With over 40 restaurants and cafes, The Parq Life off Rama IV Road is a must-visit for aficionados of Japanese cuisine

The Parq Life, a brand-new retail centre on Rama IV Road, was launched in August last year as part of the 20 billion baht The Parq complex with pioneering architectural concepts and sustainable design.

The mixed-used space didn't seem promising to me as a food journalist when I first visited in 2020.

Of course, it was too early for such an assumption, especially during the pandemic.

After all, in the past few weeks, I've found myself constantly expressing excitement about The Parq Life.

Ever since my visit there again recently, the 60,000m² mall has become one of my favourite dining destinations.

Among its collection of 40 restaurants and cafes is the city's best deal for yakiniku buffet and distinct cafes where the world's best banoffi can be had.

And if you are an aficionado of Japanese cuisine, there is also the finest shabu shabu house and a trustworthy Japanese restaurant.

The Parq Life is located on 88 Ratchadaphisek Road, off Rama IV Road. For more information visit theparq.com.

A variety of meat and seafood at Gyu-Kaku's DIY tabletop barbecue.

Despite its popularity and six chains across Bangkok, I had never eaten at Gyu-Kaku until last month. I also had no clue that the yakiniku restaurant is a global franchise and has more than 700 outlets worldwide.

Gyu-Kaku is one of the most-flocked to eateries at The Parq Life.

The 50-seater offers a DIY tabletop barbecue experience with a wide variety of raw beef, pork, poultry and seafood grilled over a charcoal fire as well as ample choices of side dishes.

On weekdays, its lunch sets featuring a combo of rice, meat, salad, soup, drink and dessert (180-300 baht per set) are in high demand by office workers for its affordability, value for money and convenience.

Otherwise, the all-you-can-eat tabletop BBQ is the restaurant's all-time bestseller.

There are three prices for the BBQ buffet: 579 baht, 699 baht and 1,299 baht. Every option includes beef and pork and seafood but the highlights are different grades of meat.

I went for the 699 baht menu, which is the most popular.

In it, the selection of meat and side dishes I could choose from was generous -- 98 items to be exact.

The beef repertoire includes high-marbled karubi (short rib), fatty dragon karubi (prime cut short ribs) and beef tongue. All looked fresh, came in neat firm slices, and provided full beefy taste and juicy texture.

There is also harami (skirt), rosu (shoulder), misuji (top blade) and sirloin -- the latter two served in a thick, steak-sized cut. Pork and poultry are also on offer with choices including pork collar, pork cheek, pork belly, pork steak, bacon, marinated chicken and duck breast.

Meanwhile, fresh salmon fillets, tako (squid), river prawn, scallops and New Zealand mussels represent seafood.

The restaurant's fresh offerings of various lettuces alone did justice to the great barbecue. But there are also variations of salad, including spinach with bacon bits and sesame cream dressing; izakaya-styled cabbage salad with salt and sesame oil; seaweed salad; and a tofu salad.

Korean scallion pancake, deep-fried karaage chicken, deep-fried chicken cartilage, takoyakji (squid balls) and shrimp cream croquette speak for the frying section.

The selection of unlimited sushi comes with toppings of flash-seared beef, pork and chopped tuna.

At most yakiniku joints, only white rice and garlic fried rice are offered as the main carb. But here, your choice also includes a Korean-styled bibimbap rice bowl, nori seaweed rice, gomaegi ramen noodles in tonkotsu pork broth and ramen in spicy soup.

Guaranteed to provide a soft and sweet ending to the meat-centric feast is homemade milk pudding with kuromitsu syrup and roasted soybean flour.

Reservations are recommended on weekdays and weekends. For more information or to book your table, call 02-123-8597.

Expansive slices of intricately marbled Miyazaki A4 Wagyu.

Exclusivity and top-tier finesse is the culinary essence at Sakae.

This upscale restaurant is a homegrown brand, offering a DIY hotpot experience that's built around a limited menu of shabu shabu and sukiyaki options.

Compared to its large luxurious space that boasts three oval-shaped dining counters with a 70-seat capacity, the Sakae menu may seem small but the quality it serves is immense.

The beef here comes directly from Japan's champion-grade wagyu cattle. The top-tier options, such as the Miyazaki A4 and Tokusen Wagyu F1, are sliced before diners upon serving.

Sakae's diners are usually high-rank execs and Japanese expats who come to partake in a hotpot affair at the dining counter equipped with a personal cooker for each guest.

The set basically comprises a 150g platter of meat, assorted vegetables, a house-crafted appetiser, a bowl of rice or noodles, and a dessert.

Sakae offers a DIY Japanese hotpot experience.

The price of the sets is based on meat options, which range from premium kurobuta pork (490 baht), beef (900 baht), beef combination (1,150 baht) to A4 wagyu (1,400 baht).

The A4 wagyu that I had was flawless thanks to its delicate and well-marbled texture and sumptuous taste. Enhancing the meats were sesame-based sauce and citrus-based ponzu soy sauce.

There are two choices of appetiser; a fresh tomato salad and house-made sesame tofu and both proved heavenly and addictive.

The meal also includes Inaniwa udon noodles, a highly-treasured artisanal product from Inaniwacho town in Akita prefecture. The thin and smooth hand-cut noodles are cooked to ensure its supple characteristic and chewy texture.

Lending a perfectly refreshing finish to the hotpot fare was a super tangy sherbet yuzu with homemade honey jelly.

The restaurant is open from 10am-9pm. For more information, call 096-774-8121.

With the first branch opening in 2003, Hou Yuu is Bangkok's much-loved upmarket restaurant brand serving fine Japanese cuisine prepared with imported produce and exotic ingredients.

To cater to office workers at The Parq, the menu of this 30-seater is half the size of that at the original restaurant located in the GMM Grammy building.

Even so, the selection is close to a hundred dishes, with choices ranging from sushi variations and a la cart dishes to set meals.

Shirao salad (180 baht), featuring deep-fried lightly battered whitebait tossed with fresh salad leaves dredged in a tangy ponzu sesame dressing proved to be an appetiser not to be missed.

For the main dish, the best-selling dish is the sanshoku don, a sashimi rice bowl with three kinds of fish and ikura roe (440 baht, or 480 baht as a set meal with side salad, a miso soup and ice cream); and a sizzling plate of grilled teriyaki chicken topped with molten cheese and spicy mentaiko sauce (190 baht).

The sanshoku rice bowl set.

The sushi and sashimi section lists more than 20 items based around toro (fatty tuna), hamachi (yellowtail), akami (lean readmeat tuna), salmon, sea bream and Hokkaido scallop.

House-crafted spicy aburi salmon maki (280 baht) is a popular sushi choice at the moment. Five pieces of sushi roll came topped with flash-torched salmon stuffed with crabstick, tofu and cucumber dressed with spicy mayo sauce.

Other interesting options include Wagyu steak (2,170 baht); charcoal-grilled gindara codfish (600 baht); rice topped with glazed grilled eel (650 baht); Wagyu beef bowl (1,670 baht); and tonkatsu curry rice (250 baht).

The restaurant is open from 10am-10pm. For more information, call 02-029-7851.

Some of the heavenly drinks and desserts at Ekkamai Macchiato.

A gastronomic visit to The Parq Life couldn't be complete without indulging in a good coffee and heavenly dessert at Ekkamai Macchiato, a lovely corner cafe.

Highly recommended drinks are hot caramel macchiato (110 baht); Amber Hive, a signature iced coffee with honey and a hint of spice (190 baht); and frozen lemonade espresso (190 baht).

The impressive array of mouthwatering house-baked desserts include choux cream (150 baht per box); dark beer chocolate cake (170 baht); shine muscat cheese pie (270 baht per box); and Bailey's strawberry shortcake (270 baht). The banoffee pie (270 baht per box) proved the best on planet Earth.

The cafe is open from Monday to Saturday, 9am-6pm. For more information, call 061-369-4166.