Wagyu dinner at Akira teppanyaki resto

It was that weekend we were checked in Astoria Plaza and nothing seemed to go well. The wifi was (forever) not working in the hotel and our Kapitolyo food trip went sour as there appeared to be coordinated bad service in that dingy place called Three Sisters and Charlie’s Grind & Grill next door. A trip to the civilized confines of Shangri-La Mall was definitely in order.

This mall has one of the best curation of restos in the metro, so if you want to play safe with your hard-earned moolah, dine here! The Shang’s East Wing has gotten so much buzz because of the excellent food choices. We decided to train our tastebuds on the menu of Akira which is the newest teppanyaki restaurant in town.

Akira is part of the growing chain of dining places owned by actor Marvin Agustin and his business partners (which also includes Banzai in MOA ). The complete name is: Akira The Art of Sushi and Teppanyaki. The sushi part escaped me, but I don’t mind coz we were going to have Wagyu for dinner!

All that beef, majestic glorious beef that melts in the mouth and makes you feel you’re in heaven….my oh my!

But that’s getting ahead of the story. Watching the chef doing a teppanyaki show where he performs with knives, like they do in Benihana, is one of the attractions at Akira. I made sure I filmed it for posterity:

My kids were amazed and had fun, though I had to remind the youngest one not to imitate it in real life 🙂

Anyway, prior to savoring the Wagyu, I ordered this Ahi Poke Salad for a starter course. This is a popular Hawaiian salad made of sliced raw tuna and the Akira version has a mayo-based dressing thrown in with some kind of tortilla chips.

We were going to have the Teppanyaki Group Special Set C which had Wagyu grade A3. At P5,299 , it was the second most expensive in the set after A4. (note: high quality Japan-bred beef is graded between A3 to A5, with A5 being the most expensive….but all are goooood!)

The ingredients were all brought out before the chef cooked it in front of us. The set meal included miso soup, shrimp, chicken and Japanese fried rice…good for 3 to 4 persons.

The chahan could improve in terms of taste but the presentation of this one was cute.

Dipping sauces for the beef, shrimp & chicken plus some salad…

As served: the veggies – roasted peppers, eggplant, squash, carrots, bean sprouts and what-have-you

The shrimps look like they shrank and the chicken tasted like it could be seasoned better. But the truth is… it just prepared me for the excitement that was the beef!

There’s really nothing like eating well-marbled, nicely-cooked Wagyu! This is one kind of meat that does not need to be flavored to taste well. A serving is enough to bring me to heaven and back 🙂

It pays to have kids. The manager gave us complimentary banana split ice cream which was not part of the group meal.

Akira
The Art of Sushi & Teppanyaki
Level 5 East Wing
Shang-ri La Plaza
Shaw Blvd. cor. EDSA Mandaluyong City
Philippines

Tel. No. 654-3920