Yummy yakiniku

ONCE ONE of Bangkok’s most favoured venues for a beer and a meal, the Singha Beer House on Soi Asoke has morphed into a Japanese grill and judging by the crowd there on our recent visit, it’s still doing a roaring trade.

Yakiniku Tono, as the space is today known, remains very much part of the leading beer maker’s family and indeed its new incarnation owes much to the ideas of Singha Corp’s president Santi Bhirombhakdi, himself a yakiniku fan.

Opened since late last year, the 100-seat restaurant that also boasts a private room, is decorated in sleek Japanese style with beige walls and elegant leather banquettes surrounding marble-topped tables.

The beef, which you barbecue at your table, is melt-in-the-mouth 5A grade, the highest rank in Japan, with cuts including chuck roast, sirloin, harami (sparerib), karubi (short rib) and tan, along with such offal as small intestine, belly and rumen. The meat is served with a choice of shoyu or barbecue sauces to which diners can add garlic, chilli and lemon.

The most popular order is the tenderloin – grain-fed beef from the Japanese black cow that has a wonderfully tender texture and very little fat. Those who don’t eat beef can opt for Kurobuta pork and scallops from Japan as well as local seafood. 

We order a Premium Five Varieties platter (Bt3,200) that features marbled-fat, sliced special karubi, special ro-su, premium kuroge, kurashita and zabuton beef. 

We also sample Sirloin Shabu served with home-made shoyu-based sauce (Bt1,200 for 150gram), Tongue-Moto Sashimi (Bt700 for 100gram), cubed Saikoro Wagyu (Bt1,200) and Sushi Wagyu (Bt1,500). 

The beef is best enjoyed with a salad – try the Sanchu or Tono (Bt120) – and a dish of mixed vegetables, also Bt120, that includes shitake, sliced pumpkin, carrot, sweet pepper, onion and eggplant. 

Desserts are a bit sparse – understandable given the hefty meat portions – but the Coconut Pudding (Bt50) should satisfy anyone with a sweet tooth. 

Set lunches priced at Bt180 are |also available and include Katsu Curry Rice (Bt180) with rice, salad, egg soup, kimji and green tea plus a wagyu premium yakiniku that starts at Bt699 to Bt1,199. 

The restaurant also offers a full range of beers, sakes and wines.

 

UNBEATABLE BEEF

>>Yakiniku Tono is on Soi Sukhumvit 21 (Soi Asoke). It’s open daily from 11 to 2 and again from 5 to 10pm.

>>Book a table at Call (02) 664 3229, (087) 031 6149.