Akira Back at JW Marriott, Aerocity, has rolled out Japanese dishes by using fresh berries. From vegetarian to non-vegetarian, berries can change the dimension of a dish. By Shrabasti Mallik
When it comes to food there are plenty of ways you can prepare it and you also have the scope of playing around with a lot of different ingredients. But its unlikely that you would consider curating a limited, special menu of dishes with berries as an essential ingredient in the preparation process.
So when we received an invitation from Akira Back, JW Marriott, Aerocity, New Delhi, asking us to try out their “Berries and more” promotion, we were quite intrigued. Yes, we did have some apprehension of how the dishes would be like, especially the few seafood preparation that they had, but believe us, the experience was one of a kind.
To introduce us to the promotional menu, chef Corey Asato, chef de cuisine, brought for us a strawberry salad. It was quite refreshing, in fact, to have a hint of strawberry in the otherwise familiar salad mixed greens, cucumbers, balsamic reduction with an amazu pepper dressing. The unique thing about the fresh greens that we had was that it was grown in a special garden inside the hotel. Ankur Chawla, manager of Akira Back and the JW lounge, told us, “We grow green vegetables like lettuce, inside the hotel and have a small space allotted for that right in front of the restaurant, so it is super fresh.”
After a crunchy vegetarian start, we were served the tuna tataki with berry tosazu. The fine slices of tuna were cooked in the tataki way where the meat is seared very briefly over a hot flame or in a pan so that it is neither too cooked nor raw. Every tuna slice was deliciously garnished with truffled amazu ponzu shaved onion, kizami aioli and renkon (lotus stem) chips. The dish was presented with berry wasabi tosazu (which was quite delicious in itself) with micro pea shoots on the side. “The best way to savour the tuna slices is to roll the entire thing and have it at one go,” Chawla said.
During the course of the meal, we realised that freshly sourced berries, if utilised in the right way can change the entire dynamics of a dish. And the negima with raspberry ginger, that we had next was proof enough. Served in a skewer, the negima or chicken thigh, was nicely grilled with spring onions and topped with raspberry ginger glaze, macha salt and curled negi. Well, the raspberry glaze, contrary to our thoughts, went really well with the tender chicken. It was a rather welcome distraction from the kind of chicken preparation that we usually have.
Chawla explained to us how the meat is cooked. “The meat is first sealed in a pack and kept in water which has been heated up to 60 to 70 degree celsius neither too hot nor cold and allowed to cook that way for a while. Then it is cooked on the grill,” he said and added that they have about 20 different kind of sauces that they serve the meat with. “Sauces make all the difference and can completely change the taste of the meat,” Chawla added.
Not just meat, a considerable part of the menu lists vegetarian dishes, too.
From the main course we had the traditional Japanese hot and cold dish smoked salmon with berry ratatouille and inaniwa udon. It was a rather simple dish with cold inaniwa udon noodles as the base on which was placed, a cured smoked salmon. The dish was garnished with berry ratatouille, pomegranate seeds, micro red amaranth, micro purple kaiware, mixed goma and curled negi. The chef poured lemon grass coconut creme on the noodles. The salmon was fresh, delectable and cooked to the right amount. And it tasted delicious with the thick udon noodles.
We wrapped up a rather unique culinary experience with a maple youghurt pannacotta, topped with blackberries, raspberries, walnut candy and meringue cookies. It was the perfect end to a dinner meal, which will continue till February 27.
Interestingly, Akira Back is named after chef Akira Back, from South Korea, and the JW lounge, who told us how the hotel is the only place in India where chef Back has his signature restaurant in India. The chef visits India about twice a year but the ones at the restaurant have been trained by chef Back personally.
There is still a day to go before this particular promotion ends, and if you believe us, if you do not try out these delicacies, you would be truly be missing something unique.