An Asian fusion restaurant located at South Coast Plaza and has been featured on Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.” AnQi is a higher-end restaurant that deserves to be reserved for a special occasion. When my friends and I ate here, I heard many good things about the main entrees such the lobster, the filet mignon, and the pork chops, but my other half and I decided to go the tapas route and I’m so glad I did. The tapas menu consist of hot and cold dishes ranging from $8-12 each. Overall, this is one of those dining experience that makes you not want to eat “regular” food again. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but for those of you that cherish your fine dining experiences, you know what I mean.
Salt and pepper calamari with a jalapeno and sundried tomato aioli was something that I ordered that I was most familiar with, yet the aioli was what made it unique in a great way. The calamari was fried, breaded and seasoned well have no complaints about it. However, it is the aioli that takes if from good to great. I love that aside from the sundried tomato, the aioli had jalapeno in it but it was a mild flavor with a small hint of heat that gives it a kick but does not make it overwhelmingly spicy.
This is filet mignon summer rolls rolled with lettuce, rice noodles inside and topped with a creamy wasabi sauce. The filet mignon was raw but quality of the meat was so superb that it practically melts in your mouth. I am normally afraid of wasabi, but this cream sauce again has that wasabi kick and does not make it spicy and adds such a perfect compliment.
Ah, the famous garlic noodles and was featured on the Food Network. The garlic definitely makes its presence known but at the same time is surprisingly light in the sense that it is not overbearing like that aftertaste that stays in your mouth so that everything you eat after that tastes like garlic. It is highly addicting and if I had only one dish to order off the menu, this would be it and is worth visiting AnQi alone.
The wagyu beef carpaccio came in at a very close second place to the garlic noodles for me. It is topped with scallions, and lemony cream sauce and sea salt. I must warn you that my other half thought this was on the saltier side and I can certainly see that, but I absolutely loved it and can usually have fairly salty things with no complaints. Once again, I was just amazed at the quality of meat and how well seasoned it was. Even though my friends missed out when I offered for them to try it, I was ultimately glad they didn’t want to try raw meat because that just meant more for me. I don’t want to encourage rudeness, but if your friends don’t ask to try, don’t offer :)
Triple chocolate peanut butter parfait with carmelized bananas consisted of chocolate genoise, which is similar to sponge cake, chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, and peanut butter nougat. This dessert is very rich and decadent and is great to have a couple bites of, but honestly I thought it was just a tad too rich and found that I had to make more effort than usual to finish this off. Hopefully it was just a bad sweet tooth day, because I find this unusual for me.
I sampled some of my friend’s banana fritters with vanilla ice cream and thought it was so good that I had to order a second dessert so that I wouldn’t eat all of hers. It comes out served from the fryer and I love how the heat from the fryer makes the bananas soft but not mushy and I love how this is served with ice cream. The fritters are great on its own but the ice cream completes this. Surprisingly, I thought the portion was generous, so don’t be selfish on this one and make your friends love you even more and compensate from not sharing your wagyu carpaccio.
Note: pictures were taken with the awesomeness of a camera my other half has.
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