Imagine a flower, its raised center creamy white with thin red streaks. It sits on a bed of bright red petals, which have been arranged, overlapping slightly, in a perfect spiral. Now imagine you can eat this work of art, and imagine how it tastes—like beef! In fact it is beef, thinly sliced, the fatty white slices surrounded by juicy meat, ready for D-I-Y cooking. For the kind of delicious beauty you will not find in nature, you must take the skytrain to Prakanong, enter what looks like a furniture showroom and brave grumpy hostesses and long waits alongside anxious diners in a dingy hallway with blaring TV. Falling somewhere in between no-frills muu krata and lavish hotel buffets, Akiyoshi offers the best quality and value for money suki experience we’ve so far found in Bangkok—just don’t expect much in terms of service. The menu is filled with the usual a la carte suki items, but diners in the know don’t bother opening it—and you won’t need to. Akiyoshi is ideal for people who love to eat, but hate making decisions. When a waitress finally approaches your table (be patient), she will ask, “Buffet?” You will answer “Of course, ja.” She’ll then ask you to choose your tabletop cooking method: “shabu shabu,” which is a ceramic pot filled with water, or “sukiyaki,” which is a shallow, flat pan. (Don’t worry: A full explanation is on the back of the menu.) This entitles you to all-you-can-eat beef, pork and chicken, plus accompaniments like noodles, tofu and veggies and two kinds of sauce, one soy sauce based, the other sesame—(per person: cheaters will be charged). Thirsty? Before she runs away, point at the card on your table with beer logos printed on it: She will inquire, “Buffet?” Your affirmative answer means you will be drinking all the beer (Singha, Asahi or Heineken), sake or “Japanese spirits mix drink” you can stomach. More than price, what makes Akiyoshi a step above the competition is the quality of the ingredients. The stock is more than just MSG water, the sauces are tasty and the meat—the beef, in particular—is superior to what you’re served in many steakhouses. And you don’t just get “beef”—you get different cuts of beef, such as the abovementioned bacon-esque artery cloggers and lean steak as well as nicely marbled meat that falls between the two extremes. You might expect cheap plastic dishes and rusty metal folding chairs, but both the décor and the tableware are what you’d find in a respectable Japanese restaurant. Sound too good to be true? That’s what the families and couples who pack the place think: If you’re planning a visit on a Friday or Saturday night, especially, you must book in advance (and you must show up on time or forfeit your table). Corkage B300.
