Thursday 1 September 2011

The Las Vegas Epic 2011 - Raku Grill, Las Vegas review

It was nice to get off The Strip for one night thanks to a recommendation from the incredibly talented Catty. Raku Grill oozes cool; it’s hidden away in the back corner of a retail park in Las Vegas’ Chinatown; its darkly lit and well designed dining room is the perfect place for a discrete tête-à-tête; and the oh so fashionable clientele (except us) all seemed to be having the same conversation about how they discovered this hidden gem.


Raku’s light Japanese cuisine was a welcome change from the beef-heavy diet on which we'd engorged ourselves so far on holiday. In fact, the biggest endorsement I can give for our meal is that thanks to Raku, I LOVE TOFU. This is a seriously big achievement on their part. You see I’m as unfussy an eater as you can get. In fact, the one food in the whole world I don’t (didn’t) like is tofu (disclaimer – this sweeping statement is clearly untrue). But, Raku’s tofu isn’t like other minging tofu I’m used to. They make it themselves every day and I can tell you categorically it doesn't bear any resemblance to the flavourless, wobbly, stodgy, dense blancmange that I'm used to. In fact it’s the complete opposite. It’s light, creamy and so so fresh. It’s really is just amazing.

Raku's Cold Tofu
Agedashi Tofu - Deep fried
Other than the divine tofu being served up at Raku, they also specialise in a load of really tasty grilled meat and fish dishes most of which come in a skewer format. Highlights included a wonderfully buttery sauteed scallop with soy sauce, a ridiculously juicy deep fried chicken with paper thin crisp skin and a bowl of sticky rice covered in a chicken and egg blanket. The only let downs of the night were the apple marinated lamb chops which were too subtle and cooked overly rare (essentially raw on the inside) for my taste and a duck with balsamic soy sauce skewer which was overwhelmed by the flavour of balsamic.
Apple marinated lamb chop - too rare and too subtle
Oyako Don - Chicken and Egg rice
Deep fried juicy chicken
Butter sauteed scallop with soy sauce - It was oh so buttery


Raku's desserts are pretty shit hot too. Mrs G had a super fluffy cheesecake whilst I had a perfect green tea crème brulée; a thin crisp sugar topping gave way to subtly flavoured green tea set cream.

Green tea creme brulee


Fluffy cheesecake


The details: Raku Grill, 5030 W.Spring Mountain Rd #2,Las Vegas, NV 89146
Web: http://www.raku-grill.com

3 comments:

  1. Sooooo pleased you mostly enjoyed Raku! It's a great find, isn't it?

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  2. Thanks so much. It was such a nice change from the hotels on The Strip. We loved it and anyway, it would have been worth it just for the tofu! Hope you're settling in well back in Oz. Sad not to have any more of your London reviews.

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  3. glad you've found some tofu that's better than in malaysia

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