Wasabi @ Q Bar

The Q Bar is one of Bangkok's top nightlife venues, a small New York-style club that introduced imported DJs and possible the best drinks list in the city when it opened in 1999. And now, they've subscribed to the latest trend in hip dining by adding a Japanese sushi bar called Wasabi @ Q on the upper floor.

Fittingly for a nightlife annex, the room is ultra dark and very cold. With raw fish around you don't want it warm, but take a jacket or be prepared to hit hard on the sake. Luckily, there's a large choice of it, including top-of-the-range Dai Ginjo, Ginjo and Junmai Ginjo, from Hakkaisan.

Between the sushi bar at one end of the room and a full wall window at the other side are a few tables cantilevered from the wall and, in the center, a small drinking area with plastic stools modeled on the Tokyo street side stalls that sell sushi and sake to punters using milk crates for seats.

Wasabi's fish is flown in twice a week from Tokyo's Tsukiji market, source of the best products in Japan. The menu has mainly traditional options, started with beautiful red tuna, such as Chutoro, sliced from the fatty area of the belly and the highly marbled Otoro.

But there's also a smattering of new wave creations, such as rich Kobe beef rolls, combined with foie grass, Atlantic lobster tails or shrimps; Isan rolls, designed for the Thai palate, with spicy beef topped with sesame seeds, spring onions, deep fried lemongrass and a tiny blob of chili paste; and Tiger's eye, scallop, salmon and cream cheese wrapped in squid, before baking.

To show you're up with sushi vogue, the word is order smoky Islay malt, such as Laphroaig, instead of sake.

Despite the quality of the food, in a city packed with Japanese restaurants it's uncertain that diners will rush to Wasabi's @ Q Sukhumvit, Soi 11 location. But Q Bar nighthawks will love it.