True tastes at Touka

THE LATEST eating option on bustling Soi Saladaeng 1, Touka has fast become a popular hangout for folks want to relax after work over easy-to-eat dishes and sake. 

It opened just last month at the Bandara Suites Silom, where a former international restaurant was turned into a lively Izakaya-style kitchen. A crowd of Japanese expatriates on hand seems happy saying “Kampai!” a lot during their meal. 

There’s a private room and along with the public area for 80 diners. On the walls are auspicious Japanese icons – Mount Fuji, a hawk and an eggplant. The kitchen is open to view, its chefs grilling the meat. 

Outside is a shady and beautifully designed Japanese-style garden, but it’s basically just for the smokers. 

“Our serviced apartments have many long-stay Japanese tenants, so we wanted to make a place where they could hang out,” says the Bandara’s Sirithon Thamrongnawasawat. “We were inspired by the popular restaurant Teppan on Sukhumvit 61, and their kitchen team helped us with the menu and training. 

“This is a restaurant-cum-pub, and the open kitchen in the middle helps create a friendly atmosphere. Customers can sit on the floor too if they like, in the Japanese style.”  

Chef Direk Jantuan, who was on a team that once won television’s “Iron Chef” show, is in charge in the kitchen. He selects the chicken and natural-fed pork, seafood and organic vegetables from local farms and uses only pepper and salt. He’ll spend eight hours making the chicken broth to make sure it’s perfectly sweet and prepares his dried-fish soup with ingredients from Japan.

Among the eight kinds of sauce Direk uses to marinate meat are pontsu and nori (ideal for pork and chicken), lime-rind-and-taro sauce made from sake, wine and shoyu (best for beef, chicken thigh and pork tenderloin).

“You get the real authentic flavour,” he says. “Most of the ingredients come from local farms to guarantee their quality and safety. This month we’ve add fish like salmon, maguro and hirame imported from Japan.” 

Our meal starts with Ebimayo – deep-fried shrimp that are crispy on the outside and soft inside, topped with sweet chilli and mayonnaise (Bt250), and Parmesan Cheese Caesar Salad mixed with diced chicken and a poached egg in a homemade dressing (Bt280). 

These are followed with a combo platter of grilled chicken meatballs, juicy chicken leg pickled in sweet and spicy miso, plum leaf and Japanese radish wrapped with pork belly, cherry tomatoes wrapped in bacon, the prices ranging from Bt80 to Bt100. 

Perfect to share with friends, Hakata Mizutaki Nabe (Bt500) is chicken hot pot of dense soup with raw vegetables and chopped pork balls. Cold Udon (Bt250) is served on ice. 

To warm up on a frosty evening, there are three choices in sake cocktails. The Samurai looks normal in hue but will turn your face red with its blend of sake, lime and soda. Saki mingles sake, pineapple juice, grenadine and sakura flowers. Rin is sake, ground apple, ginger ale and iced apple juice. They’re each Bt180.

If you’ve saved up room for dessert, the smooth Japanese rice cake in red-bean sweet soup (Bt120), warabi mochi (Bt100) made from green tea, and chocolate pudding (Bt100) are all highly recommended.

 

 

HOT POT MEETS SAKE

>>Touka is on the ground floor of the Bandara Suites Silom on Soi Saladaeng 1. 

>>It’s open daily from 5pm to 11pm. 

>>Book a spot at (02) 236 8230 or the “ToukaRestaurant” page on Facebook.