It's the intention of Kom-Ba-Wa's management to leave the upscale restaurant in a nondescript shop house row with no signs pointing to its location. A snappy move that somehow proves good cookery doesn't depend on accidental gluttons.
The more intimate, blue-hued dining area on the second floor.
Opened a couple of months ago, Kom-Ba-Wa, a playful pun on the word "combava"— French for Kaffir lime, is the latest culinary brainchild of veteran restaurateur Fred Meyer, who also co-owns Issaya Siamese Club and Namsaah Bottling Trust.
The restaurant has high ceilings and a brightly-coloured dining room behind a conservatory-style façade. Every element of the 50-seater is design orientated, blending French sophistication with Japanese swank.
In terms of cuisine, Kom-Ba-Wa serves up modern Japanese fare prepared by chef Goro Takatsu, a Nagoya-native, who over the past two decades has worked at some of the most well-established eateries across Europe and Asia.
For Kom-Ba-Wa's menu, Takatsu combines worldwide culinary techniques with exquisite Japanese ingredients — both classic and up-to-date.
Kom-Ba-Wa has an elaborate dining room.
The restaurant's best-selling appetiser dubbed "rose beef" (390 baht), which was the first to arrive at our table that evening, was a creative rendition of beef carpaccio. Presented were thin succulent slices of flash-torched, 240-day aged Black Angus beef shaped into a neat rosette, lain on a bed of julienne onion with yuzu ponzu dressing.
I asked Takatsu why on earth he chose the American beef over Wagyu. He said, specifically for this menu, he tried different kinds of beef and found that Black Angus offers the most satisfying mouthfeel. Judging from my now-watering mouth just by thinking of it, I have to say good move chef.
Next up was Japanese sakura shrimp cakes (390 baht). Served on a mound of hot glossy pebbles, five golf ball-sized shrimp cakes were made with distinctive red shrimps originating from Japan (that's what makes the dish quite pricey). Each of the cakes came topped with a tiny dollop of house-concocted basil aioli that made each bite flavourful enough, not overpowered but enhanced by the citrus-bonito sauce offered on the side.
I highly recommend that salad buffs order the green leaf water cress salad with wasabi dressing (120 baht). It's a generous jumble of crunchy water cress, crispy deep-fried whitebait fish, naturally sweet yams, lotus root chips and springy fresh seaweed. The salad, dressed with wasabi-infused soy sauce to provide a slight brain-piercing zest, proved to instil a real titillation of both taste and texture in the taste buds.
Sushi and sashimi connoisseurs won't regret having their favourite fare here. The chef sushi selection (790 baht for a five-piece platter), featuring nigiri sushi topped with sea urchin roe, flash-torched cuttlefish, salmon, chutoro (fatty tuna), and tai (sea bream), exhibited prime quality of the ingredients as well as the chef's dexterity.
Meanwhile the seasonal sashimi selection (790 baht for five choices of fish), which included tai, chutoro, hotate (giant scallops), octopus and salmon on the day that we visited, proved no less than top-notch.
From a decent list of main entrées, we went for grilled black cod (950 baht). It's a unification between Japanese gindara fish and a swanky rendering of French Hollandaise sauce. The fish had been marinated in miso for three days to allow the sweet and salty soy bean paste to penetrate into the supple and velvety meat. To create a bracing kick to the creamy Hollandaise, yuzu zest was added to the sauce, whereas chewy morsels of sunchoke simmered in dashi (dried fish broth) gave the dish a potato-like complement.
Kom-Ba-Wa is also a paradise for sweet-tooths looking for a one-of-a-kind ecstasy.
All dessert options are exclusively designed and boast the privilege of having a cutting-edge ice cream-making machine.
It's easy to fall in love at first sight with the Mount Fuji peach parfait (250 baht). The pastel blue miniature mountain is tucked inside a mixture of chestnut cream and morsels of fresh peach. Mimicking the snow on a wintry volcano was some crushed meringue, which lent a brittle contrast to the silky magma inside.
Though not as pleasing to the eyes, the sake blanc manger with salty plum sorbet (220 baht) was equally thrilling to the palate. I didn't expect that the elements, namely the milky crème fraîche, salty plum sorbet, buttery cookie crumbs and rice wine foam would go well together. But at the very first taste of it, I found the sludgy-looking dessert awesomely addictive.
Kom-Ba-Wa carries a fashionable bar vibe. So it's always a good idea to wash down the meal in style with some cocktails from a variety of house concoctions prepared with prime-grade sake and Japanese fruit juice.
Other than the great food and good drinks, our dinner was made even more engaging by a team of jocular and knowledgeable service staff.
Mount Fuji peach parfait that reveals chestnut cream magma.
Green leaf water cress salad with wasabi dressing.
A platter of the chef sushi selection.
Grilled black cod with braised sunchoke in special hollandaise sauce.
The rose beef, carpaccio with a delicate Japanese touch.
