A Dining Adventure: 40 Restaurants in 40 Weeks: Akira

Well, March Break has begun, which means that I finally have some time to write - just in time to head out on another dining adventure. That means that I will more than likely have 2 posts within this week. Here's the first...

For our week #19 adventure, we were honoured to be celebrating with Jordan for his birthday at Akira - a Japanese restaurant that is slightly "off the beaten path", and certainly not anywhere near the path we've been walking for the last few weeks. I decided that I should include a map this week for a few reasons... First, it's a heck of a lot easier than me describing how to get there (I'm slightly directionally challenged). Second, it will certainly help get you there if you're looking for a Japanese restaurant... and ultimately, because you SHOULD find your way there. Akira is definitely worth a stop.

Akira is another restaurant that doesn't have a website that I could find, so the history of the restaurant is beyond me... I did find reviews, however, and a couple of interesting trends "popped up": a good number of people seem to think that Akira is run by staff with Korean backgrounds because of the amount of Korean options on the menu (I have no clue what is Korean or any other origin... so I won't guess), and most importantly - everyone talks about how good the sushi is. There is a lot of "online chatter" about sushi options in Kingston being less than enjoyable. There is also quite a bit of talk about "rice to fish" ratios, quality and cost... Ultimately, this is another area where I am not a competent judge, so I won't pretend; but just reading what people had to say, it sounds like this is the place to be if you want sushi. What did my fellow adventurers think? Keep reading... I'll get there.

Cozy slippers :)

When you drive up to Akira... well, don't drive away because of what you see. Appearances aren't everything - and trust me, once inside, the appearances improve 110% from the sketchy looking strip mall on the outside. The restaurant is a decent size - a few booths around the exterior walls, a few tables on the interior... And one really special spot - the booth where we were lucky enough to sit on this visit - an enclosed booth that gives the appearance of sitting on the floor at a low table (traditional in Japan), while the floor under the table is actually cut out, allowing you to sit upright as you are used to. There are chairs without legs provided, which allow you to lean back from the table as you'd like, and slippers are also provided so that you can remove your shoes (another tradition) and still have comfy feet. On the walls, lights are used to highlight gorgeous pieces of art, and screens and wood accents beautifully divide spaces so that each dining experience is private and comfortable.

The things around you and on the walls aren't the only pieces of art at Akira, though. That fact became very apparent when plates started arriving to our table. Each and every dish looked absolutely spectacularly gorgeous. If I was a completely conceited person (which I'm not, for the record) who only focussed on looks (which I don't) and I could date food (although I already think that sometimes I'm in a relationship with food...), I'd be proud to be considered a tramp, walking around town with this stuff "on my arm".

Here's the run-down of what we ordered:

Carrie: I'm no fan of sushi, but lucky for me, there are other options here. Tonia and I split Harumaki (Japanese spring roll), and then I had the Chicken Teriyaki dinner, which included miso soup and salad.

Tonia: Chicken Teriyaki dinner

Samer: Bento Box D - 5 pieces of salmon sashimi, 4 pieces of sushi, California rolls and shrimp tempura.

Jason: (a big welcome to Jason - a friend of Samer's, who is now a friend of ours! It is always nice to have new adventurers!) Bento Box D.

Todd: house salad, miso soup, Kamakazi roll, spicy tuna.

Benoit: Tempura Udon - Japanese style thick noodle with tempura.

Kendra and Jordan: Get ready for this... These sushi lovers decided share Harumaki to start, and then also ordered a number of rolls to share: Kamakaze roll, Unagi roll, Alaska roll, Dynamite roll, California roll and the Red Dragon roll. I will leave it to you to look up the ingredients of each. Let's be honest... that would take me a while to write out, and I'm verbose enough in other ways. Now, I get to be a little lazy.

Happy Birthday, Jordan!

Perhaps the only down-side of this visit was the speed of service... while we were lucky enough to have good company (as always) and to be "rocking out" to a wide variety of music from Whitney Houston to Bryan Adams to the Backstreet Boys coming from the speakers; the amount of time we waited even just for drinks was frustrating. The only saviour for the restaurant in that respect was that there seemed to only be one server and the restaurant was fairly busy... However, there also seemed to be other friends or family at one booth that could have helped out? Or - could another staff member have been called in? Either way, I think things should have been more timely. That said, once she got to us for the first time, server was absolutely lovely and attentive from then on.

So, how did Akira fair on our fork-rating-system? Check it out:

Carrie: 4 forks. The rolls were good - a little "fishier" than I was ready for or prefer, but I certainly still happily ate them. The miso soup was... well... not my "fave". I've heard that miso soup is really good for you, though, so I struggled through it. The salad was delicious - the dressing was absolutely awesome, and the components of the salad were crisp and fresh. As for the chicken teriyaki, it was amazing. The chicken was tender, the bed of veggies were fresh, and the flavour was awesome. Even love the citrus fruit that is offered at the end of the meal. Everything was beautiful.

Tonia: 3 forks. The chicken teriyaki saved it for Tonia. She thought the salad was good and flavourful, too, but the other stuff just wasn't her style of food. Tonia said "I'm sure it would be good if you like those tastes".

Jason: 4 forks. Jason thought that the food was really good, but he said that for his first time out with us, that he needed to stay a "tough marker"!

Samer: 5 forks!!!! It's about time we went somewhere that offered Samer something that he really, really enjoyed. All Samer had to say was that "everything was really, really good!"

Benoit: 4 forks. Benoit wasn't expecting a whole lot, but was certainly happy with his dish.

Todd: 5 forks. Todd was rendered relatively speechless after this meal. "Everything was awesome. The Kamakaze roll was amazing".

Kendra: 5 forks. Kendra is a big fan of sushi, and for her, these were the best sushi rolls she has had so far in Kingston.

Jordan: 5 forks. Jordan flashed a "high-5" on his hand faster than I could ask out loud what his score was. He loved the beautiful presentation and the fact that the rolls were "hefty" and filling. Jordan said that there were complex flavours and textures that all added to the experience. It was "the best birthday meal".

Overall Score: 4.4 forks

Phenomenal. Overall lesson: if you want sushi, Akira's the place to be.