Cuisine: Japanese (Specialise in Sushi)
Map: Honmono Sushi @ Thonglor 23, Bangkok
Price: THB2,100 per person without alcohol for dinner (what I paid for)
Visited: 25 December 2010
Food: 5/10
Sushi: 8/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Value for money: 8/10
Service: 5/10
Overall: 7/10

As of July 2011, I have to let every visitors of this blog know that Honmono Grand will no longer be operated under Honmono Group and has changed its name to other due to some INCIDENT of the landlord where the restaurant is situated. Below is my comment about Honmono Sushi but were taken at Honmono Grand. However, every dishes in the menu are the same for every branches.


Honmono Sushi is a restaurant chain that is specialise in sushi and is suitable for every occasion. The restaurant is decorated in Japanese style with friendly atmosphere. There is also a sushi counter, which can serve more than 10 customers at the same time. Chef Boontham or Arjarn Bantoon, head chefs and co-owner, would be supervising the sushi counter himself. 

In case sushi counter is your choice, a variety of seaweed to couple with sushi will always be served.

While penguin decided to have sushi, bunny chose to have sashimi. Our meal began with Hamachi (Yellow Tail), which was just freshly arrived. Freshness, sweet, and firm meat were beyond expectation (8/10).

Next was Shima-Aji (White Trevally), another beyond expectation at Honmono. For sushi, it was served with Uni sauce, which was sweet and creamy (9/10).

Next inline was Halibut. Sashimi was Hirame on-top with Ume Shio (Plum Salt), while sushi was Aburi-engawa on-top with Ume Shio. This white fish was juicy and little fatty. Ume Shio incorporated with freshness of this fish well. Another wonderful experience (9/10).

The Chef then chose to serve Kampachi (Amberjack). The sushi was another extraordinary of Honmono, it was Aburi-kampachi Saikyo on-top with Truffle. The flesh was softer than Hamachi but still fatty. The miso sauce was sweet and intense in flavour, which went really well with truffle (9/10).

Ama-ebi (Sweet Shrimp) was the next piece. Nothing special but freshness and sauce that was made from fat from the head (8/10).

I was then served with Uni & Sujiko Gunkanmaki (Sea Urchin & Marinated Salmon Roe) and Aburi-sake Tare (Grilled Salmon with Tare Sauce). Unfornately, both pieces looked too great that I had  forgotten to take photo T____T. Uni & Sujiko went together fabulously. While uni was sweet, sujiko was lightly salty (from marination) with concentrate taste and sticky texture (8/10). Aburi-sake Tare was similar to Salmon Saikyo (7/10) but tare sauce (sweetened and thickened soy sauce) was in place of miso sauce, with grated yuzu on-top (8/10).

Maguro Akami (7/10) and Salmon Toro (7/10) were chosen for sashimi.

O-toro (Fatty Tuna) was served next. It was fresh and just melt in the mouth, and the flesh had highly marbled fat. Winter season is indeed the best time for tuna (9/10). Additionally, Aburi-toro with truffle was also unique (9/10).

Foie Gras sushi with grated Yuzu (6/10) and Negi Toro Maki (chopped Toro and spring onion roll) (7/10) were the last.

To end up, we were served with soup and melon, which were refreshing. The bill for two of us was ~ THB4,200. Overall, 7/10 should be suitable as excellent sushi was let down by not up to standard services, of course not the Chef himself.

Honmono Sushi @ Thonglor 23, Bangkok

19 Thonglor 23

Sukhumvit Road

Khlong Ton Nuey, Wattana

10110 Bangkok

Thailand

ฮอนโมโน ซูชิ @ ทองหล่อ 23 กรุงเทพ

19 ซอยทองหล่อ 23

ถนนสุขุมวิท

แขวงคลองตันเหนือ เขตวัฒนา

กรุงเทพ 10110

Tel: +66 (0) 2185 1447

Web: http://www.facebook.com/Honmono