It is refreshing to find really good restaurants outside The Strip of Las Vegas as well. Most great restaurants belong to a handful of huge hotel casinos. Way off the Strip in the China town part of Las Vegas you will find the Japanese cuisine gem Aburiya Raku with a Chef Patron who has chosen a completely different path compared to what you are used to find in Vegas.

Aburiya Raku means “charcoal grill house enjoyment” and explains well the emphasis on how the main feature of the cuisine is made. Chef Patron Mitsuo Endo has specialized in grilling all you can think of at his grill. The Chef is using red oak charcoal imported from Japan called binchotan which can burn at a higher temperature and contains less moisture compared to other charcoal. In addition, none of the food you will have will be burnt and more, you will experience richer flavours thanks to the binchotan. It also results in a more crisp finish of whatever the Chef decides to put on his grill by using this technique. Endo’s vegetables are really delicious, but our favourite is all his seafood despite the fact that his restaurant is located in the middle of a desert in Nevada.

There is no environmental friendly fish flown in to the restaurant since it is coming all the way from the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Japan, but you will have some of the most delicious seafood available. The Kobe beef is coming from Oregon, the Kurobuta pork from Iowa and the free-ranged organic chicken comes from California so a majority of the ingredients are from the United States. And you can forget about Aburiya Raku as just another sushi restaurant or having any sushi what so ever for that sake. You can order in some great sashimi and even kaiseki, but the number one reason for a visit to Aburiya Raku has to be all the delicacies from the robata grill.

All offered at a good value for money so indulge yourself in Chef Endo’s grilling and order in plenty of items like apple marinated lamb chop, duck with balsamic soy sauce, asparagus wrapped with bacon, Tsukune-grilled ground chicken or foie gras with glazed soy-base sauce to just mention some of the many small dishes you can select.

Aburiya Raku is located at West Spring Mountain Road where most people from outside Las Vegas never will come to, which is a shame considering the fact that one of the city’s best restaurants is located there.

Written by Andy