Jenny Southan samples four new restaurants in Sin City
CITIZEN'S KITCHEN
It’s always handy to know of a decent 24-hour joint in Las Vegas.
Citizens Kitchen opened in January and is located on the casino floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel. The food isn’t dazzling but if you need to fill up on a Fatty Melt burger with tomato, grilled cheese, caramelised onions and special sauce (US$19), this is a good place to pop into.
Other plates include the all-American TV Turkey Dinner (US$23.50), shrimp cocktail (US$15) and the US$40 “Ultimate Slider Challenge”, whereby you can attempt to devour 24 mini patties in 24 minutes in true Man Versus Food style. There’s also a quirky list of ales, such as the 7.2 per cent Stone Arrogant Bastard (US$17).
Open daily 24 hours. Mandalay Bay hotel, 3,950 Las Vegas Boulevard South; tel +1 702 632 9200; citizenslasvegas.com
NOBU
February saw the opening of Las Vegas’s second Nobu restaurant in the inaugural Nobu hotel, accessed through Caesars Palace.
The establishment is reassuringly refined, with a sit-up sushi bar and golden lighting that illuminates pillowy paper clouds overhead. The Japanese-Peruvian cuisine is exquisitely beautiful, imaginatively delicious and, at times, scandalously decadent (Nobu serves bluefin tuna, for example, which is endangered).
Tantalising highlights include delicate yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno, coriander, yuzu (Japanese citrus) and soy sauce (US$28), and black cod glazed with sweet miso (US$34). You can also order Wagyu beef for US$38 an ounce. Find it hard to choose? Go for the “Omakase” menu of chef’s daily creations (US$175).
Open 5pm-11pm Sun-Thurs, until 12am Fri-Sat. Caesars Palace, 3,570 Las Vegas Boulevard South; tel +1 702 785 6628; noburestaurants.com
LA COMIDA
A favourite new haunt in the up-and-coming Downtown district, this lively Mexican cantina opened just off the main drag in April – look out for the pink neon monkey skeleton sign.
The menu is full of zingy treats such as creamy, chunky guacamole with Pico de Gallo and jalapeno (US$9), and corn-on-the cob with chilli lime butter (US$8). Make sure you try the queso fundido, a ceramic dish of melted Oaxaca cheese, chorizo and roasted Poblano pepper served with tortillas (US$11), and the tender, smoky puerco ahumado – Mesquite pork shoulder with Adovada sauce and plantain chips (U$15).
If you fancy a shot there are 180 types of tequila, not to mention unmissable margaritas.
Open Mon-Thurs 11.30am-late, Fri-Sat 10.30-2am. 100 Sixth Street; tel +1 702 463 9900; lacomidalv.com
HAKKASAN
The women that eat at Hakkasan – and party at the adjacent monster of a nightclub, one of the world’s largest – are unreasonably beautiful.
Open since April, this branch of the fine-dining Chinese chain is dark, and divided into sections by latticework walls that create intimate areas in which to hide. It’s not the most sophisticated of experiences, with pounding music, over-familiar service and cocktails that don’t quite cut it, but this is Vegas after all.
The cuisine is approachable and tasty, with options including platters of springy dim sum filled with scallops, perch or edamame (US$22-28), roasted cod with champagne and Chinese honey (US$42), and stir-fried black pepper rib-eye presented in an edible pink basket (US$37).
If you want to show off, you can also order a “supreme special” such as whole braised Japanese abalone for US$450.
Open Mon-Wed 5pm-11pm, Thurs-Sun until 12am. MGM Grand hotel, 3,799 Las Vegas Boulevard South; tel +1 702 891 7888; hakkasan.com/lasvegas
