Review

Kohaku is tucked away on the 3rd floor of Ginza Thonglor, reached through the Hotel Nikko. An edomae omakase restaurant, meaning Japanese omakase with seafood from Edo Bay. Edomae sushi has evolved from a roadside snack to Japan’s premiere haute cuisine. The kitchen is led by chef Jeerawat who trained in Osaka for four years and engages diners with interesting narrative, throughout the experience. A petite L-shaped counter seating up to 12 diners is the setting. The menus, a choice of four sets, increase in number of courses and luxe ingredients to match the price. The ultimate offering of 18 courses, titled Ume, at 4,900 baht is great value. A 20 label global wine list offers a fair selection of wine by the glass. The offering of sakes and umeshu is extensive. A multitude of masterfully cut sushi is served on attractive crockery, and highlights include sweet and succulent snow crab appetizer, piquant Japanese spanish mackerel, delicate firefly squid, and a showstopper of binchotan charcoal-grilled uber-rare black throat sea perch. Sublime quality uni features on the prestige menus, as does fatty o-toro and chopped tuna taku. An aromatic sakana dashi soup is a fitting finale. Dessert is a simple, but perfectly made, kasutera sponge cake with a drizzle of yuzu sauce.