The Japanese restaurant of choice for Chong Nonsi’s business lunch crowd is not somewhere your average office-worker could drop by for a B200 lunch set, but nor is it in Sushi Hinata realms of inaccessibility. You can actually think of Sushi Mori like a cut-price Mugendai thanks to its focus on the style of ample, blowtorched slithers of fresh fish that the defunct darling of Thonglor’s sushi scene made so popular. These sit alongside other sushi, sashimi, maki, grilled fish and tempura in an exhaustive menu.

 

Here, though, the atmosphere is less austere, zen-like tranquility and more behind-the-times cocktail lounge, with a collection of billowing silver fabrics, smoked-glass walls and flashy bar lighting. We’re not saying it’s bad (diners tired of the typical sushi restaurant’s aversion to natural light can delight in the floor-to-ceiling windows), only that it doesn’t scream “serious sushi-philes only.” 

 

Which is much the case with the food. Go for the recommended sora set (B900) and you’ll receive nine pieces of seasonal sushi: three blowtorched and dolloped with sweet, fatty sauces, three featuring big slices of seasonal raw fish, one rather delicious Thai river prawn, omelet and some tuna maki. Owing to the confusion of flavors in the cooked sushi, we’d recommend just sticking to the raw offerings, all of which taste beautifully fresh and sit atop piquant, slightly al dente sushi rice. 

 

Elsewhere on the menu you’ve got tempura which pulls off that wonderful Japanese trick of being entirely non-greasy, though in the case of the tenzaru set (two tempura shrimp, white fish and pumpkin, B340), we know you can find equal quality and for less buck over on Soi Thaniya. Same story with the sanma kabayaki (deboned oily fish broiled in sweet soy sauce, B280), which, though quite delicious—think rich, unagi eel-style flavors—doesn’t live up to the soba teriyaki at Silom’s Misato.

 

As is often the way, Sushi Mori does its best work with the most simple stuff: fresh fish. The slabs of otoro are there in sashimi sets priced from B2,500-4,500, but judging from the quality of the fish we tasted, you can happily depend on the sets of simpler species starting from just B320. And if you want it with a sweet, trendy cocktail, then we can think of few spots better.

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This review took place in November 2015 and is based on a visit to the restaurant without the restaurant's knowledge. For more on BK's review policy, click here.