With three Akashi restaurants islandwide and other dining concepts under their belt, we thought it was time we visited Akashi again to see how it was doing. Located in a perpetually busy stretch in VivoCity’s basement, the restaurant was thankfully quite nice and tranquil when we visited during the weekend for dinner.
The whole space is cleanly furnished with wood panels, with some counter seating up front, and plenty of two‑seater tables and larger tables for families.
The menu afforded many set meal choices, so we went for the Akashi bento set and the saba shioyaki set (grilled mackerel). When we had seated ourselves, a kimono‑clad waitress instantly put down a plate with a sizable (and very addictive) mound of edamame beans; which helped while away the time when we were waiting for our food.
When our sets arrived, they looked really good. The Akashi bento set comprised a large slab of grilled mackerel, rice, pickles, tuna, salmon squid sashimi, vegetable and prawn tempura—plus a bowl of miso soup and two slices of watermelon. The food was great—the fish was fresh, the rice was lovely (we loved the plum powder on top), the sashimi was sweet, fresh and tasty; and the tempura was truly fantastic. It was crispy, light and not too oily, and the best thing was, it stayed crispy throughout. The saba shioyaki set was not bad, too. It came with half a grilled mackerel, rice, a cold tuna and cucumber side, miso soup and watermelon. The fish was good (if a little bony), but we felt the side dish was a bit raw‑tasting. Still, both sets provided excellent value. Our soursop juice was nice too—it had real soursop pulp with seeds intact.
Service was also quick and quite friendly. But, our dessert of persimmon ice‑cream was a letdown—it was bland, medicinal and tasted nothing like the fruit.
Still, we like the chow choices here and will be back.
