Yurijin Izakaya Ekkamai is a two-level Japanese restaurant inside the Earth Ekkamai complex, serving a split format that few izakayas in the neighborhood attempt. Lunch runs as a shokudo, meaning you pick one main dish starting from around 199 baht and then help yourself to more than 20 rotating Japanese side plates, things like chawanmushi, Japanese curry rice, pickled eggs, assorted salads and simmered vegetables. Dinner turns the place into a proper izakaya, with sake flights and plates designed for sharing across a longer sit-down.
The menu is wide rather than specialist. Sushi and sashimi, yakitori off the grill, donburi bowls, sukiyaki, tonkatsu and teriyaki all share the same kitchen, and the sake list is long enough to anchor a dinner around rather than treat as an afterthought. Yurijin Izakaya has built a 4.8 rating across more than 1,700 Google reviews, largely on the strength of that lunch buffet concept and the grilled beef donburi that most regulars order by default.
You enter on the ground floor and can seat yourself across two levels depending on the crowd. The room is warm and casual, wood-heavy, the kind of space that works as easily for a solo lunch as a table of eight after work. At lunch, you order a main from the menu and then walk to the side-dish station to build your own set, refilling as often as you like. Service runs in Thai and basic English, and staff will walk you through the unlimited side lineup if it's your first visit.
Dinner is table service. Expect a longer pace, sake recommendations if you ask, and a kitchen that sends out sushi and grilled items in waves rather than all at once. Parking is available on-site, which is rare for Ekkamai proper, and the crowd skews local with a steady mix of Japanese expats and Thai regulars.
The Grilled Beef Donburi, listed as Khao Na Nuea Yang on the Thai menu, is the dish most tables order at least once. Tender grilled beef over rice, it comes three ways: plain, dressed with spring onion, nori and wasabi, or served alongside miso soup. The 5-Kind Sashimi Platter is a menu staple and a useful benchmark for the fish program, five cuts chosen by the kitchen that day. Hot Pan Salmon arrives sizzling on a cast-iron plate, finished at the table. For something lighter, the Cold Udon with Tempura pairs chilled noodles with a crisp tempura set that includes sweet prawn. The Pork Hamburg Steak rounds out the shokudo lunches, a seasoned pork patty served with hot rice and a brown sauce.
Yurijin Izakaya sits inside the Earth Ekkamai project on Thanon Ekkamai, a short walk from BTS Ekkamai and easy to reach by car thanks to on-site parking. If you're searching for a Japanese restaurant in Ekkamai, Bangkok that covers both casual lunch and a proper sake-forward dinner, this is one of the few addresses that handles both formats under one roof.
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