Kagonoya (Kagokuno-ya) Market Place Thonglor

Kagonoya is a restaurant modeled after an ancient Japanese tavern. It first opened in Japan in 1990 and has since expanded to major cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. It's a shabu-shabu restaurant that I've been wanting to try ever since it opened.

This restaurant is located on the second floor of Market Place Thonglor, right above Tops Supermarket. The restaurant has two floors, with the second floor closed on weekdays but available for private group bookings. On Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, the second floor is open to the public. The first floor has seating for 70-80 people. The restaurant offers both à la carte and buffet options.

The buffet here is mainly divided into two parts: Standard Course & Premium Course. Each course is further divided into subcategories.

1. The Standard Course includes a selection of vegetables and mushrooms, bamboo skewers with pork & chicken, and refillable ice cream and drinks.

• Price 389++ baht, only special pork and bacon to choose from.

• Price 449++ baht will have special pork, bacon and Australian beef.

-Price 999++ baht will include special pork, bacon, Australian beef and Kagoshima beef.

2. The Premium Course includes everything in the Standard Course, but with the addition of Tempura and Kushiage, which are skewered and deep-fried items. These include pork, beef, chicken, salmon, shrimp, fish, squid, and vegetables such as asparagus, pumpkin, sweet potato, baby corn, cheese, and mushrooms. Another difference from the Standard set is the addition of Sushi, which comes in a variety of toppings, including shrimp, shrimp salad, squid, tuna, salmon, crab, sweet egg, and Sushi Rolls with the aforementioned toppings. The price is also divided according to the type of meat, as follows:

- Price 449++ baht, only special pork and bacon to choose from

- Price 559++ baht will include special pork, bacon and Australian beef

• Price 1,109++ baht will include special pork, bacon, Australian beef and Kagokoya beef.

The restaurant offers 6 types of soup base: seaweed, curry, soba, shoyu, chicken, and sukiyaki and kimchi for an additional 40 baht each. I ordered the Premium Course 559++ and chose sukiyaki and soba shoyu soup base. Both are dark soy sauce based, but soba shoyu is more fragrant and less salty. The restaurant also offers two dipping sauces: ponzu and sesame sauce, both of which are salty. Ponzu sauce is supposed to be slightly sour and light in flavor, which would have been a good contrast to the salty soup base, but the one I received tasted like pure soy sauce. I asked for a new one, but it was the same. The sesame sauce was also just salty, with no sweetness, fragrance, or richness like some other restaurants. Combined with the two soup bases I chose, it was just too much saltiness.

The egg portion of the chicken is only two eggs per stove. If you want to add more, you will be charged an additional 20 baht per egg.

The Kagonoya beef that I didn't order is a special breed of high-quality beef. It is raised on a special formula of grains for this type of beef in Australia. I would actually like to try it, but to really see the difference in the meat, a thick steak would be better. And I would be able to experience the true tenderness. This is thinly sliced and then dipped in a salty broth, so I definitely won't be able to tell the difference. As for the Australian beef here, it is sliced into large pieces. One tray only gives you 3-4 bites. The pieces are large, tender, and very satisfying. The pork is also sliced well.

Pork

Bacon

The Tempura was good, it didn't feel too oily.

For the Kushiage, I tried the cheese, beef, and baby corn. The cheese was delicious, and the beef was made with sliced beef that was rolled up and then deep-fried. It was fried until it was cooked through, but it was still tender.

Another savory dish, the Sushi, came in large pieces. The fish was not very pretty, with some pieces being chipped or broken. The rice was very loose, and it would fall apart just by picking it up. Before I could even flip it over and dip it in soy sauce, the rice would break apart and scatter in the soy sauce cup. I tried to be as careful and gentle as possible, but it was no use.

Shabu Shabu Review

Soup: I tried two types of soup, but I wasn't impressed. I didn't like that you had to pay extra for the sukiyaki and kimchi soup options.

Dipping sauce: Both dipping sauces were too salty for my taste. Maybe I'm not used to that flavor profile.

Eggs: You have to pay extra for eggs, and they only give you two per pot, even if you have four people. If you're dining alone, you still only get two eggs.

Overall: I recommend sticking to the shabu shabu only. When I went with a group of friends, we were full after the shabu shabu, but then my friend wanted to order ice cream. They told us that we couldn't order anything else because the bill had already been closed. The final price, including tax and service charge, was around 675 baht.

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