Akiba

Japanese fine dining mixed with street food?

When I first walked into Akiba I knew that this meal was going to be stunning. I saw hundreds upon hundreds of drinks carefully arranged across the wall, I saw the distinct wooden and neon light colour scheme, and I saw how tidy the restaurant was. When I first arrived at opening time, Akiba was dead quiet. It was just me and the wonderful staff. I walked over to my seat which was right in front of the bar, I could also see into the kitchen which was quite nice. I began to look around, I saw small wooden boxes filled with different types of citruses, there was lime, lemon, orange, grapefruit and green apple. These varied citruses' were used for all the drinks that the bartender made. I was fascinated by this so I tried to find if there was anything else similar. I continued to look around and on the very top of the shelves with all the drinks, there were around five huge see through containers filled with dried chillies and fruits. Some were almost empty and some were almost full. I couldn't exactly tell what fruits and chillies there were but they just looked delicious. I looked into the kitchen for a while and saw incredible things. I saw a huge blaze of fire come out of a wok, and the chef working it controlled the fire with absolute grace. That chef did all the charring in the dishes that I ate. It was never over-charred, never under-charred, it was just perfect. I also saw two people making what looked similar to a tortellini shape out of dumpling wrappers. I would later find out that it was the "Chicken & Prawn Dumplings" that I had about half an hour later. I also saw a chef finely chopping mass amounts of nori. She did it with absolute speed and precision which just astounds me. I got to try some of this nori in the "Miso Dengaku Eggplant" and it was delicious.  
  
While I was looking at the incredible kitchen, I saw the bartender throw an empty bottle over his head and catch it like it was nothing. Bartenders like him absolutely amaze me. They can do all these fancy tricks with the bottles, and create stunning drinks super fast all while memorizing dozens upon dozens of unique beverages. We started to talk to each other, then he got an order and made it in under a minute then came straight back to talking. Just pure concentration. Just before I left Akiba he gave me a free drink, and that's why I decided to include his quote "Every drink needs ice and a citrus" in my blog.  
  
 When I started to look at the menu, I was overwhelmed by how impressive it was. It had everything from a unique "Kimchi & Oyster Pancake" to a superb "Pork Belly Bao". This tough decision made me enticed to order the "Feed Me" tasting menu which had eight of their most popular dishes. And it was incredible. So diverse yet so similar, so crunchy yet so soft, so spicy yet so sweet. You can read more about the individual meals in the section "Short Reviews". For a drink, there were four different types of Japanese lemonade (Ramune). The options were pineapple, strawberry, melon and lychee. I chose to get the melon. The Japanese lemonade came in an oddly shaped bottle, it was very skinny in the middle and thick at the bottom. I thought this was just for packaging reasons but I soon found out that it wasn't. So I just decided to try to open the bottle. I peeled off the plastic on the top and a weird hard plastic item fell out. The waiter told me to insert it into the cap and press it firmly down. Pop! A small glass marble popped out of the cap and was trapped where the bottle gets thin. I did some research and it was the ball that made the drink carbonated, not the actual drink itself. In my opinion, this is a very smart idea because it means that you will rarely get a flat and uncarbonated drink. The bartender saw that I had opened the drink, so he gave me a tall glass with ice and a wedge of lime. Just like his quote says "Every drink needs ice and a citrus". The drink was sweet and delicious, and the hint of lime made it all the more better.  
  

As soon as my first meal arrived "Kingfish Sashimi", I knew that this tasting menu was going to be an absolute delight to eat. The menu had all things crunchy, all things soft, all things spicy and all things sweet. This "Feed Me" menu was close to perfect and was an absolute delight to eat. At around 12:30, dozens of groups of all sizes and cultures came into Akiba. It was very sudden, one minute I was the only customer and the next I was one of 50. This brought a new life to the restaurant and just made it more enjoyable to be there. While I was eating my food and looking at the kitchen, I noticed how incredibly organized the staff were. They did not panic nor stress, once an order arrived they got straight to it without a fuss. Trays of delicious meals were being sent to tables of all sizes every single minute. It was amazing to see the pure focus of many of the staff and how they take their jobs so seriously but still manage to have fun at the same time.  
  
Akiba was a perfect way to start my journey on food reviews. The unique Japanese fine dining, mixed with street food made the restaurant like no other. It was unique and enjoyable to eat. I absolutely loved the theme of wooden and neon lights, it made it unique and it stands out to most restaurants. One of the key things about a restaurant is the staff, and Akiba did not disappoint. If you have the time, I would give you a high recommendation to go.  
 

Thank you for reading.