Maison Akira - Pasadena, CA

To celebrate my engagement with slave girl, and also gathering with my long time friend, we picked Maison Akira for our weekend happy ending.

Valet parking was available but since we found street parking right by the restaurant, we just parked there. We had a reservation but the restaurant was pretty empty. OK, I got it, having dinner at 8 pm usually means empty house. Lol.

After we looked through the menu, we saw my favorite word... OMAKASE! Naturally, fatty got the 10 courses instead of 4 or 7 courses. Since slave girl was also getting the 10, we chose both on the menu selection and got to try everything that was offered.

The dinner started with warm bread.

Then followed by 2 different amuse: monkfish liver with cucumber (the peppercorn ruined the liver),
and steamed egg with olive oil (fatty approved).

Our courses came out as followed:
1. Hamachi sashimi appetizer with wasabi fish roe and soy jello (mostly amazed by the jello)

2. Grilled duck foie gras on daikon confit in a port wine truffle sauce (fatty approved)

3. Grilled poached Hokkaido scallop and Santa Barbara uni with beet sauce (don't know why the beet sauce was there, uni was good)

4. Maryland soft shell crab tempura (fatty approved)

5. Wagyu raviolis with grilled onion (when wagyu grounded, there was no difference from Macdonald's)

6. Katsuo dashi broth with hama and enoki (menu said shrimp too... There was no shrimp...)

7. Miso Chilean seabass in cedarwood (the things under the fish had way too much acid and totally ruined the fish if consumed together, otherwise excellent)

7. Fish of the day: pan fried Chilean seabass (fatty approved, skin crispy and full of flavor)

Raspberry granita, palate cleanser (fatty approved)

8. US Kobe NY steak (not bad, not great)

8. New Zealand baby lamb ribeye (fatty approved)

9. Ardi Gasna cheese (fatty approved)

9. Coconut milk blanc manger (fatty approved)

10. Grand marnier and chocolate souffle (fatty approved)

The most favorite courses were the soft shell crab and lamb. The crab was crispy fried and seasoned well, I could eat 3 of those easy and still wanting more. The lamb was cooked medium rare, tender and not gamey, very enjoyable.

The least favorite course was the ravioli. The dough was well made but it was a complete waste of wagyu. It was not memorable and the onion didn't do anything for the ravioli.

The service was top notch and our server was very knowledgeable. The restaurant decoration was elegant and good for dates. Definitely something I would go back to again.