NattoKun : I <3 Food

Shibuya @ The MGM Grand Hotel - Las Vegas

A few weeks ago I returned from my first trip ever to Las Vegas. Yes you read that right, I have never been to Vegas until now. So anywho, what were the few things that my friends and I did in Vegas? Eat, shop, gamble, eat and eat more! Oh and lose money. :o( Before going to Vegas I was told to visit Shibuya @ The MGM Grand Hotel and that I would love it. In fact I was told that it's better than Nobu. Not that it matters since I haven't been to either, but I have heard good things about Nobu. So what did we have and what did I think about it? Let's find out.

My friend ordered the Combination Tempura ($20). I might have had one or two pieces of it. I don't remember and I guess that means it wasn't anything outstanding.



Next up was the Toro Tartare accented with Achiote Oil, Beluga Caviar and Gold Leaf ($24). This was pretty good. I couldn't discern any flavor added by the Achiote oil and apparently Achiote is mainly used to add coloring. The salty Beluga caviar and the very rich toro melded perfectly in my mouth.



Kampachi Sashimi with Fresh Yuzu and Black Truffle Oil ($12) was brought to our table next. The crisp and clean flavor of the Kampachi blended well with the tart Yuzu and the very aromatic black truffle oil. I recommend ordering this if you ever visit Shibuya.



Following the delicious Kampachi was the Australian Kobe Beef Tataki ($22). It came garnished with red onions, lemon Tamari soy, tarragon oil and garlic chips. I have never had a bad order of beef tataki anywhere and this place didn't dissapoint. High quality Kobe beef combined with the tart/salty lemon Tamari soy, garlic chips and the herby tarragon oil are a really good combination that takes plain old beef tataki up a notch.



Following all those "fusion" dishes we ordered some sushi. We ordered a bunch of nigiris along with a Niji Roll ($19.50). The Niji roll is made up of crab meat, avocado wrapped in tuna, yellow tail, salmon, fluke, shrimp and eel. I didn't have any of the roll since I usually don't do "rolls". Yea I know that sounds snobby but when it comes to sushi I am. Or so I have been told. :op



The sushi here was good, but nothing great. Prices of the nigiris ranged from $8-11.50. Not that great of a deal when you later read about the really, really good sushi we had a few days after eating at Shibuya.



To finish off our meal we ordered the Warm Chocolate Cake ($10). The chocolate cake is below the rice tuile and the green tea ice cream. In the foreground you have poached lychee. The chocolate cake was good. The green tea ice cream was ok. It wasn't Dave's green tea ice cream which, if anyone from Shibuya is reading this, they should consider using. I didn't know how the lychee fit in to the dish. I couldn't see eating it with the cake since both are really sweet. I dunno.



Even though the sushi wasn't as good as it could have been, my friends and I enjoyed eating at Shibuya. Check it out if you are ever in Vegas. Just make sure you try their more untraditional menu items.

posted by jupiter @ 9:23 PM