It has been quite a few years, almost 30 I guess that Sukiyaki restaurants have become quite popular in Thailand. You must first understand that the name Sukiyaki came from Japan but there are many versions of the Sukiyaki in Thailand. The original is of course the Japanese but the Chinese also have their counterpart. The sauces and broth in the original Japanese Sukiyaki is usually sweet with a very fragrant small of soy. It is not spicy but predominantly sweet and salty. The also have many versions of their own depending which province of China you come from. When Suki first arrived in Thailand it was the Chinese version. It can be prepared as a stir-fry noodle or in a broth. The important ingredient of these Suki is the glass noodle and lots of vegetables. The sauce is usually made from garlic, ginger, fermented soybean paste or fermented bean curds, vinegar, soy, sugar and many other items. When Japanese Suki hot pot came to Thailand about 30 years ago,enterprising

         Thai restaurateurs too the idea and adapted The Japanese way of presenting this dish by changing the sauces and the broth to suit local palate. Texas Suki and M.K. Suki were the first few enterprising business people to open this style of restaurant. Now you can see M.K. Suki at every mall or Hypermarket. In Hong Kong they also have their own style of Suki bar. The offer two different kinds of broths in one bowl and their own dipping sauce, which is usually milder than the Thai version and a little, more sour.

           They still offer the standard pork or chicken broth but they added a light peanutty broth very much like a mild Satay sauce in addition. This broth if made well and not too rich and sweet can be very delicious. They call it in Cantonese Satae broth. In Bangkok there are a few Chinese restaurants that offer this type of Hong Kong Suki hot pot, there are few restaurants that serve only this type of Suki as the main menu item. I found one such place tucked away up on the second floor of a very small building on Sukhumvit Soi 24 called simply Suki Bar. A husband and wife team owns this Suki bar from Hong Kong.

         The husband is in the clothing and textile business while the wife is originally a Burmese who live and worked in China and finally married this young man from Hong Kong.  The Suki bar is not a very big place but well designed with seating and hot plates around the outer walls of the room and a long table with seating on either side facing each other at the center of the room.  There are no private tables and you will have to sit next to people you do not know.  Most Thais do not like to share their table with anyone but in Hong Kong where space is at a premium, it is standard practice for you to share seating with people you don’t know. I like it because I get to be nosey and always look left and right to see what the person next to me order or what might look good so I could order some. Even worse, I sometime ask them if I could try what they ordered! Much to my surprise, they usually allow me to try and make suggestions to me on what I should try! I am sure that most of you are familiar with how to eat Suki. At the Suki Bar,

   You are given two choices out of three kinds of broths. Regular chicken and pork stocks, Satae or Satay broth and Tom Yum broth. Them they will serve the standard noodles, vegetables and fish dumplings for you to put in the broth yourselves. You just choose what kind of meat or seafood or combinations you would like. I usually order the largest selection of both seafood and meats. Once the broth on the hotplate in front of you starts to boil. I would tare up the vegetables and add them to the broth, the glass noodles I would put in the Satay broth because it would swell up and absorb all the flavors into the noodle.

         It tastes so good, sweet and salty and slightly nutty with a touch of curry flavor when you put it in your mouth.  The dumplings are added to the broth and once warmed, you pick it up with your chopsticks and dip it in the dipping sauce, which is slightly sour and aromatic.   The meats that are thinly sliced are dipping into the broth to quickly cook it to just done and dipped in the same dipping sauce before putting it into your mouth.  I particularly like the thinly sliced pork belly; yes I know it is fattening! But I cannot help it. The combination of the layer of fat and pork meat just cooked and dipped in the sour dipping sauce balances everything out in your mouth and make the pork meat taste quite sweet and delicious. For those of you who like beef, the thinly sliced beef is also very good and your should not blanch it too long in the broth orit will be dry and looses all the sweetness from the blood in sliced beef.

Name Of Restaurant Suki Bar
2/17-19 Room, 24-26 Sukhumvit 24,
Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok 10110
Telephone number 02-260-0992
Hours 11.00-23.00 Daily