The buzz: Chef Injin Kim of Banjoo Korean BBQ, known for its quality beef, is indulging in another passion with Korean cookbooks at Onggi, blending age-old Korean cooking with Thai ingredients. Korean for the earthenware used to store fermented foods, Onggi is not just an homage to technique; it showcases serving styles, including hanjeongsik—a full course display dotted with colorful and complex dishes. 

 

 

The vibe: Set on the 55th floor of The Empire Tower with wrap-around views of Sathorn, the blinking city lights add to the tranquil, private appeal of this space at night: dim lights, a warm glow, and a calming soundtrack that lets you focus on the food. 

 

The food: The current tasting menu is priced at B3,950 with an additional B1,200 and B1,500 for five and seven pairings with Korean fermented drinks. As an opener, they served a “Jang,” a tasting spread to familiarize you with the sauces throughout the meal. Their gochujang is less spicy because they’ve swapped the chillies grown in Korea for chillies grown in Thailand. 

 

 

Another standout is the house made fermented jocheong rice syrup with a honey-like consistency from fermenting rice in malt and stewing until properly viscous. Fish sauce is ubiquitous in Thai cuisines but theirs is less of a sharp saltiness and more of a complex ocean flavor from fermented snow crabs and anchovies. 

 

You can sample the sauces alone or lather it on dried organic cabbage. The veg has been baked for slightly over a day for that crispy texture—a simple base with a hint of seaweed aroma unseasoned to let the sauce to do all the talking.

 

 

Then comes six multi-texture bites followed by the boiled slices of pig head, prepped in a special broth to reduce the gamey smell. It is served with their daily made tofu and two types of kimchi. The fresh kimchi is more fresh, crunchy, and raw while the fermented kimchi—having been absorbing the sauce for longer—yields a more tangy taste. It is recommended that you stack all the ingredients enjoy it in a single bite.

 

Plunging into their seafood, the pre-sliced firm yet bouncy river prawns sit atop a creamy smoked crab cream paste blended with black garlic sauce. Believe it or not, that’s not what Onggi wants you to focus on; the pickled vegetables are the star, featuring varying intensities depending on time in the soy sauce. 

 

 

Fun fact: You should go against your instincts when it comes to the spiciness of Korean soup. The redder the soup, the milder the taste. Their seafood soup with buoyed bitesize Surath Thani oysters is served in a watery clear broth that ends up spiking some real heat, so grab one of their Korean pancake fritters to balance it out. 

 

The main dish, 12 banchan mini bowls, illustrate modes of fermentation and flavors. Of the bunch, the new jangajji mini mango cuts right through the heavier dishes.These platings are refillable though we doubt you’ll need more as the accompanying dishes include some beef bulgogi, soft tofu stew, and some piping hot rice. Their fermented crab topped with uni comes with a gamtae, a type of dry seaweed that’s difficult to find in Korea since it only grows in clear water and is weaved into a square sheet. Pour some sesame oil to add to the richness. 

 

 

Their dessert offers a roundtable of compact textures. There’s the fine black sticky rice ice cream on top of jelly and the syrupy jocheong sauce we sampled earlier. If you’re still down for something heavier, take a bite out of their pancake caramelized at the bottom. Pop their gum drop size dry sesame cookies to go with their buckwheat Korean rice infused tea—sans caffeine.

 

Why we’d go back: With a host of techniques and determination to pluck from local ingredients, there is never a shortage of inspiration for the menu. Their fish, for example, includes sustainably caught catch of the day so each visit will be a treat.