Connoisseur Feasting

After a recent dinner at the highly rated Wagyu Steakhouse in Surin, I realised that exisiting prosaic labels used to describe the quality of a restaurant just don’t cut it in this case. ‘Fine dining’, ‘haute cuisine’, ‘gourmet crazing’; none of these do justice to this steakhouse

By: Andrew McKenzie

As I scribe these words I feel compelled to come up with a new phrase to adequately label this restaurant. Words that will sit comfortably at the very top of the quality food chain. ‘Connoisseur Feasting’ is what I have come up with! Like it? Yes, you heard it first here in the pages of exotiq.

According to the Oxford English dictionary a ‘connoisseur’ is someone who is an expert judge in matters of taste. ‘Feasting’ is consuming a meal of the very highest quality (and sometimes ‘quantity’!). Therefore, when it comes to labelling the Wagyu Steakhouse, ‘connoisseur feasting’ aptly describes this restaurant because it delivers to diners, who will only accept the very best ingredients, a meal experience of the highest gourmet quality.

People who seek out ‘connoisseur feasting’ know what the best looks like, and they are prepared to pay for it. The management behind the Wagyu Steakhouse will be the first to admit that their epicurean plates will not suit diners on an economical budget, rather their cuisine is designed to appeal to sybaritic diners; those who only want the best.

With the word ‘wagyu’ in its name you might expect this restaurant to only offer highly-marbled Japanese beef. You would be wrong! About 50% of the dishes on the menu are wagyu, coming mainly from Australia, but there are also wagyu cuts from Japan, and even Thailand. Other steaks are available principally Angus beef from Argentina and the USA, which make up 20% of the main courses, with the remaining 30% consisting of fish and seafood delights. For vegetarians, Head Chef Nok will even grill you up a plant-based burger.

Given the premium ingredients used at the Wagyu Steakhouse, on average, including drinks, you can expect the per-head cost to be around the 4,000 THB mark.

We booked a table on a Friday night, and not surprisingly the restaurant was full, with two sittings happening on most tables. With less than 50 covers available, booking a table at the Wagyu Steakhouse is a MUST. Contact details at the end of this article.

It’s easy to find this restaurant on the main Surin thoroughfare, it’s on the right side, if you are travelling south, just after a large 7/11 store, and before the access road to Surin Beach. There is a pull-in drive for dropping off guests, but parking is quite limited, so you’ll likely be directed to the parking at the adjacent Twinpalms Resort.

The arrival experience is very classy as you pass a water feature, with lighting and the soothing sound of falling water. The double doors, with its striking bronze concentric circles give you the sense of the quality beyond.

You are ushered through the portico by welcoming door-staff, into the cocktail bar and the pre-dinner lounge area. The restaurant is split into two levels, with the cocktail bar at street level, and the dining room below. For the observant, you’ll notice some interesting design features in the cocktail bar. The bar sides and ceiling are clad in some sort of lattice material, which at first glance looks like painted wicker, but it is in actual fact green leather; quite appropriate for a restaurant specialising in beef! The other really cool feature is the wall covering, which straddles both floors, and is made from hundreds of wooden printing blocks. These are traditional hand-made stencils created to apply printed patterns to fabric. They hail from the Rajasthan area of India, and produce patterned cloth known as ‘Bagru’ printing.

Once called to your table you descend some wide stairs down to the dining room, lead by the Maitre D’ Khun Khem, the key presence within the dining room. Perhaps the most visually impressive feature of the restaurant is its huge glass wall, spreading across the north face of the room, behind which is a 10 metre high vertical garden, designed by renowned Bangkok based architect Martin Palleros. I’ve seen similar garden walls at the Sheraton Towers in Singapore, and the Banyan Tree Bangkok. I wonder if they were created by the same landscape architect? In fact the interior designer responsible for this steakhouse hails from Japan, Nao Taniyama, who seems to specialise in steak restaurants; other credits to his name include the ever popular Ruby Jacks in Manilla.

The first job of the meat eating diners is to go across to the open kitchen area and choose your desired cut of meat from the chilled display cabinet. My default steak is always ribeye so I opted for the Australian Darling Down Wagyu, MB 4, grain fed. Sitting next to it in the cabinet, with a Thai flag proudly placed in front was a steak I’d never seen before, a Jasmine Rice fed Angus Tenderloin from Thailand… this I had to try so they cut me a small 100 gram steak to go with my larger 300 gram ribeye. To accompany the steaks I ordered potato purée and green asparagus.

My wife opted for the Grilled Snow Fish as her main course, and for starters she went with a classic Caesar Salad. My choice to commence with was the Grilled Hokkaido Scallop with Caviar and a lemon cream sauce. I did think her choice of the salad was a bit boring, albeit healthy, until she pointed out that today was Friday 15th March. Of course, the Ides of March, the 15th, when Julius Caesar met his end! How very felicitous of her to order a Caesar Salad to mark the occasion.

Before the starters arrived I was invited to inspect my two cuts of raw meat. They were presented on a wooden platter spouting dry ice smoke, very dramatic indeed. I was also invited to choose my steak knife for the main course; from a selection of five. I love the smaller Laguiole knife, because it is so well balanced that, regardless of what angle it is laid on the plate, it always manages to right itself into an upright position.

For wine we shared a bottle of the satiny and fresh 2021 Sandhi Chardonnay Central Coast, I was allowed a glass and half with my scallops, with my wife polishing off the rest. For me, I needed a claret to go with my two steaks, so I ordered a glass of 2020 Château Palmer Alter Ego, 2020 being a great vintage for Bordeaux wines.

We were served with focaccia bread and a fluffy truffle butter emulsion. Already on the table was a medley of salt from Thailand, the Himalayas and Tibet, and then my scallops arrived on a hot stone plate, with much fanfare and sizzle, trailing a plume of smoke as it travelled through the restaurant to our table. The Caesar Salad made a less dramatic entrance, however it was prepared ‘a la minute’ by a skilled waitress. The scallops were lovely, not overcooked so juicy, and the caviar garnish and lemon gave a subtle kick to the tender seafood.

The arrival of my steaks, simply garnished with a sprig of Rosemary, was well coordinated with the arrival of my first glass of claret. I was offered to choose three sauces, so I went for a classic Béarnaise, the Green Peppercorn and the Chimichurri. The ribeye was fantastic, perfectly cooked to my medium, seared to crispness on the outside, and succulent on the inside with that distinctive buttery taste. So, good. The Jasmine Rice fed Angus  was more subtle, I felt the aromatic qualities of the jasmine rice came through which delivered an unusual steak flavour. Chef Nok  adopts a two-step cooking process for all of her steaks. Initially grilled, and sealed on the Beach-oven grill, and then placed in the Josper charcoal oven for the desired doneness, and smoky flavour.

My wife’s Grilled Snow Fish , also known as Alaskan Black Cod , was a hit with her. It had been slightly caramelised under the grill, and once cut into, it revealed its flaky succulent profile and buttery taste. The Chardonnay was the perfect companion she said, angling for another glass!

Not much room  for dessert, but I was in need of another glass of Margeaux, so i persuaded the Mrs to share a cheese platter, which consisted of one of my favourites, Comté , along with some Merbier, Queso de Oveeja Trufa  and Phuket Goat Cheese Tomme.

We finished  our connoisseur feast at the Wagyu Steakhouse , well satiated, and slightly merry. The second sitting diners were still arriving, so we felt we should vacate our table and retire to the lounge upstairs for a liqueur and the taxi ride home.

The Wagyu Steakhouse  is open seven days a week, from 5:30 pm to midnight, with last orders at 11 pm. On the first Sunday of every month, they do something rather special. An ‘ultimate’, as they coin it, brunch is featured between noon and 3 pm, with Thailand Iron Chef winner Chef Tammasak  orchestrating matters and meeting guests. You have to book, and for 5,000 ++ THB you’ll enjoy a Sunday connoisseur feast, including a great selection of wine. We shall be back!