March Birchbox

ROTM: Sweets Raku

5040 W Spring Mountain Rd
Ste 3

Las Vegas, NV 89146 Chinatown

 (702) 290-7181     

 

After our dinner adventure we headed over to Sweets Raku for desserts. If you are not a dessert fan you will still appreciate the experience. They make Japanese style dessert which is not overly sweet and very mild flavor. But the presentation is very beautiful, and you get to watch the making of your dessert in front of you. The restaurant is mostly bar seating, there were only couple tables in there aside from the bar. Total seats probably only about 15 people and I think they do not take reservations so you might have to wait a little while if it's a busy weekend.

 

Kaelan and I ordered the 3 course prefix menu for $19.

 



The kitchen and the sitting area.

 

 

 

 

You are first presented with this.

 

 

After you roll it out, it's an edible menu and the waitress comes by to give you the raspberry dipping sauce.



We think it's made from a type of rice paper. The menu itself has no flavor whatsoever but that's why they give you the sauce.

 

We sat right in front of the bar, you get the perfect view of everything going on in the kitchen.

First course - amuse, mango sorbet with mint gelée.

Baton - chocolate and Pistachio Mousse.

Mt. Fuji - chestnut cream cake.

 

Red Rock - raspberry fondant with pistachio and vanilla ice cream.

how cute is this grinder?

This is Angel Cream - with Fromage Pear. Someone else's order that we quickly took a picture of.

Our chef preparing our last course, cream puff.

Cream puff with chocolate mousse and strawberry jam.

Cute Lego coaster!

Yes, this is their bathroom sink. Took me a while to figure out how to use it.

How cute is this!?

ROTM: Abriya Raku

• • 5030 Spring Mountain Rd
    Las Vegas, NV 89146
    Chinatown
  • Phone number(702) 367-3511
  • www.raku-grill.com

  
  

  
  

  This is one of the highest rated traditional Japanese Charcoal Grill restaurants in Las Vegas that's been around since 2008.  This restaurant is very hard to get in, you absolutely need a reservation and in advance. We've been trying to get a reservation for months now, every time we call couple days beforehand, they can only get us in at 11:30 pm or midnight. This is a nice and intimate restaurant that we cannot bring Zoey to, so we finally had a chance to plan out a dinner celebrating Kaelan's birthday and made the reservation 2 weeks in advance for 6 pm.

  
  

  

  
  

  Kaelan and Val both went for the 
  

  
  

  $100 

  
  

  Omakase menu, it's a prefix menu roughly of 9 courses. The server asked us if we had any food allergies and anything that you don't want to eat beforehand so the chef and prepare your menu.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  I opted to order off the regular menu so we can try a bunch of different items.

  
  

  

  
  

  They also have a daily special menu that had fresh seasonal imported ingredients like blue fin tuna and several fresh fish. We ordered the Waygu Beef Sukiyaki and Opal Eye 2 ways off the board, and they built it into the Omakase menu, which was very nice so you don't have to pay extra for those special items.

   
• Special Menu for the night:
•  
• 

  
   

  Here is what's on the Omakase menu:

  
  

  

  # 1 Fresh oysters with caviar.

  
  

  

   #2 Baby squid salad.

  
  

  

  
  

  close up of baby squid. 

  

  
  

  

  #3 Opal Eye two ways - first option sashimi style. Beautiful presentation!

  
  

  

  #4 Grilled Tomatoes ($2).

  
  

  

  #5 Fried Shrimp Balls with Okra.

  
  

  

  #6 Opal Eye two ways - 2nd option, grilled.

  
  

  

  #7 Sauteed Scallop in butter and soy. Buttery and Delicious, cooked to perfection!

  
  

  

  #8 Kobe Skirt Steak with Garlic ($7.50).

  
  

  

  #9 Grade A5 Waygu Beef Sukiyaki. ($45)

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

  Yummy perfection, cooked table side.

  
  

  

  #10 Foie Gras Rice Bowl ($18)

  
  

  The last course, dessert, which I forgot to take a picture of, was a fresh strawberry sorbet, which was delicious also!

  
  

  Here is what I ordered off the menu:

  
  

  

  Duck with Balsamic Soy Sauce ($4.50).

  
  

  

  Enoki Mushroom Wrapped with Bacon ($3).

  
  

  

  Kobe Beef Liver ($4.50).

  
  

  

  Pork Intestine ($2.50).

  
  

  They make their own tofu here, it's so smooth and silky. They instructed us to try it two ways, first is using their special seasoning salt, Green Tea Salt.  And second way is to try it with the toppings of bonito flakes, chives, ginger and their homemade special blend of soy sauce. This was very good, the soy sauce definitely enhances the flavor.

  

  Raku's Tofu - Whole ($5.50).

  
  

  

  Special Raku seasonings. (L to R) Green Tea Salt, Tokyo Chili Powder, Sake Peppers, Japanese Plum Soy Sauce.

  I had ordered a Apple Marinated Lamp Chop ($6) which I devour it down before I realized to take a photo of. It was grilled and seasoned perfectly, even Kaelan gave it a thumbs up for someone who doesn't eat lamb.

  
  

  Overall - this was expensive as you can see but it's definitely worth the price! So if you are a foodie, and adventurous when it comes to food, this is a must try splurge for you. They also had a huge selection of Sake, pages among pages. We ordered a bottle to share at the table so our total came to  $300 before tip. I would totally go back again and again and try all the other items on the menu. Every plate was beautifully presented and with such caress. Service is attentive and excellent. I can see why this place is so highly rated, it deserves every star on the 5 star scale!
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Raku also have a dessert restaurant called Sweets Raku, located couple doors down, we went over after our delicious meal, which I will post about in my next blog.