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| - My first Aki Matsuri that I went to was a couple of years ago when it was held at the chinatown mall on spring mountain road. Back then, they only had a handful of restaurants participating at that event. I was unable to attend last years event due to work, so I was excited to be able to go this year!
Like last year, this event was held at the Rio pavilion. This is probably due to the fact that a LOT more restaurants have been participating in the festival, and there were even places from other cities, such as LA!
It's better to prepay for the tickets at participating locations, as you can save 40% or more off the tickets. That's what I did and so it only cost 6 bucks, and that was good for entrance on both days. Not bad considering trying foods from different cities, and being able to watch special performances all day, if you choose to.
All around the event there were food vendors peddling their goods. Most of them were from local restaurants, and a few from outside of town. Most of the food was pretty average. A few highlights included restaurants that are popular in the area.
I thought Raku killed it. They were doing various yakitori. The beef skirt steak skewer was magnificent! As well as their pork cheek that tasted like grilled pork belly. Sweets Raku had this amazing green tea roll cake with red bean filling, their vanilla orange cream puff was right on the mark. And lastly, Suzuya made their amazing crepes, another highlight.
But not all was fine and/or the dandy, lion. I actually thought the restaurants from out of state really dropped the ball.
First was Gaja restaurant from LA and their okonomiyaki. The pancake was very undercooked, even on the outside edges. It tasted like raw batter, which was gross. I do have to say that their deep fried mini octopus skewer was tasty, even though it was albeit greasy.
And the second vendor who didn't do a really great job was Tanota takoyaki from LA. I thought the sauces were pretty weak, especially their jalapeño one, which didn't have any flavor whatsoever, it was like mayonnaise. I didn't like the takoyaki either. It was soft on the outside, and doughy in the middle. A buddy of mine who is Japanese said that it was pretty authentic to the real thing. But for me personally, I like it when the outside is crunchier and more cooked in the center.
Even though I wasn't impressed with the food, I think the showcasing of various talents that went on throughout the day, was worth the price of admission alone. I don't know anything about JPop, but a lot of talented young people did some singing and dancing to the music. There were also some skits and comedy acts as well.
Next year, I would like to see more vendors from outside of our state. I know what we have here in terms of restaurants, so more variety would be nice. Overall, I had an OK time.
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