If you’re looking for good Japanese sushi and high balls in Chaoyang then you can’t go wrong with Akita Ke Izakaya as honestly it was great.
It was though also horrendously expensive and to me at least indicative of just how plastic Beijing has become. Everything looks like a franchise (as did Akita Ke Izakaya) and the street food is now non existent.
I digress, lets review Akita Ke Izakaya
Table of Contents
What the Akita Ke Izakaya
Akita Ke Izakaya is a Japanese izakaya style restaurant located in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, one of the city’s main expat and embassy zones. It operates in that upper mid to high range dining bracket that dominates this part of the capital, catering mostly to diplomats, corporate types, and long term foreigners.
It is part of the modern Chaoyang dining ecosystem where everything is polished, consistent, and expensive, with “authenticity” more about presentation than anything else. Think curated Japanese dining rather than anything rough or traditional.
It is busy enough to feel established but not really a hidden local spot. It is very much part of the expat restaurant circuit.
The food at Akita Ke Izakaya
Overall it was extremely solid with the boats of sushi being generously sized, the wasabi actually tasting like real wasabi rather than green paste, and the highballs containing a proper amount of whisky. We did not go crazy, but ate and drank a fair bit.
Total bill was over $200 for two people. For context the night before in Mango it was exactly the same total, but that was for a group of five and five hours of drinking rather than a sit down meal.
It is expensive, but that is Chaoyang for you. Nothing here is cheap unless you actively go looking for it.
We did not try the izakaya hot dishes in full depth, but the raw beef and sashimi alone were good enough to justify the stop. Menu is standard izakaya format with sushi, grilled items, skewers, small plates, and whisky highballs.
Sample items and prices
Salmon sashimi platter
128 RMB
Around $18 USD
Tuna nigiri set
168 RMB
Around $23 USD
Wagyu beef carpaccio
198 RMB
Around $27 USD
Chicken skewers
58 RMB
Around $8 USD
Whisky highball
68 to 88 RMB
Around $9 to $12 USD
Where the Akita Ke Izakaya?
Akita Ke Izakaya Chaoyang
Chaoyang District
Beijing
China
Nearest Metro: Liangmaqiao Station
Spiring distance from the North Korean embassy Mango and the Royal Kuntai Hotel.
Click to see my tours in China.