Grub Scout: From Bangkok to Tokyo, this place goes the distance

I’m not sure what’s up with Asian-cuisine restaurants these days. No one seems to be happy with a place that serves just Chinese food or just Japanese or just Thai. Fusion seems to be the thing to do lately, and the new Bangkok Tokyo has certainly jumped aboard that bandwagon with its Thai-Japanese concept.

The restaurant is at the former Ruby Tuesday location in Bearden, near Western Plaza. In fact, except for a few Asian-themed tchotchkes here and there, the eatery’s interior has still retained most of the telltale décor vestiges of its previous occupant.

Dining alone for lunch that day, I was seated in a two-person minibooth. Moments later, I was handed a hot towel, which not only allowed me to freshen up my hands a bit, but it also was quite soothing and relaxing. I think every restaurant should start its patrons off with the hot-towel treatment. And maybe a foot massage too. Just something to think about.

Anyway, the laminated menu at Bangkok Tokyo is huge, both physically and in its scope, which shouldn’t be surprising since it seeks to represent the cuisine of two entire nations.

For the record, special dinner entrees range from $14 to $21 and include ka pround lamb, salmon with mango and steamed snapper with ginger. Other entrees range from $9 for mixed vegetables and tofu to $14 for mixed seafood and are prepared with a variety of different ingredient options — baby corn, basil, cashew nut, garlic sauce and more.

Other sections of the voluminous menu lay out Thai appetizers and apps from the sushi bar and dishes based on main ingredients like noodles, jumbo shrimp, fish, Alaskan king crab and duck. There are also Japanese soups, teriyaki and tempura dinners, and dinner combos featuring sushi, sashimi and teriyaki dishes.

And yes, there’s a sushi bar. The menu offers a fittingly wide range of sushi and sashimi choices, from individual items served a la carte to a lengthy list of specialty rolls to the heavy-duty boat dai combo for four, which is priced at $95.

Oh, I haven’t even gotten to the lunch menu yet, which also has plenty of Thai and Japanese selections. I finally narrowed it down to one of the Thai lunch specials, the Volcano ($7), which features the meat of your choice sautéed in a spicy sauce with mixed vegetables and is served with rice. I picked scallops (an extra $1.50) over beef, pork, chicken and shrimp. To get some Japanese flavor, I also ordered a sushi and sashimi combo ($10) served in a bento box.

I opted out of the salad that comes with the sushi, going instead with the soup that comes with the Thai special. I picked the lemony tom yum soup over miso, and enjoyed it along with a small spring roll.

I had requested that both my orders come out at once, but the Volcano came out so early that I had pretty much finished it by the time the sushi/sashimi combo arrived. The Volcano was a little disappointing on the spice scale, and the scallops were tiny, but the flavor was satisfactory, and the scallops were at least tender and juicy.

The Japanese combo, which included several varieties of sashimi, California roll and an unidentified specialty roll, was certainly fresh enough and not out of line with decent sushi I’ve tasted locally.

The service was awesome here, so overall, not a bad experience. It was at least good enough for me to say goodbye, Ruby Tuesday and hello, Bangkok Tokyo.

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