Restaurant Discovery: Akira The Art of Sushi and Teppanyaki

I think I have mentioned way too much already how much I love Japanese food. My friends know how to lure me out of my hibernation mode... Japanese food, new restaurant, or eat all you can. Why am I so easy to bribe? WHY?

My AmCham friends and I decided to have a reunion since it has been 5 years since we all first met. From a batch of 25 (plus one adopted person from another batch), 3 made it from our batch and our adopted batch mate. Reunion, fail. Fun dinner, success!

It has been a night filled with laughter and reminiscing about our bloopers and fascination about the teppan table at Akira, a new restaurant in Shangri-La's East Wing.

Since the food was quite pricey, we decided to order for sharing. We got the teppan Set B: US Rib-Eye with chicken, shrimp, and beef plus miso soup and fried rice on the side (PHP1068), Wagyu Ramen (PHP489), and Akira's house iced tea. I also ordered salmon sashimi (PHP228), a must order whenever I'm in a Japanese restaurant.

Service was quick as before we noticed, our food is being prepared right before our eyes. We just have to take photos.

At first I was worried that the food might not be enough for a party of 4 but surprisingly, when the server divided the food, it seemed enough. We all got portions of the meat with ample rice and vegetables.

The meat and shrimp were cooked well and tasted better with the sauce they handed to us. The fried rice was tasty too and could be eaten as is. My sister would love this!

The Wagyu ramen was good too. It was tasty and the noodles were well cooked. It wasn't hard or soggy. Though the Wagyu ramen wasn't as soft as I wanted it to be. Also, we had a little talk  where one of my friends said that there really is no real Wagyu here. I wonder if it's true.

The salmon sashimi (the highlight of my dinner) was fresh. Love it! I enjoyed it with lemon juice over it and dipping it in soy sauce with a bit of wasabi. Yum!

The bill reached over PHP2,000 which was a bit steep given we ordered so little. But we ended our dinner with happy tummies. I think that's more important. :)

I'll most likely go back here to try the other ramen and perhaps another go teppan set?

Akira is located at the 5th floor, Shangri-La Plaza Mall East Wing, Mandaluyong City