PUBLISHED August 25th, 2017 06:00 am | UPDATED December 22nd, 2017 05:51 pm
Professional snowboarder Akira Back, now of Iron Chef America fame, turned towards cooking after an unfortunate accident at the age of 22 led to his biggest obstacle yet: a career jump. Fortunately for us, we get to enjoy the fruits of his labour, in the form of his eponymous Japanese restaurant that opened at South Beach Avenue in Singapore earlier this year.
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Like his other two Akira Back restaurants in Jakarta and New Delhi, this is a concept that combines modern Japanese cuisine with Korean accents. It’s a bit odd, I know, but it’s a culinary combination that works. Don’t come in thinking that you’re going to get traditional Japanese fare. This is not where you’ll find quality blue fin tuna sashimi or a bowl of hand-cut soba noodles.
In fact, the Philippe Starck-designed space has barely anything to tell you this is a Japanese place – not the marbled high tables, not the contemporary tusk-like chandeliers, and not the bright eclectic cushions. There is only, at the side of the restaurant, a large wooden chopping board and a partially hidden sushi chiller, where a lone chef slices fish and chops vegetables with an intense concentration you’d find in good chefs.
Presenting bold creations in a menu of cold and hot sharing plates, Chef Akira’s dishes are ostensibly Japanese in nature, veering into full-on fusion territory with dishes like the Popcorn Tofu ($20), battered thicker than how an agedashi would be, and served with a mixture of sriracha sauce and ranch dressing – a clear influence from his upbringing in Colorado. There is also AB Taco ($25), deliciously marinated wagyu bulgogi wrapped in crispy taro taco shells with an ingenious salsa-like umami bomb of spicy roasted tomatoes and ponzu. You can have this with tuna too, if you prefer.
Around this time it becomes clear that many of the dishes at the restaurant would be relatively rich, saucy, and mostly spicy, a testament to Chef Akira’s Korean heritage. The hot Grilled Alaskan King Crab ($42) is a myriad of flavours and textures, the sweet and delicate leg flesh accentuated with creamy tobiko-laced ‘dynamite’ sauce to become quite simply, explosive. Eel makes its appearance with the curiously-named Brother from Another Mother ($30), an indulgent maki roll made with brown sushi rice and featuring two types of eel, one in a soy-sauce marinade and the other fried-tempura style. Adding on to the decadence? A lump of shaved torched foie gras (served with gochujang miso, no less) and ponzu mayo – definitely not for the faint of heart.
For the sake of our bulging bellies, we had to tone it down a notch. Order the restaurant’s famous AB Pizza Tuna ($25), which was purportedly created to get Americans to eat raw fish. As much as I wouldn’t call this a pizza per se, it is delicious, combining the lightness of thinly-sliced fresh tuna and the crackling crust with a slather of umami-laden aioli. I also very much enjoy the 48-Hour “Sanchoku” Short Rib ($48), which is braised so long it falls off the bone with a touch of our forks, while retaining a delicious tender juiciness, along with the elegant Hokkaido Scallops ($28), to be eaten with kiwi fruit, caviar, and truffle yuzu.
We round out the meal with the intricate Beehive ($16) meringue dessert, which cracks open with your spoon to reveal a tangy lime custard, honeycomb. It’s delicious and refreshing, though if you have room and the palate for something richer, the Pillow ($18) – with its garden of earl grey mousse, morello cherry, crunchy chocolate pears, chocolate soil, and chocolate sorbet – will do fine. While there are some easy-going dishes here, you should have realised by now that a meal at this restaurant is always rather bold, and that’s something that the brand is quite proud about. After all, Chef Akira has been preparing for it for almost half his life now.
Akira Back is located at 30 Beach Rd, JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach, Singapore 189763, p. +65 6818 1914. Open Sun-Thu 12pm – 3pm, 6pm – 10.30pm. Fri-Sat 12pm – 3pm, 6pm – 11pm.