21 Jan The 26 Most Essential Restaurants in St. Louis

To garner some understanding of Akar, located at the end of a residential street flanked by large trees and impressive homes in the central suburb of Clayton, you need to garner some understanding of Bernie Lee. The winsome, cosmopolitan, always finely dressed chef and owner of the small restaurant enjoys little luxuries and fine details. At Akar he serves food firmly rooted in the tradition of Malaysian cuisine, combining flavors, ingredients, and culinary techniques to create dynamic dishes that conservative diners might find incoherent. Don’t miss the soy-braised short rib with sambal demi-glace, Chilean sea bass bathed in a bonito curry shrimp bouillon, and vegan sweet potato gnocchi with Malaysian curry.