Why is it that mall restaurants don’t try very hard? Is it the high rent and massive foot traffic that makes food rank pretty low on their owners’ list of priorities? What’s certain is that Kuu would never survive in Sukhumvit Soi 24/1 (that tiny alley by the mouth of Soi 26) or small Japanese mall Nihonmachi, which happens to be a 30-second walk away and packed with awesome Japanese restaurants. So while Kuu isn’t terrible, you’d have to be pretty addicted to K Village to eat here. The décor is an improvement on Kuu’s original location at CentralWorld (they’ve now reopened at CentralWorld and Central Pinklao). Less sterile, its high ceiling prevents it from having the coziness of a small izakaya, though, and the general level of finishing lacks the polished looks of an upscale venue. Service is similarly average: somewhat efficient and fairly unsmiling. As for the food, it is mostly disappointing. Tempura (battered shrimp with soba noodles, B195) and katsu pork cutlets (with curry rice, B210) alike suffer from thick, overly oily breading. The soba noodles are flavorless. The tempura also happens to be a bit chewy, as do the slightly gluey nigiri (rice balls with salmon, B75). At times, the quality of the produce is fine, such as some melt-in-your-mouth scallop sashimi (B350) we had on our last visit. But just as often, you’re left with a chewy piece of pork that’s way too lean, or—on the same visit!—sad, small, completely dry scallops on skewers. Yakitori (sets of six skewers from B170-B290) is a specialty here, and you can see the sticks of meat being barbequed in the open kitchen. But while yakitori is perhaps your safest bet on Kuu’s fairly do-it-all menu, we can’t guarantee success by any means. We do appreciate that the sauces aren’t overly sweet, but their sparing use makes for some pretty dry meat. On the plus side, Kuu has an outdoor section and prices are reasonable. Sake starts from B180 for 180ml and draught beer (Asahi) is B90/glass. In a city with so much competition, and so much of it just next door, Kuu makes for a fairly desperate last resort.
kuu& Sake Bar
