A culinary nirva
Chief Yukio Takeda presents Japanese food creations that will make you question your own existence
Tsu Japanese restaurant of JW Marriott Bangkok has been one of the city’s best treasured dining destinations among Nippon cuisine connoisseurs since it first opened its doors in 2004. To uphold its leading position and celebrate 13 years of success, the restaurant recently welcomed a world-acclaimed new head chef Yukio Takeda. Having worked at several top-flight establishments including London’s two-Michelinstarred Umu Japanese restaurant, Takeda has brought with him to Bangkok a wellcrafted, globe-trotting kitchen experience.
Tsu’s freshly revamped menu reflects Takeda’s steadfast approach to first-rate Japanese culinary by unifying top-notch authentic ingredients and time-honoured recipes with tasteful simplicity.
Many of his creations may sound very simple. But they proved to offer some of the most profound palate pleasure.
To start, I highly recommend you try homemade white sesame tofu with bonito soy sauce (250 baht). The wobbly bean curd was very soft and delicate yet providing a resilient mouthfeel enhanced by a mild nutty taste. Complementing the tofu were salty sweet dry-fish soy sauce, creamy sea urchin roe and freshly-grated wasabi, the latter wonderfully lent to the mellow delicacy a sharp mustardy finish.
Another starter I could hardly kept my chopsticks off was a salad of snow crab and Naruto wakame (400 baht). It simply featured the crunchy flat-sheet seaweed from Naruto, one of the world’s fastest-current whirlpools, with finely shaved Japanese cucumber, naturally sweet crab leg meat and tosa vinegar sauce.
A platter of maguro sashimi, which is available when in season, promises to delight sashimi aficionados. Neat cubes of akami (tuna red meat), chutoro (medium-fat tuna) and otoro (fatty tuna belly), all carved from the same fish imported to the restaurant fresh and never frozen, were beyond criticism.
Several grilled items are a worthy selection as main course.
My favourites include miso-marinated gindara (640 baht), the dish to which Takeda said: “It may look ordinary but you have to eat it (to know that it’s special).”
A sizeable, glossy fillet of the silver cod exhibited a heavenly pleasure to the taste buds thanks to the high-quality fish and the chef’s secret marinade concoction.
Grilled A5 Miyazaki beef rib-eye with original miso paste (1,360 baht) was another dish I liked. A 70g portion of the highly-marbled, champion-grade beef was served on a sizzling skillet with mushroom ratatouille and grilled chilli peppers, which gave a perfect pungent, but not too fiery, complement to the fatty beef.
And if you’re a fan of Japanese eel, Takeda’s version of grilled unagi (1,700 baht) came very slightly seasoned to allow connoisseurs a genuine taste of the river eel.
Tsu’s newly launched lunch sets also were praiseworthy.
Priced 380-1,730 baht per set, guests have to choose from 17 options of main entrées to be complemented by a choice of teriyaki-glazed grilled chicken balls and fresh salad or a set of California roll and yuzu-flavoured egg custard. Every order also comes with a seasonal appetiser and a choice of homemade dessert.
Of the lunch set, the A5 Saga wagyu beef udon (1,320 baht) is among the best sellers.
Just as I began to ask Chef Takeda about the glory of wagyu, and as if he were able to read my mind, he quickly announced that the focal point of this dish wasn’t the beef.
“It’s the broth,” he said.
His special concoction of stock is made with combu (kelp) and bonito (dry fish), with both acting as natural taste enhancers that gave the broth a profound umami taste without MSG. Added with a few drops of prime-quality imported Japanese soy sauce, the stock developed a deliciously complex taste with depth of flavours.
I absolutely agree that the broth was heavenly. But Takeda was very wrong to say it was the only highlight in the dish. The beef — oh my — the beef, also set me up to culinary paradise!
In thin slices, the width of an adult’s palm, the beef was very tender and flavoursome.
The toothsome himi udon noodles from Japan’s Toyama prefecture, meanwhile, made me recall a good old childhood day when I was fed something so comfortingly addictive.
Should you be in for an ultimate culinary luxury, go for the Hokkaido chirashi sushi (1,730 baht). It’s a mixture of prime-grade fresh Japanese seafood, namely scallops, sea
urchin and salmon roe, on top of sushi rice, seaweed and paper-thin omelette strips.
I found myself so satiated that I had left the dessert — which is included in the lunch set — unattended until my dining companion urged me to try it.
The black-hued yomogi mochi looked nothing but unappetising. However, nothing could have been a more perfect a finish to our great meal than this pan-fried, green-tea infused glutinous rice cake with red bean paste filling.
The customer base are a blended mix of locals and expats. Service blends world-class standard with Thai-style amicability.