"Mookata Asakusa" is a Thai restaurant located in the Asakusa underground shopping area, just to the left after exiting the 6th exit of Asakusa Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line. I visited the restaurant with two friends for the first time in late November. The restaurant, a sister branch of the one in Yushima, has a total of 20 table seats inside and outside. We chose to sit outside. The restaurant offers a 99-minute all-you-can-eat "Mookata" meal for 2,299 yen, with drinks, side dishes, and toppings available at an additional cost. Mookata is a Thai-style BBQ and hot pot dish where you cook meat in the center of a special pot and vegetables in the surrounding broth. We selected various ingredients using tongs from a table filled with options and enjoyed cooking and eating them. We also tried the spicy dipping sauce called Nam Chim. The food was delicious and we washed it down with Thai beer and a Bangkok Highball. We were able to enjoy multiple rounds of ingredients before feeling full and settled the bill before the 99-minute time limit. It was a satisfying dining experience.

I found out on Instagram that a Mukata restaurant had opened in Asakusa Underground Shopping Street, so I decided to go check it out. The place had a Thai street food vibe with tables, plastic chairs, pink plastic dishes... it felt like I was in Thailand. They were offering a special opening deal of 99 minutes for 999 yen. You get a Mukata pot with soup, and you can grill your own pork, pork liver, shrimp, squid tentacles, imitation crab meat, fish cakes, sausages, etc. I personally didn't grill the fish cakes because I thought they were different. For vegetables, they had Chinese cabbage, bok choy, enoki mushrooms, carrots, glass noodles, tofu, green onions, and even oranges. It might have been nice to have some more Thai-like ingredients. You coat the pork fat on the Mukata pot and grill the pork (moo). There were pork belly slices, pork meat, liver, and shrimp, which was a bit hard to eat so I peeled it before grilling. The soup evaporates quickly, so you need to add more from the kettle. The sauces and soup could have been a bit more special. Grilling the meat made it quite hot. It was November but I was sweating... and getting thirsty. I ordered Thai iced tea and lemon soda, but I got Coke and lemon soda instead. It was a mix-up, but it's okay! I had one cup in a plastic cup used for cherry blossom viewing. It felt a bit pricey at 399 yen plus tax, but I got really thirsty so I ordered an additional 1-liter Coke for 999 yen. There were bucket cocktails that foreigners often drink at places like Khao San in Thailand, but I didn't order it as I didn't want to get too drunk. The 99-minute 999 yen opening deal was fun, but I'm not sure if I would go back once it's 2500 yen plus tax. Amidst the hustle and bustle of Asakusa Underground Shopping Street, surrounded by international tourists shouting "Hakke Yoi" and "Konnichiwa" at the nearby Ninja Bar, the experience of grilling Mukata in an international atmosphere wasn't bad at all.