AKIBA bills itself as “a restaurant for the people”; a restaurant that brings “New Asian cuisine” to Canberra.
It’s designed around fast, inexpensive (relatively so) food served in a vibrant, eclectic-electric atmosphere. Indeed, Akiba couldn’t be more different than the restaurant that preceded it in ActewAGL’s Civic building, Dieci e Mezzo.
With Akiba’s completely transformed fitout, you wouldn’t even know you were in the same place. The predecessor was formal, quiet and light. Akiba is informal, boisterous and dark.
Snacks and street food range from $8 per piece to $10 for four pieces. Options include pork belly bun, soft shell crab bun, a couple of dumpling offerings and a couple of pancake offerings.
We dived into the steamed prawn and chicken dumplings with ginger and black vinegar dressing. If you love dumplings, you’ll love Akiba dumplings. They’re up there with the best.
The raw food line up includes yellow fin tuna with organic Japanese soy, and a sensational wasabi panna cotta ($16). It was the dish of the day for me and represents everything I adore about this cuisine – quality produce, fresh tastes and a simple but memorable approach. My bet is there would be protests and riots in the street if this dish was removed from Akiba’s menu.
We next ordered the cocoa-dusted kangaroo, with goa eggplant, cauliflower and masala sauce ($18). Hmmm. The meat was perfectly cooked and the flavours surprisingly well matched, but we agreed there was too much dust on the roo, which led to a rather strange feeling on the tongue, but then some dust does that.
The share plate with soy cured salmon belly, nori puree and fried eschallots ($20) made our tastebuds much happier. The salmon melted in our mouths and, again, represents everything Japanese food is known for.
But is Akiba Japanese? Let’s say it’s half Japanese and half American barbecue, as evidenced by dishes such as the pancakes on the menu.
While at Akiba, be aware that a trolley zips around periodically with “dishes of the day”. It has a little bell announcing its arrival. We were told that the trolley offers dishes that the kitchen is road testing for customer feedback. It’s a great idea, although our waiter didn’t tell us about the trolley, so we had ordered everything we wanted by the time we heard the first “ding-ding”.
When I return, I’d like to road test the “just feed me option”, which is eight of Akiba’s favourite dishes for $46 a person. Or perhaps I’ll road test the yum cha, which Akiba offers on weekends from 11am to 3pm.
Akiba, 40 Bunda Street, Civic, call 6162 0602 (1.5 per cent surcharge on Visa cards, 3 per cent on American Express).
Photos by Holly Treadaway
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