Akaiito

My amazing wife recently celebrated her birthday, and since she loves Japanese cuisine, I took her out for dinner at newly opened Akaiito.

Akaiito, meaning red thread of fate in Japanese, can be found behind a big black door on Flinders lane.

One of the beautiful features of the restaurant interior is a red thread installation which leads you into further inside to the dining area.

Inside, the lighting strikes the perfect balance of being moody, but in a way that allows you to actually see your dining companions, as well as what you order.

There is an open kitchen in the middle of the dining area, and the chefs look very impressive cooking and grilling away.

The waiter who served us was friendly and extremely knowledgeable about the menu.

The menu moves from raw dishes, to sushi, maki, robata, tempura and mains. There were so many delicious sounding things to choose from.

My wife loves Yuzu, so we made sure to order the Otoro Tartare: diced fatty tuna belly, yuzu compressed apple, avocado, radish and squid ink cracker ($26)

The waiter explained that the crackers were to scoop up the tuna belly. This dish was so good! The crunch of the cracker with the fattiness of the tuna and the zesty pop of the compressed apple – divine.

We ordered another dish from the Raw section of the menu thar sounded too good not to:
Wagyu Tartare Tacos: Takeda farm tri-tip, smoked egg yolk, sturgeon caviar, shiitake, anchovy aoli and crispy nori. ($27)

Basically we got to make our own lux mini wagyu tacos using cut sheets of nori seaweed. Lots of umami – the shiitake mushrooms, smoked egg yolk and tartare were rich, but the crispy nori and the caviar brought balance. Again, amazing.

We decided that we had to try some ‘crazy maki’ and ordered the Kingfish roll($20) as it is my wife’s favourite fish. The roll contained green tobiko, cucumber, leek and truffle.

The waiter explained that the green leaf was called a shiso leaf, and that it had an unexpected but complimentary flavour. It tasted sharply sweet, kind of like mint, but more grassy. It was deliciously different when eaten with the maki.

Onto the robata: we ordered the Tsukune ($8 each) a charcoal grilled chicken meatball skewer which gets dipped into a creamy egg yolk. This dish is a must order – the meatball was perfectly cooked and tasted even more amazing with the yolk. A simple but epic snack!

We felt that we needed some vegetables, so the charred baby cos lettuce with miso yuzu and topped with pinenuts ($12) was ordered. It was yummy but sort of unpleasantly messy to eat.

Lastly: the Tako – W.A octopus, sweet paprika, pickled button onions and smoked heirloom tomato ($24) The tako was good, but our least favourite dish – it didn’t have the same punch as the others.

But then: a surprise! The restaurant gave us a complimentary birthday dessert. So thoughtful! The chocolate mousse cake was rich and creamy. I had a peak at the rest of their dessert menu, and it looked spectacular ( there is even souffle!) so keep it in mind when ordering your main courses.

We had such a lovely night, filled with exciting flavours. I highly recommend visiting Akaiito, and supporting this fantastic newly opened gem.

Rating: 4.5

FYI: Keep in mind that when it comes time to settle the bill, they have set up the machine to ask for a tip first. This annoys and confuses me, as it is not custom to do this in Australia, and I hate having the pressure/fear of offending with too low a tip. You might feel differently, but I thought I should pre warn you just in case.