This week's subject of review was ordered for me by a friend.
Two bags full of sushi and sashimi platters, a rice bowl and a salad arrived at my house from Maguro restaurant on Rama III Road.
The dinner packages looked professionally prepared and their content sublime. By the end of the meal, my family of three agreed it was among the most pleasant home-delivered Japanese meal we've ever had.
Maguro was one of the youngest most thriving sushi-centric restaurant brands in Bangkok. Launched in 2015, the brand aims to offer to sushi connoisseurs easily accessible cuisine with top quality produce yet affordable prices.
Such a concept answers perfectly to casual diners and, thus, 10 Maguro restaurants have opened around the city over the past six years.
Not yet a visitor to either one of its outlets, this was the first time I got to try Maguro.
Maguro takeout and delivery service can be requested via call center 02-821-5051 or Line: @MAGURO.Go.
Its menu, which lists more than 150 items of sashimi, sushi, salad, appetisers and hot dishes, is available online at bit.ly/3hJc5HC.
The edomae sushi box.
The unagi and foie gras rice bowl.
Maguro's selection of sashimi, just like what you would find at a 5-star sushi restaurant, features otoro (fatty tuna belly), chu-toro (fatty bluefin tuna), akami (lean red-meat tuna), hamachi (yellowtail), salmon, hotate (jumbo Hokkaido scallop) and ebi (Japanese sweet prawn).
The luxurious sushi collection presents anything from otoro to engawa (fluke's fin), zuwai (snow crab), uni (sea urchin roe), agakai (Japanese cockle), hokkigai (surf clam), unagi (freshwater eel) anago (sea eel) to French foie gras and A5 Matsuzaka beef, to name just a few.
Should you be in for a more contemporary sushi roll, there are "sensual" options such as scallop sushi in fiery sauce; unagi roll with foie gras and fresh mango; crispy soft-shell crab roll with spicy miso sauce; and salmon roll with flash-torched engawa and spicy mayo.
Steaks, grilled seafood and tempura are offered from the hot dish section.
For takeaway, prices were said to be the same as those on dine-in menu. Condiments and chopsticks, both of impressive quality, were generously provided. While each package delivered to me was labelled with the name of the chef and packer as well as the precise date and time and food temperature when packing.
The sweet home box set (2,500 baht) is designed especially for stay-at-home gourmands. It's a top-class assortment of 21 sushi pieces, with toppings including the super sweet, creamy and fatty otoro, the medium-fatty chutoro, the pleasantly flavourful akami, the supple soft hotate, the savoury sweet taraba crab and the lusciously ethereal uni. The set is big enough to indulge four people.
The sweet home box set with top-grade sushi.
Should you look for a smaller assortment for one, I highly recommend edomae sushi box A (570 baht). In the box were nine plump pieces of maki and nigiri sushi that showcase marinated akami tuna, tobiko roe, madai (sea bream) sushi, otoro sushi, hotate sushi, glazed grilled unagi sushi and uni sushi, plus a hefty piece of tamago yaki (sweet omelette).
For sashimi, a mini collection of seven sashimi choices (850 baht) designed to cater to the individual diner wasn't at all miniature. It's a sumptuous medley of super fresh and naturally sweet hamachi, salmon, salmon belly, akami tuna and Hokkaido scallop -- every one of them in very thick and sizeable pieces, accompanied by cured engawa and ikura roes.
A kaisen don rice bowl (520 baht) is ideal for diners who wish to fill their stomach while enjoying all the sashimi-style luxury at one go. Thickly sliced hamachi, salmon, maguro tuna, fresh botan ebi, flash-torched engawa, foie gras and ikura roe are served on a bed of wasabi-garnished Japanese rice.
However, if the buttery French duck liver and fatty charcoal-grilled eel are your gastronomic preferences, go for unagi and foie gras rice bowl with sweet eel glaze and crispy deep-fried shallots (550 baht) and I promise you will not regret it.
Giving a light and high-fibre contrast to the dinner was shirauo salad (240 baht). Shirao is Japanese icefish. The tiny and translucent fish were deep-fried and served atop a big pile of organic salad green, cherry tomatoes and fresh wakame seaweed with a very delicious concoction of citrus soy sauce and sesame dressing.
The order came with eight servings of kombu dashi soup and plentiful of shoyu soy sauce and wasabi paste.
Maguro restaurants are located at Int Intersect Mall Rama 3, SB Design Square Rama 2, CentralWorld, Mega Bangna, Health Land Chaeng Watthana, Circle Ratchaphreuk, Esplanade Ratchada and Siam Square One.
For more information, call 02-821-5051, or visit maguro.co.th or Facebook: MAGURO.
A mini collection of seven sashimi choices.
