Roka Akor announces summer opening

March 31, 2017 | Texas News
The hip Roka Akor restaurant isn’t ready to be more explicit about its opening date — the vague “this summer” is the broad time frame.
But it is ready to get Houston restaurant-goers excited about what’s to come at the Japanese sushi and steak concept going into the lobby of the 2929 Wesleyan luxury apartment high rise.
The 6,500-square-foot space will offer a variety of seating options including a sushi bar, a sleek cocktail bar, booths, outdoor patio and three private dining rooms. The restaurant is known for its hip design, buzzy cocktails, and menu of sushi and robata grill steaks. It has branches in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, and Skokie, Ill. This will be the brand’s first Texas restaurant.
Roka Akor corporate chef Ce Bian and corporate sushi chef Mike Lim will lead the culinary program.
The menu (based on existing Roka Akor restaurants) offers appetizers (amberjack sashimi with yuzu truffle oil, tuna tataki with spicy ponzu, pork and shrimp dumplings, robata grilled pork belly, wagyu beef and kimchi dumplings) and various types of sushi and sashimi (spot prawns with uni and caviar, big eye tuna, yellowtail, freshwater eel, king salmon, salmon belly, fatty tuna, and sea urchin). The kitchen specializes in steaks, too: wagyu filet, wagyu sirloin, A5 wagyu, Prime dry age ribeye, wagyu flat iron. Seafood dishes (salmon teriyaki, yuzu miso marinated black cod, octopus with shishito peppers) and other entrees (lamb chops, chicken teriyaki, wagyu short ribs with kimchi glaze) round out the entrée options.
“We are thrilled to open Roka Akor in Houston and are eager to welcome the community to our restaurant concept which was built on communal, family values,” said Mo Habul, director of operations for JNK Concepts, the restaurant group behind Roka Akor. “We plan to bring an unprecedented dining experience to Houston and look forward to sharing our thoughtful and delicious cuisine with the city.”