Eyes and tummy alike adore kaiseki

SUKHUMVIT SOI 55 – the mighty Soi Thonglor – just seems crazy busy all the time, so it comes as a wonderful surprise to find in its midst the absolute Zen serenity of a Japanese rock garden surrounded by bamboo trees. You don’t go to Kitaohji to meditate, though, but rather mainly for the terrific food.

The 350-square-metre gastronomic sanctuary, 200 metres down Soi 8, occupies a humble and peaceful two-storey house that’s been thoroughly renovated. It only just opened a month ago, the first overseas branch of the Japanese Kitaohji chain of 12 restaurants. The Bangkok outlet is a joint venture with Boon Rawd Brewery.

The main draw at Kitaohji, here as in Japan, is the multi-course kaiseki experience, an haute-cuisine tradition in which a sequence of dishes are exquisitely – even dramatically – prepared and served. Part of the theatricality is watching one of the Japanese chefs charcoal-grilling your beef in the windowed kitchen, or sitting at a counter while the sushi and sashimi get dressed before your eyes. 

The main dining area downstairs is wrapped in glass so you can soak in the calming splendour of the greenery and rock garden outside. The layout is wide open with ample room for 60 diners. For a more intimate setting, as Japanese people seem to prefer, there are six private rooms upstairs and two more down. Each is decorated differ

 ently, the trim coming mainly from Japan, such as the bamboo panels and wood ceilings.

Sake is served as an aperitif in square cups called masu that lend the rice wine a slight woody aroma.

The traditional dishes are created with such attention to detail that every morsel has exactly the right balance of ingredients, flavours, textures and colours even before everything is arranged on the rustic earthenware and lacquerware dishes. The result is art on the table, and a culinary experience that’s pleasing to both the palate and the eyes.

The seven-course kaiseki sets cost between Bt3,500 and Bt4,500, with a choice of wagyu beef or crab for the main dish. Kitaohji uses satsuma beef from Kagoshima, known worldwide for its outstanding quality and unique taste due to the moderate fat density and tenderness. We were told that the same beef supplier also stocks the larder at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. 

Wagyu Beef Hobayaki (Bt3,500) is charcoal-grilled fillets placed on a hoba leaf, accompanied with miso and seasonal vegetables.

Then there are steamed kegani (hairy crab) and grilled taraba (king crab). I ordered the Kegani set (also Bt3,500) and was treated to a parade of assorted appetisers arranged sophisticatedly in a lacquered box. These were spinach with sesame seeds, octopus, cuttlefish with grated daikon, a fried shiitake mushroom stuffed with shrimp, a baby turban shell and a Japanese omelette. The components change according to what’s freshest in Japan at the moment.

Next came an array of sashimi with ultra-fresh cuts of maguro, hokkigai (surf clam), uni (sea urchin), hirame (halibut) and tako (octopus). And the main dish, steamed hairy crab, arrived in a closed black-lacquer box. It sits atop dry ice, so a marvellous fog billows out when the box is opened. The crab flesh was firm and naturally sweet, and there was mild tosa vinegar for dipping.

Kobachi, which means “small bowl”, here becomes a palate cleanser of horse mackerel in tangy Japanese vinegar. That prepares the taste buds to fully enjoy the next dish – deep-fried hairy crab with egg. My culinary voyage continued with steamed rice with chicken in vegetable soup, accompanied by Japanese pickles. Don’t let the bowl’s small size fool you – the rice portion is quite large.

The set is completed with a wonderful dessert of matcha shiratama anmitsu, featuring green-tea ice cream with mocha, which is a chewy Japanese rice-cake dough topped with red-bean paste.

The Kitaohji outlets in Japan serve only kaiseki, but in Bangkok the menu is broadened to match Thai expectations with dishes large enough for sharing. Sushi, sashimi and tempura dishes are available at varying prices, such as Seven Kinds of Sashimi (Bt3,200), Seven Kinds of Sushi (Bt1,500), Zuwaigani Tempura or eeep-fried battered snow crab (Bt1,200).

 

A GOURMET’S SANCTUARY

>>Kitaohji on Soi Thonglor 8 is open daily except Monday from 6 to 11pm. 

>>Make reservations via (02) 714 7997 (Japanese language 061 387 3207) or the “KitaohjiBKK” page on Facebook.