Since returning properly to Milton Keynes, I’ve been pretty keen to find some more independent restaurants to write about. Last week, we went to Akasaka for my Dad’s birthday. Akasaka is a new(ish) Japanese restaurant in Wolverton and it’s a really great find! I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to go there! Kudos to my brother for the recommendation here.
The restaurant is pretty small, but very clean and inviting. I love the traditional touches of Japanese culture around the room; ornate wallpaper, Japanese dolls and lanterns. It certainly makes for a surprisingly classy destination for dinner! But drive past too fast and you might miss it! It is located on Stratford road in Wolverton, next to a chicken shop! You might have read my review of Rofuto in Birmingham, and I would liken the menu at Akasaka has a very similar menu, albeit more middle range on prices. The menu covers everything you would expect from Japanese cuisine: sushi, tempura… there’s definitely something to suit every taste if sushi isn’t your thing.
As a starter, we shared a prawn tempura. This is probably something you wouldn’t want to share after the first prawn…. the batter was incredibly light, and the prawns were cooked to perfection. I think ‘cloud like’ were the words I used to describe them! It comes beautifully presented with a dish of spicy soy sauce to compliment. This definitely whet our appetite for what was to come next.
For my main course, I opted for the Teriyaki Chicken. The chicken thighs were served on a hot plate with beansprouts, soaked in the sticky sweet teriyaki sauce. It came with a little bowl of boiled rice, which was the proper sticky Japanese rice. The chicken was boneless, which made eating it a lot easier and less faff. The thighs were flavoursome and tender, and were coated in just the right amount of sweet sauce. The beansprouts added some texture to the dish and were packed with flavour from the teriyaki. There was so much food, which made it incredible value. I struggled to finish, thanks to the generous portions!
My brother had the Chicken Katsu Curry which seemed to go down well. The rice was drenched in sweet spicy sauce accompanied by the breadcrumbed fillet of chicken. This is a classic dish that you can’t seem to go wrong with wherever you are, and according to George was the best one he’s ever had!
Dad went for the spicy deep fried chicken, which was a mix of vegetables and chicken served with boiled rice. He found the deep fried chicken thighs a little fatty, but was impressed by the generous portion size and the quality of the food. Mum chose the spicy chicken Yakisoba which she really enjoyed. A lot of the dishes were ‘customisable’ so you could opt for a spicy sauce or not spicy, depending on your tastes.
Overall, I was pretty impressed by what Akasaka had to offer and nearly everything on the menu averaged under£10. It’s a great alternative to more expensive options like Wagamama and I actually think it was marginally nicer… Next time I go, I’ll be trying the sushi. They also do takeaways which is handy, as I don’t live far from here at all!
For menus and booking information, visit www.akasaka.co.uk.
Rating:
[pipdig_stars rating=”4″ align=”center” color=”#FAAEB7″]
