Set in the heart of the Sathorn business district, this sister restaurant of Thonglor’s Mugendai is similarly sushi-oriented. Yet its modern café-style décor and creative menu mark it out as something quite different from the many Japanese restaurants across town. While much of the office building it resides in is creepily empty at 8pm, Muteki is still alive with a white-collar crowd who see no need to drag themselves from Sathorn to Thonglor.

 

Its dishes tick many boxes for Instagrammers, especially the mouthwatering all-day breakfast options like fluffy soufflé pancake served with truffle butter (B135) and the colorful and addictive banana and strawberry nutella French toast (B165)—we suggest adding some milky Hokkaido soft cream (B50/ B65) to the mix, too.

 

The menu itself resembles a tabloid newspaper and is packed with hundreds of dishes, from maki to sashimi, tempura and lots of agemono (deep-fried sets) and don (rice). One dish that ranks highly is the engawa lavadon (seared halibut fin and mayonnaise truffle oil on a bed of rice, B395). The engawa and mayonnaise combine for an incredibly soft texture, while the initial sweetness is balanced by the slightly sour rice, the spicy chili powder and the charred aftertaste of truffle oil. The Twilight roll (seared salmon, scallop and flying fish roll, B410) is another interesting mix of flavors: sweet due to the teriyaki sauce and salty from the miso sauce.

 

But the complex flavors don’t always work, as in the akami mentago (salad with avocado and Bluefin tuna, B390), in which the freshness of the fish is overpowered by the spicy mayo and ponzo sauce. Sometimes we’d just rather play it safe with their impressive nigiri and sashimi. As you’d expect these days, they offer omakase (chef’s choice) sets, which start from a low B500 and go up to B3,200. We especially love the Three Musketeers set (B1,200 for nigiri/B2,400 for sashimi), which contains akami, chutoro and marbled fatty otoro, just like at their original Thonglor joint.

 

Even if its dishes don’t always come off, Muteki feels a bit like the Mugendai team’s playground, where they can exercise their creativity. Set to expand to Paragon and Emquartier, we can only hope Muteki’s new branches live up to this one’s standards