Akari Japanese Dining and Bar

Another fine dining place that went on our radar through Groupon. Lynn noticed it because of the words "A4 grade wagyu beef". Sounds promising. And the rest of the menu looked good too, so we bought it. After the beef-wise unsatisfying 7Adam dinner, we were pretty quick to arrange for dinner at Akari. This restaurant is tucked away at Marina Bay Link Mall. I found myself walking against the homebound crowd while walking there from the MRT station.

Menu

There was a one-for-one promotion for their Sapporo beer, so we ordered that. The first appetizer was beautifully served in a martini glass. It was a cold Somen - shredded mountain yam served with a lime sauce. That's the little glass at the side that we poured over the yam. It was cold and refreshing, and the seaweed added a nice touch to it. The second appetizer was minced saba fish. The fish was nicely done without being overly 'fishy', and we really like those crunchy little stuff at the side, though we haven't got the faintest clue what they were.

Nagaimo Somen

Minced Saba Fish with Japanese Green Pepper

This was followed by a tuna salad. The tuna was actually a thick piece of sashimi, lightly grilled on the outside before being sliced into thick pieces. Lynn isn't huge on tuna sashimi. The grilled part she handled ok. The internal raw part she struggled a little. I couldn't quite help her as I already had three thick slices of my own. I liked it actually. The grilling added a depth to the tuna. The accompanying salad was pretty nice, though somewhat limited in amount, as you can see.

Lightly Grilled Tuna Salad with Ginger Sauce

Next came the chawan-mushi (steamed egg). Their's had a generous layer of salmon roe on top of the egg. I found the roe, and the accompanying liquid, a little on the salty side. But if you have it together with the egg, it was ok. A pretty normal chawan-mushi I guess.

Ikura Chawan-Mushi

Finally we arrived at the main course. The options was either pan-fried Kagoshima A4 grade wagyu beef, or pan-fried hamburger patty-style Kagoshima wagyu beef. We both agreed that patty-style is a waste of good wagyu beef, and decided to order the A4 grade beef. That came with two options for sauces, and we ordered one of each - garlic sauce and sesame sauce.

Both beef had the wagyu wow aroma we loved, however, one of it (I can't remember which) had a blander piece of meat - inadequate seasoning probably. Between the sauces, I preferred the garlic sauce, probably because it was more saltish and able to cover the blandness of the meat. But the beef just wasn't as impressive as some other wagyu we had tried. Still, it hit the spot much better than 7Adam did. We did have some blissful moments of pausing to savor the aroma of the fats.

Pan-fried A4 grade Kagoshima wagyu beef with sesame sauce

Pan-fried A4 grade Kagoshima wagyu beef with garlic sauce

The last savory dish was a minced wagyu beef fried rice. This one had both hits and misses. The hit was definitely the beef. Although the description said minced, they were in reality cubed wagyu beef. And there were several pieces with good amount of marbling in them. Both of us went into the blissful mode quite a few times. The miss? It's the seasoning. It was very one-dimensionally seasoned with salt. Just a single flavor permeating the entire dish. No sweetness or spiciness to counter it. In the end we both didn't finish our rice, just picked through to make sure no beef were missed.

Wagyu beef fried rice

Generous portions of beef cubes

Look at the marbling on the meat...

Another one with marbling

The meal was completed with dessert, a Yuzu sherbet. I've always liked yuzu, opting for yuzu tea whenever I spot it on menus. I liked this sherbet of course - cold, sweet, sour and tangy all at the same time. A really refreshing end to the meal.

Overall the dining experience was pretty enjoyable. The food was good, and the service prompt. We doubt we will come back, mainly because it really didn't impress us the way some places does. It's price doesn't really help too. I doubt I would have visited it ever, without a Groupon. With so many restaurants putting up promotions on Groupon, we are generating a really long list of places to go. Not to mention places we've already visited and liked. To make us return, I guess these places really have to impress us. So far I must admit few had managed that.