Kitaohji Thonglor คิตะโอจิ ทองหล่อ

Kitaohji is set deep in Thonglor Soi 8 behind a sign small enough to drive past. It is the overseas branch of a kaiseki house with roots in Ginza and Akasaka, and the Bangkok room is styled as a ryokan with a pocket Zen garden, kimono-clad staff and a sukiya-style private room with a sunken kotatsu table for ten to twelve. Food is seasonal and course-based: seven and eight-course menus run from about 1,600 to 5,000 baht, the chef's premium course starts at 5,000, and a la carte dishes sit between 300 and 3,000 baht. The kitchen leans on Hokkaido crab, both king and hairy, seven-piece seasonal sashimi, snow-crab shabu with a broth simmered six hours, Kobe beef and bafun uni. There is a single-serve wagyu sukiyaki toban, and the Hanare counter does a wagyu-led omakase it calls 'meat kappou'. Some reviewers find the sauces on the salty-sweet side and suggest coming for the setting and service rather than value. Open 11.30am to 11pm, with on-site parking for several cars, which is rare this far up the soi. Book through TableCheck on the restaurant's website; it is a twelve-minute walk from BTS Thong Lo.