Unlike its neighbor, the cool, minimalist Ryoku by Boy Japanese salon, Sumibi Yakiniku Kura has little to entice people inside, other than a couple of barely noticeable signs showing off its prized Japanese beef. Enter and you’ll find the two-story restaurant a fairly sedate affair: plain dark gray walls, wooden tables with Japanese-style mat seats separated by a few partitions.

The menu goes beyond yakiniku to a variety of Japanese and Korean dishes, but the undoubted highlights are the premium cuts of beef that range from atsugiri jyo rosu (thickly sliced wagyu loin, B1,280) to tokujo ribu rosu (thickly sliced rib loin, B1,380). For a solid selection, we recommend the wagyu mori set (B1,580), which comes with three types of meat (the two mentioned above, and tokujo karubi [wagyu spare rib]) for you to grill on the charcoal stove at your table. The juicy meat is worth every baht, especially the wagyu loin with its delicious, guilty-pleasure marbling.

Their pork choices are also awesome, like the umami-tasting buta kata rosu (pork shoulder with salted rice malt, B249), whose crunchy rice mixes mildly sweet notes with salt and sesame oil. The kitchen’s raw dishes are just as enjoyable, like the beef liver sashimi, which is surprisingly mild and goes perfectly with the salted sesame oil dipping sauce.

Even better is the oxtail soup (B279) whose dense broth and melt-in-your-mouth meat are a heavenly combination. The beef bibimbap on a hot stone pot (B269) tastes even better than at many dedicated Korean restaurants thanks to its flavorful sauce and crunchy bottom layer of rice. Wash down all the meatiness with their complimentary passion fruit ice cream, which is super-refreshing.

While there’s little to fault about the food, we do have some issues with Sumibi Yakiniku Kura’s layout, which sees tables squeezed closely together, especially at the entrance and on the second floor. Combine this with the below-average ventilation and you can expect to walk out with pretty smelly hair and clothes. However, this doesn’t seem to perturb the Japanese families and office workers who crowd out the place night after night. If you love a good meal of grilled meat, this is a small price to pay.

This review took place in August 2016 and is based on a visit to the restaurant without the restaurant's knowledge. For more on BK's review policy, click here.