Tengoku de Cuisine - Chiang Mai: A bit pricey, but worth it

This is a relatively famous establishment in Chiang Mai as it is a Japanese buffet but done in a very different way that I have ever seen. At 800B / person (around $25) it could be too expensive for some people and for someone like me it is a once in a while type thing.

This place is a little bit out of the city center and I would say it s highly unlikely that anyone would discover it by accident. If you decide to go out of your way a bit, i don't think you will be disappointed.

It is a buffet in the sense that you can have as much of anything as you wish, but everything is ordered off a menu and delivered to your table. I prefer this because sometimes the lines or the way people who are using a buffet treat the food can kind of ruin the experience.

I like sashimi, but to be honest after eating 8 pieces or so, I am kind of done with it. This was a great opportunity for me to try other Japanese dishes that I otherwise wouldn't have ordered. I liked most of them.

This is beef Tataki, and it is cold pieces of high-quality (quickly seared by not fully cooked) beef that is served with a sauce and ginger paste. Our table had 4 orders of this and I can say it was probably one of the big hits of the evening.

Next up we have Beef Sutamina, which is meant to be Wagyu beef.. I have no way of knowing if that is what we received but it was not chewy as is typical of Thai beef and the sauce was delightful. This comes highly recommended. We had 3 plates of this

The big hit of the evening was the beef sushi - which until last night I had no idea was a thing. This is an extremely tender pieces of Wagyu beef that is lightly seared (so this means it is extremely rare and juicy.) We had so many of these I lost count. If you ever have a chance to try this you should absolutely do so. It has really changed my feelings about japanese restaurants to be honest.

Even though it was not my idea, it isn't terribly difficult to talk me into booze. This monstrous bottle of sake was actually quite difficult for the 3 drinkers at the table to finish. The bottle was 1600B but that expense is totally our fault. We knew what we were getting into.

TL;DR

Tegoku is a restaurant that I would not have gone to if i had not been invited to a group outing. This is a good thing because they will not even seat you if you are alone. The minimum party size is 2. This buffet place does it different in that you are given a menu and dish after dish is brought to your table. Feel free to order whatever you want and if you like it, order more. The staff spoke reasonable English and everyone was quite attentive.

Because of this system I got to experience high-end Japanese beef for the first time and this is definitely something I look forward to in the future.

A comparatively expensive dining adventure (for Thailand,) diners can expect to spend at least 1000 Baht ($33) per person, much more if drinking alcohol.

Location including GPS coords
หมู่ที่ 1 55/8 ถนน เชียงใหม่-สันกำแพง ตำบล ท่าศาลา อำเภอเมืองเชียงใหม่ เชียงใหม่ 50000
+66 (0)53 851 133 - English / Thai / Japanese
Open daily: 530pm to 11pm