- Hey everyone, I hope you're having an amazing day.
It's Mark Wiens.
I am in Bangkok, Thailand.
And tonight for dinner,
my friend P'Tan invited me over to Mihara Tofuten,
Thailand's first all tofu omakase.
So it's dish by dish, piece by piece chef's table.
And this will be a totally new dining experience.
(upbeat music)
No tofu, no life.
(upbeat music)
When you step in,
to this little, this little courtyard,
it's like a little Japanese oasis.
So outside of the door it's Bangkok.
Inside the door you really do feel like you're in Japan.
The little garden.
(upbeat music)
(greeting in a foreign language)
- [Server] It's roasted tea.
It's nice and naughty.
It's got little flavor
almost like iron, a little bloody minerality.
Very nice to get the palette going.
- [Mark] Welcome tea, and this is a,
it helps as it cleanse the palette.
(light upbeat music)
Kind of has a bitter aroma to it.
You can taste the roasted flavor,
but it's very, very light.
Very light tasting.
(Japanese music)
- [Mark] 15 dishes?
- [Server] Yes.
- [Mark] Okay.
When the drink is ready,
we're going to start to serve the food.
Enjoy.
- Any meal that you can see
where the food is being prepared,
and then it is served to you course aby course.
As always that adds
another dimension of an eating experience.
It's going to be the tofu tasting course.
There are 15 different dishes.
So 15 dishes all including tofu.
And I ordered some tea.
- And there's some
- Oh, that's your tea.
(both laughing)
- Yes, thank you.
- Okay, my tea is still on its way.
- Would you like to hear a little bit
about it first of all?
- [Mark] Yes, please. - Yeah?
- [Server] We are starting off with a oolong from Yaman,
a beautiful little prefecture
with some of the cleanest air in Japan.
Which for me, really,
is one of the most important things, frankly.
We don't wash away the first flush
like we would with Chinese tea.
(upbeat music)
- Wow it's like very, very,
green tasting.
Almost like,
almost has like a sea
taste to it, to me.
The first course is fresh homemade tofu.
Something I just learn right now
that she mentioned to us is that even the water
is brought from Japan.
The water comes from the,
as that has a big impact
on the taste.
- [Chef] It's from Saga. Saga.
- [Mark] Saga?
- [Chef] Yes, near Fukuoka, by the way.
- [Mark] Near Fukuoka - Yep.
- [Mark] And that's where the tofu,
command recipes come from here, right?
- [Chef] Of course.
- [Mark] Wow, that texture.
(chill beats)
That is so delicate.
You just kind of chew a couple times
and it just slides down
kind of like almost liquefies.
And then she unwraps the napkin
and there will be these little boxes inside
filled with delicacies.
So there is a three cart course.
(speaking foreign language)
- [Mark] I guess so.
I think I'll just put on the sauce.
- [Ying] You have to mix this a little bit
- [Mark] Oh yeah.
A little bit of sauce.
And then, that almost feels like a mozzarella.
I should use this spoon (laughs).
Yeah that's a good call, Ying, thanks.
That really does almost taste like mozzarella.
Like a fresh mozzarella.
That is amazing, I cannot believe that almost tastes like,
it really almost taste like mozzarella.
(both laughing)
I was about to come in with my spoon.
And I just like slid right up.
Sorry about that.
I had a little tofu splatter accident.
Tuna with the skin.
The yuba.
(speaking foreign language)
That's almost like a thin slice of cheese.
(chill beats)
It's just like
a world of different texture.
(speaking foreign language)
- [Mark] And then, yeah, I think this
you got to pick this up with your fingers.
Good, I got to see the menu.
What was that?
- [Server] Okara chips.
Chili con carne.
- [Mark] I was gonna say,
Okay, chili con carne.
It almost has a Mexican taste to it.
(upbeat music)
- [Server] It's our zuwai crab soup.
The crab is from Hokkaido, with a really light dashi.
- Okay, so I am also having a tea pairing
which is also very cool with this meal
because the food and then the tea
which is just gonna to complement of this samaliase.
like deciding and really like,
thoughtfully thinking about the tea
and how it'll pair with the dish.
We've got like a black tea here,
and then this is one of the, our waiter explained that,
this is one of the most umami dishes,
edamame ball,
which is a soybean ball,
and yuki tofu and dashi soup with zuwai crab.
Should this be eaten with a spoon, or the,
- [Ying] Eat with spoon.
- [Mark] Sure? - [Ying] Yeah.
- [Mark] Even with this?
- [Ying] You have to try your soup first, though.
- [Mark] Look at that. Okay I've got to try that first.
Oh man, that looks awesome.
Just feeling from the chopsticks can just feel
that incredible textures.
Soft and stuple.
Actually your chopsticks is kind of like fall through it.
Oh yeah, just breaks up.
Look at that.
(upbeat music)
That's like, whoa.
It's like unbelievably silky.
Spoon delicate.
'Cause it just sort of dissolves.
Okay, let's try that.
That ball.
(upbeat music)
It's so neutral tasting.
But at the same time,
you can taste the individual ingredients.
So I can taste the soybeans.
And then you taste that fragrance
of the slightly smoky crab,
an augment wrapped up in like 12 different textures
in your mouth all at the same time.
That's just like pure strands of crab.
It's the tea that goes with that.
(sniffing)
Almost like smoky cinnamon aroma to it.
Whoa. I really like smoky taste to it.
That's awesome.
- [Server] So we're going to go to,
we're going to taste the silver needles.
Exquisite and quite rare tea,
in the jasmine style.
Very very floral and delicate style of white tea.
It can be served hot, it can be served cold.
We did a cold extraction
and serving it cold on ice for you.
- [Mark] Okay the next course is tofu shirae melon gazpacho.
I am not sure it is meant to be a one biter,
but I originally try to get it on my,
balanced it on my chopsticks but, nope,
and a small spoon,
then chef came over and gave me a big spoon.
Now, there we go.
It's wobbly.
Cucumbers and carrots.
Which kind of burst out of the jelly foundation.
White tea with this course.
(chill beats)
- [Mark] Okay it tasted like some jasmine to it.
Kind of floral.
(upbeat music)
Ying thought this one was the best so far.
She already finished it.
(Ying laughs)
Kabayaki style grilled saury fish.
How do you eat it, Ying?
Did you like slice it in half? - [Ying] Nope I basically...
- [Mark] Can I just, curl up, okay, like that little rollup
But as soon as you do that you can see kind of like
the fat squeezing out,
Yeah, let me just,
you can just see the fat in there.
(upbeat music)
- [Ying] Eel, eel, eel, eel, eel, eel, ell, (laughs)
- Kind of like eel.
Not as fatty as eel, but yeah it's pretty fatty.
But that's what makes it so juicy and so incredibly good
like belly fish tasting and then roasted.
(plate squeaking)
A momen tofu
which she explained as a kind of a harder, a firmer tofu.
Like a aubergine eggplant cup.
And then like a yuzu, kind of like a citrus sauce.
(upbeat music)
That's awesome.
Bite into that.
And the tofu just kind of like juices.
So good.
(Ying laughs)
That's like, almost the texture of tofu.
Next dish is zaru tofu,
and Zaru, because it's cooked in oil,
prepared in a bamboo,
the tofu is made in a bamboo basket.
But then it's fried.
It almost looks like a little muffin or scone.
Firmer than I expected.
It's not like a wobbly, wobbly tofu.
May be because of that skin as well.
But I do want to get that seasoning as well.
(chill beats)
Explosion of tofu.
I like that because the ikura,
the roes,
they explode with that saltiness.
Which contrasts the delicateness of the tofu.
(upbeat music)
That just kind of like, brings out the flavor.
Okay, I am excited to try that tea.
(upbeat music)
By the way he said it was a very umami tea,
a very meaty taste.
I do taste the meatiness of it.
And it has a thick texture to it.
- [Server] Would you like me to mix it for you?
Or would you like to do it yourself?
(upbeat music)
- [Mark] Let me try that in one sec.
- [Server] Yuko was like why are you wasting all the leafs?
And I was like what do you mean wasting?
It's not done yet.
- You can actually eat the tea leafs.
So you mix in a little bit of soy sauce.
I have had like fermented or pickled tea leafs salad
but this is a totally different experience.
And this is like totally different.
That's delicious.
A bitterness but a bitterness that doesn't like
go past your tongue.
So you just taste the bitterness on the surface.
Like oceany tasting.
You taste almost the soil.
The donburi is almost like a rice ball.
But it's like a rice ball puff.
With yuba, the tofu or bean curd skin,
and abalone, she said,
I think, she said abalone liver in there.
But you can also see the roe on top
and that one looks very...
like you don't know what texture
or what even temperature
it's gonna be,
just from looking at it.
Again, everything's subtle.
Oh, I think like the rice.
I missed the rice on that.
But then it just fell out of that abalone wrap.
- Try this
- [Mark] This one she just hands it to you
and you just gotto take it in your hand
in a little origami wrapper.
But it's a tofu, deep-fried tofu like nugget.
Oh it's hot.
SO like delicate and just like dissolve in your mouth.
And then you got the strands of scallops in it.
That's what it is, scallop.
And it is a blue cheese soy dressing.
You taste that blue cheese,
soy milk, kind of like whipped soy milk almost.
Oh I got a lot of blue cheese on that one.
It's vinegar seaweed
with yuba, bean curd on top.
So may be get a little bit of everything
It's often how you can feel the texture in your chopsticks
before you eat them.
But this one you can tell it's gonna be a little slimy-ish.
Just look at the strands of it.
(chill beats)
This one's one of those things
that you want to just slurp up
immediately crunch to it.
like a seaweed,
and then a very delicate vinegary sourness to it.
(upbeat music)
- [Server] Here's a sukiyaki experience.
The soup is actually inspired by a french onion soup.
And we have grade A wagyu from Hokkaido,
served with momen tofu and cognac.
We'll have the chef cook it for you in about four minute.
- [Mark] Okay, great.
(laughs)
- Good.
(all laughing)
- It's one of the courses
that I was most looking forward to.
This is the sukiyaki,
created by Chef Goh.
It's a french onion soup stock.
Really smell that oniony aroma as he was cooking it.
It was boiling thin and like wrinkly.
(laughs)
Whoa.
Melt in your mouth beef.
Not too salty.
Really not too salty at all.
A slight, a hint of sweetness.
Wagyu beef.
Whoa.
(chill beats)
You can chew it with you lips.
Re-submerge, go back to the beef,
and let that just keep on marinating in there.
You have beef.
(upbeat music)
So the next course is somen,
which are noodles but I didn't even know where they were.
I didn't see them slip the noodles into this,
this soy milk,
dashi stock.
or like but it's cold
yeah, like a, its milky, it looks like milk.
Almost looks scuff.
It's soy milk, soy milk dashi.
Be easy on the slurping.
The texture of those noodles.
That's awesome.
Perfect simplicity right there.
The tempura, into the milk, it's all submerge.
(chill beats)
Amazing.
Okay I have this small pickle.
Give that a little stir.
There're sesame seeds in there as well.
(chill beats)
That bumps up the flavor.
Sesame, roasted sesame taste.
(upbeat music)
That's amazing.
(upbeat music)
- [Mark] Moving onto dessert.
I think this is the final course.
And then everything again is with tofu.
So like every single course, I mean,
every single bite had tofu in it.
So this is the soy milk ice cream gelato, it is.
Oh that's great because it's not too sweet.
And then it just has that again like,
roasted soy milk taste to it.
Four different flavors, all again made with soy milk.
This one must be the macha.
I believe this is the macha.
Whoa.
- [Ying] Mmmmmm (laughs).
Happy day at all
- [Mark] Next time your plate is already clear (laughs).
That texture is unbelievable. (Ying laughing)
That's like the silkiest, but like dense and silkiest thing,
may be ever.
It's like fudge.
That's like soy milk fudge.
Pistachio.
I'm not a desserts guy.
But this is one of the best desserts may be ever.
- [Ying] Are they gonna keep up?
- All the chocolate one at the end.
- He brought in like, all the milk--
- [Mark] It's like, okay, okay.
(all laughing)
Okay we ended up talking for a little bit
because the next dessert is still coming but,
how do you pronounce it, Ying?
- [Ying] Im mee - [Mark] Im mee
And we are waiting on one more dessert.
- [Server] Okay. - This is the I'Tung special.
(laughs)
And it's like what, is this one?
- It's a mochi. - A mochi? Okay.
Made of tofu?
- Tofu mochi.
- Okay
- With the tofu powder.
- Awesome.
Wow, that texture.
- [Ying] May I take one bite?
- [Mark] No I don't think you can, oh the skewer
I'll take this guy.
We get that giggliness.
Wow
That texture.
This whole night,
has been about textures
and that is a totally different texture
from anything so far.
It feels the way you think a jelly fish looks.
Kind of like flopping around a little bit.
(upbeat music)
We ended up just hanging out and talking with Khun Tan
and Khun Tap for a couple of hours.
That was so much fun.
Yeah thank you for the awesome dinner
and okay I better turn on the car and roll down the window
'cause it's already getting hot
Bangkok style.
(car engine revving)
I didn't really know what to expect
I mean all I knew was it's going to be a 15 courses,
or many courses of tofu.
But hearing about the entire story and Khun Tan,
I mean, he explained things throughout the meal
as well so it's great to have him there.
But it was one of the purest, may be like,
I mean I wouldn't call the food simple,
but the flavors were not strong.
But they were like completely new flavors for me
that just well-rounded umami,
you could actually taste the pure umami.
Thanks again to Khun Tan for the invitation.
An amazing meal and a new culinary experience
for me, for real.
I'll have all the information in the description box below
and thank you for watching this video.
Please remember to give us a thumbs up if you enjoy it.
Leave a comment below I'd love to hear from you.
And if you're not already subscribed,
then click Subscribe now and also click that little
bell icon so that you get notified of the next video
that I published.
Thanks again for watching.
Good night from Bangkok.
See you on the next video.