Japanese Dinner on the Chao Phraya River
Okura Cruise is a Japanese fine dining boat that sails the Chao Phraya River each evening. It is run by The Okura Prestige Bangkok, and the menu was built together with the hotel’s Yamazato restaurant. The boat leaves from Pier 4 at Asiatique the Riverfront, and you pick one of two set menus before you go. One is a seasonal kaiseki served in the main dining hall. The other is a teppanyaki set cooked in front of you at a counter.
I went with friends, and it turned out to be one of the best nights out I have had on the river.
About Asiatique the Riverfront
Asiatique the Riverfront is one of the nicest places to spend an evening on the Chao Phraya River, which makes it a good start to the cruise. The site was once the docks of the East Asiatic Company, and a few of the old warehouses and the timber cranes are still there. Today it is a big open-air night market with shops, restaurants and bars spread along the water, plus a tall Ferris wheel that lights up after dark.
There is plenty to do before you board. You can shop, eat, grab a drink by the river or just walk the lanes and watch the boats go by. If you want the full story on what to see and how to get there, I have a separate guide to Asiatique the Riverfront.
The Boat
The boat is easy to spot at the pier. It has a dark hull painted with big golden waves, and the Okura logo lights up on the side at sunset. The design is meant to look like folded origami, all sharp angles and clean lines.
Inside there are two levels. The lower deck is air-conditioned and this is where dinner is served. It has dark wood floors, pale wooden chairs and large glass windows that run down both sides, so you keep the river in view the whole time. The upper deck is open-air with a bar and lounge seating, which is where most people end up after the meal.
Check-in happens at a small lounge next to the pier about half an hour before sailing. You get a welcome drink and a moment to settle in. I would get there a little early and watch the sunset from the pier first, because the light on the river at that hour is lovely.
Okura Cruise leaves from Asiatique the Riverfront, so come an hour early and have a look around first. It is a unique place right on the river, and an easy, fun way to start the evening before you board.
Dinner With Your Own Chef
I picked the teppanyaki menu. This means you sit at a counter around a hot steel plate and one chef cooks the whole meal right in front of you. It is part dinner, part show, and it gives you something to watch during the quieter stretches of the river.
The chef brought out a wooden tray of raw ingredients to start, so I could see everything before it hit the grill. There were big tiger prawns split open, fat scallops still on the shell, and thick slices of nicely marbled wagyu beef.
He then cooked it all in stages, with grilled vegetables in between.
There was also a sashimi course, plated like a little garden with a shiso leaf, a flower and a folded radish. Tuna, salmon and a single sweet prawn. Before all that came a small chilled bowl with edamame, ginkgo nuts and a tangle of tiny whitebait, topped with a purple flower. Each plate looked carefully put together, which is what you would expect from a kitchen tied to Yamazato.
The Rooftop Bar
After dinner I went up to the open-air top deck and stayed there for the rest of the cruise. There is a marble bar in the middle and low lounge seating around the edges, all facing out to the water. You take your shoes off on the raised wooden platform, which is a nice touch.
This is the best part of the night. The breeze, a cocktail in hand, the Bangkok skyline lit up on both banks and the lights of other boats sliding past. I could have stayed up there for hours.
About the Route
The cruise normally heads up toward Wat Arun, which is the view most people come for. On the night I went the river was running high. When the water is up, the boat cannot fit under the Memorial Bridge, so it skips Wat Arun and turns the other way, down toward the Bhumibol Bridge instead.
That stretch is not as pretty, and there are fewer big landmarks lit up along it. Worth knowing if Wat Arun is the main thing you want to see, because the route depends on the river on the day. Even without it, the evening was still a great one. Good company, a long slow dinner and a quiet bar on the water count for a lot.
A Few Things Worth Knowing
You choose your menu when you book, so decide between kaiseki and teppanyaki ahead of time. The dress code is smart casual, so leave the shorts and flip-flops at the hotel. It is a set menu only, and it books up, so reserve your seats before you arrive in Bangkok.
More Photos of the Okura Cruise
Information
Cuisine: Japanese Teppanyaki
Dress code: Casual
Boarding Time: 7 pm
Dinner: 4 pm – 12 am
Duration: 2.30 hours
Phone: 02 687 9000
Prices:
Baht 3,900++ per person for a Seasonal Kaiseki Set Dinner Experience
Baht 4,900++ per person for a Teppanyaki Set Dinner Experience
Departure: Asiatique the Riverfront
Website: okuracruise.com
