Simon Wilkinson reviews Akimitsu tempura restaurant

A NEW Japanese restaurant focused on tempura is part of a global network but how does it perform when it comes to the crunch.

Akimitsu in Hindley St. Photo: AAP Image/Dean Martin

CRUNCH! Crunch! Crunch! Along with its bedfellow crisp, this might be the most overused word in writing about food. If you find this repetition tiresome, it might be best to turn away now, for this review is set to be a serial offender. When a restaurant specialises in batter-coated tempura, like newcomer Akimitsu, then the assortment of literary devices at hand becomes seriously limited.

Shitamachi Tendon Akimitsu, to use its full and potentially misleading name, is a curious beast. While its origins can be
traced back more than 120 years to the suburbs north of Tokyo, its spread through much of Asia, and now to a venue in Hindley St, is a case-study in the modern phenomenon of globalisation.

Akimitsu’s tendon (tempura/donburi). Photo: AAP Image/Dean Martin

Owner Desmond Wong might not be Japanese but he clearly has an eye for a new food trend. So after running restaurants around town for nearly 30 years, most recently in Gouger St, he has purchased this country’s first Akimitsu franchise, which came complete with recipe book and a visit from one of the group’s chefs.

As any fish-and-chip aficionado will tell you, making the perfect batter is no walk in the park, and the Japanese tempura casing, at its best, should be an ethereal golden veil under which the core ingredient shines. The secret is in the mixture, of course, as well as the oil temperature, the frying time and a host of other variables, depending what is being fried.

From a perch looking into the open kitchen at Akimitsu, you can watch the black-clad chefs lift and turn each morsel in the bubbling oil using ninja chopstick skills.

The restaurant is a small but neatly finished package, with screened booths down the centre, tables and chairs in pale timber and a vaguely botanical print on the wall. The glazed plates and especially the gracefully curved flask for the soy are wonderfully tactile.

I’ve seen Akimitsu fill up quickly for lunch but there seem to be plenty of staff on hand to explain in a cheery manner the intricacies of this style of food.

Sirloin steak with yuzukoshu at Akimitsu

Which brings us back to the name, and specifically the tendon, which isn’t, as you might fear, the wobbly, gelatinous stuff found at the bottom of some noodle soups. Here it refers to a bowl in which tempura is served on a base of short-grained rice, turning it into a more substantial, if carb-loaded, meal.

The most substantial starter is a sirloin steak, cooked to medium rare rather than the usual seared “tataki” style where it is close to raw in the middle. Still the neat slices of meat have a good outer crust, are tender and pink inside and are given a great wallop of flavour from a small daub of yuzukosho, a green paste with lingering citrus and chilli zip.

The tempura selection offers a trio of fish, prawns, oysters, lobster and vegetables in different combinations, up to the “Akimitsu Deluxe” which has a bit of everything.

In all cases, the batter has … be patient now … more crunch than King Kong and Godzilla smashing up a Smith’s chips factory, with a surface covered in lumps and bumps, potholes, bubbles and frills. The coating is slightly heavier than I expected but the frying is clean, the flavour neutral.

Miso with salmon and soba at Akimitsu

It works brilliantly with an oyster, where the contrast between the snap of the exterior and the burst of salty juices has a confectioner’s magic.

A fillet of kingfish fares better than a thin escalope of salmon. Vegies are good, particularly the capsicum, eggplant and mushroom. A big slab of pumpkin would be a good one to share.

The lobster, however, is a flop, the tail fan protruding at the end the only real clue to its identity, the meat devoid of any flavour, good or bad. While the menu promotes its use of local produce, this, at least, seems to be an exception.

If all that batter sounds too much, head for a comparatively cleansing bowl of miso loaded up with soba noodles, slices of salmon and an egg that has poached to the point that the white barely holds together. It’s soft, slippery and seductive.

Not a single crunch to be found.

AKIMITSU

Shop 2/62-68 Hindley St, city 8410 9620; akimitsu.com.au

OWNER Desmond Wong FOOD Japanese SNACKS/ENTREES $3.50-$12.80 MAINS $14.50-$27.50 DESSERT $8.90

DRINKS Short selection of local and imported beer, sake and wines —

or ask for a pot of green tea.

BYO $10

Open for

LUNCH and DINNER Daily

SCORE 7.5/10