SURA Korean BBQ_by Korean Chef
32/1 Soi Sukhumvit 39, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110
Order the Kkotsal short ribs first and the kimchi-jjim second. The temple-food lineage shows up clearly in the banchan and in the steamed-egg hotpot with cheese, which carries more depth than the standard BBQ set. Bring three people minimum so the grill earns its keep, and let the chef-recommended cuts pace the table.
Sukhumvit 39 runs north off the main road between Phrom Phong and Thong Lo, and SURA sits at 32/1 in a quieter stretch of the soi. The room is set up for grill-table service: an extractor over every seating, a side-dish parade that arrives before the meat, and a wine-and-soju list calibrated for long evenings.
The chef-owner trained under Soenjae, a Buddhist nun who is one of the recognised masters of Korean temple food. That lineage shapes the menu in ways you do not always see at a Sukhumvit BBQ table. The banchan reads more vegetable-forward and seasonal, the fermented elements taste like they actually fermented, and the non-grill dishes hold their own next to the headliners.
The grill section centres on the Kkotsal Prime flower short ribs, with LA galbi as the second-anchor cut and pork belly and pork blade shoulder rounding out the daily list. The kitchen also runs a kimchi-jjim and a steamed-egg hotpot finished with cheese, both of which sit outside the standard BBQ rotation and reward ordering one of each across a four-person table.
Service runs 11:30 AM to 10:30 PM every day. Lunch is the quieter window and the easier table to walk into. The soi is one short turn off the main road; from BTS Phrom Phong exit 5, the walk runs about ten minutes north along Soi 39 and SURA appears on the right.
Reservations help on weekend evenings. Call +66 2 077 9263 and confirm the table size when you ring; the room is sized for groups but the grill setups are fixed seating arrangements.