Laurence Civil enjoys traditional Japanese with a twist of the modern

Face Bar is non-conformist dinning con­cept created by a multi-racial, multi cul­tural group of entrepreneurs. Something to appeal to those with an intellectual cu­riosity in culture, are well informed and appreciate quality without pretense.

It started in Jakarta with the opening of Hazara, their In­dian restaurant in 1993 followed four years later with the opening of Lana Thai; the two dining concepts con­stant to the Face philosophy. The following year they opened branches of these two restaurants in Shanghai where they conceptualized Face Bar.

In 2003 Eric Perez the former pastry chef and chocolatier at the French Embassy and Ritz Carlton joined Face to open Visage, their patisserie and chocolate shop in Shanghai with branches in Beijing, Jakarta and Bangkok. The same year face opened a branch in Bangkok.

In a perfect world it would be nice to be able to replicate exactly the same restaurants in four cities in Asia but the reality is local tastes are always exactly the same. Thai and Indian restaurants work in all four cities but each has their own unique restaurant appropriate for their location. Japanese sells better in Bangkok than chocolate. Eric decided he would open his own pastry training school Macaroon in Ekamai on the site where Athena the Greek restaurant was once lo­cated. What was Visage in Bangkok has been converted to Misaki, the Japanese Sushi Bar and restaurant.

“I keep a traditional Japanese taste to my food,” he explains, “but here I can give it a modern twist that I can’t do so easily back home.

When Visage first opened there was direct street access but now customers have to go inside Face Bangkok’s main entrance and climb the wide wooden staircase to the restaurant reception. From here they will be directed down the narrow staircase to Misaki, the name means ‘beautiful sake’

Behind the glass front façade is the modern cosmopolitan interior, the main dining area is divided into a series of booths by sa paper lined glass panels and the sushi bar is at the far end.

What attracted Chef Nakamura to come to Bangkok from Japan was that he would have the freedom to try something new with his cooking style. “I keep a traditional Japanese taste to my food,” he explains, “but here I can give it a modern twist that I can’t do so easily back home.

To start with he served a selection of four sashimi. “With this dish I have taken from a traditional Japanese dish of tuna, yellow tail and mackerel,” Chef Nakamura explains, “but I have added fresh salmon from Norway. This would not be popular back in Japan, but it is here. I chose Norwegian salmon as it’s the best quality I can find here. Traditionally, sashimi is simply sliced raw fish but I like to marinade the mackerel in vinegar and suki yaki sauce to enhance the flavour.

For a soup he served a subtle and light egg custard with a clear soup below. I enjoyed the crisp crunchy freshness of his prawn tempura.

With his main course his creative touch of modern Japanese became ap­parent. First he served grilled free-range chicken breast, sliced into strips topped with very tasty green onion sauce. Before grilling this Australian beef tenderloin he marinaded the meat in Sukiyaki sauce with a splash of red wine.

I make no secret of the fact that wine is my beverage of choice with food but when it comes to Japanese it’s hard to find a wine to match nicely chilled sake, and by price it is more affordable. They carry three labels and I enjoyed Hokkaisan Honjiyo with the meal.

Visage may have moved out to make way for this restaurant but fortunately Eric is still responsible for the desserts available in all three restaurants at Face Bangkok. His chocolate bomb is decadently laden with endorphin re­leasing flavors while his passionate fruit sorbet is for me the ultimate tropical taste experience.