99.AKA Yakiniku 赤
Two places I don’t like to go are discos and BBQ restaurants esp. bulgogi (Korean barbecue) and yakiniku (Japanese barbecue) that cook in front of us with open fire, because of the smoke. I always praise on BBQ restaurants with the installation of smokeless barbecue table, but unfortunately too hard to locate one in Bangkok, even not in a famous 4-star hotel’s Korean restaurant. Until recently I bumped into the AKA accidentally, a Japanese restaurant with specialty of yakiniku and shabu-shabu in the Central World Plaza, I had a yakiniku meal without the smoke in my head and clothing as unwanted souvenir.
AKA is another brand developed by the long established local standard ZEN Japanese Restaurants without my attention as a favorite Japanese restaurant to entertain my friends, or even just by myself.
On our lunch table there were choices of seafood, beef, pork, and chicken to fulfill our yakiniku meal. Raw meat for an authentic yakiniku serves without the meat being marinated; we grill them fresh and dip the meat when it was done before eating. In AKA, house sauce was put on the raw meat, so I had to get rid of the sauce before putting them over the charcoal griller. The meat was good enough for the price although it is lack of outstanding, perhaps better score to them if unwelcome sauce wasn’t put on the raw meat. However, I will not refrain from return for more yakiniku due to its smokeless facility and the convenience location.
AKA also serves shabu-shabu, and traditional dishes such as sushi (raw fish fillet on a bed of rice cube), tempura (deep-fried breaded prawn), tonkatsu (deep-fried breaded pork cutlet) and more.
Our Ratings (1 to 5 the higher the better): AKA has [ 3.0 ]
(Ratings are based on Food, Service and Ambiance, with Price taken into account in relation to Quality) Food =3, Service=3, Ambiance=3, Money Worth=3 Price range for two without drinks (incl. local water) in Thai Baht = BBB
(B=below 200, BB=201-500, BBB=501-1,000, BBBB=1,001-2,000, BBBBB=over 2,000)
Best dishes: combination seafood set (for yakiniku)
Wine list: limited sake and wine on the drinks list
Best table: table by the window
Details: Open daily – 11:30am - 10pm
AKA Yakiniku Restaurant, Level 7 Beacon Zone, Central World Plaza, Bangkok; Tel.: 02-6461364; and other major shopping centers in Thailand
MDS
The writer can be reached at thaisclub@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2008 MDS. All rights reserved.