Shokudo Maeno: Japanese Kappo Dining with Premium Ingredients in Bangkok

Words: Pasuta Phongam Photos: Chalad Charoenphongpak

Shokudo Maeno brings the detail of kappo dining into a more open, everyday setting. The room is built around pale timber, long sightlines and a live kitchen where Chef Junji Maeno and his team work in full view. A sake cabinet runs along one side, while tanks of live crab and shellfish at the entrance set the tone: Japanese ingredients, handled with little unnecessary intervention.

The restaurant follows a simple idea: food should be fun, relaxed and delicious. It is a continuation of Maeno Kitchen, Chef Maeno’s kappo omakase restaurant, but with fewer formalities. Here, guests can drop in for a sashimi set, a bowl of warm abalone, grilled wagyu or a late dessert, without the structure of a full omakase menu.

Chef Maeno’s cooking is grounded in ingredient selection and small, often unnoticed details: the quality of the dashi, the temperature of steamed seafood, the fragrance released from freshly toasted sesame, or the grain and seasoning of the rice. The approach is Japanese in its restraint, with luxury expressed through sourcing and care rather than spectacle.

The meal can begin with the Home-Made Tofu Salad with Toasted Goma Dressing. The tofu is made in-house from Japanese soy milk, soft and lightly sweet, served with a mix of greens, chirimen fish, shaved nori and premium katsuobushi. The house-roasted white sesame dressing gives the plate a gentle nuttiness, bringing together crisp leaves, savoury fish and the clean texture of fresh tofu.

For seafood, the Taraba with Tosazu Jelly centres on Japanese king crab, chosen for its large, juicy flakes of meat. It is paired with spring onion, katsuobushi and fresh wakame, then finished with a light tosazu jelly—a dashi and vinegar-based seasoning that adds brightness without masking the crab.

The Awabi Aonori Ankake is more comforting in character. Kuro awabi from Japan is slowly braised for several hours until tender, thinly sliced and steamed with a glossy dashi sauce enriched with aonori. Sweet peas and Japanese chrysanthemum flowers provide colour and a little freshness. It is best eaten while still warm, when the sauce carries the aroma of the seaweed most clearly.

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For those who prefer the directness of raw fish, the Sashimi Five Kinds Set includes madai, kampachi, akami, otoro and abalone served with its liver. The plate arrives with Japanese accompaniments—shiso, myoga, fresh wakame, finely shredded daikon and chrysanthemum flowers—allowing each fish to be eaten in a slightly different way.

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The Sushi Ten Kinds Set is an omakase-style selection built around Niigata rice, prized for its texture and subtle sweetness. Depending on the day, it may include akami, madai, otoro, kampachi with spring onion and ginger, chopped tuna gunkan, large hotate, house-simmered anago, ikura, premium uni and botan shrimp with natural roe. It is generous without becoming overworked, letting the quality of the fish lead.

A more casual option is the Shokudo Maeno Futomaki, served as four half-roll pieces. Inside are tamagoyaki, akami, otoro, kampachi, madai and kanpyo simmered in soy. The roll is wrapped in fragrant premium nori and seasoned rice, with enough richness to make it a meal in itself.

The Special Dairy Wagyu Steak changes regularly according to Chef Maeno’s selection. More than 12 Japanese wagyu breeds may appear across the menu, grilled over binchotan charcoal and served with hand-carved pickled lotus root. Guests can season the meat with wasabi, yuzu kosho, French salt or pickled wasabi, depending on the cut and their preference.

Dessert remains close to the same philosophy: simple combinations, carefully prepared. The Matcha Ice Cream with Red Bean Paste and Mochi Paper uses deeply flavoured matcha with a restrained sweetness, paired with house-made red bean paste cooked for more than six hours and soft, chewy fresh mochi.

The signature Strawberry Daifuku Mochi with Red Bean Paste has remained a favourite since the Maeno Kitchen days. Fresh mochi wraps whipped cream, house-made red bean paste and a large Japanese strawberry—an uncomplicated finish, but one that depends on good fruit, good timing and a very light hand.

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Easy to reach, with on-site parking and private rooms for quieter conversations, Shokudo Maeno works equally well for a family lunch, dinner for two or a business gathering—an approachable address for everyday dining as much as a special occasion. Shokudo Maeno Hour: 11:30 - 14:00 and 17:00 - 22:00 Tuesday - Sunday Reserve: +6692 656 9896 Location: 16 Ekkamai 12 Alley, Klong Toey nuea Watthana, Bangkok 10110 Social: https://www.instagram.com/shokudomaeno/ https://www.facebook.com/p/Shokudo-Maeno-BKK-61578737422476/