Restaurant review: Akura Dining Bar & Lounge, Port Moresby

Akura Dining & Lounge Bar is certainly cute. It has pride of place at the far end of the Harbourside Precinct (in the venue originally occupied by the Italian restaurant Sogno), perhaps Papua New Guinea’s most stylish lifestyle hangout. The venue on the opposite side, Alibi Bar & Grill (reviewed in our October 2024 edition), is owned by the same group.

Akura is a play on sakura, the Japanese word for the cherry blossom that provides the centrepiece of the venue’s elegant overwater terrace. Offering a wonderful vista of the harbour, it is one of Port Moresby’s go-to spots on Friday and Saturday evenings, when it is open until after midnight.

On weekday lunchtimes, on the other hand, it caters to the corporate crowd from the nearby Harbourside office buildings. It’s therefore no surprise the menu is large and eclectic, including the range of cocktails and wines. Signature dishes include a prawn cocktail bursting with large local prawns and wafu seafood buccatini (pasta), with pizza, steak and noodles also featuring.

Many dishes have some neat touches, without being too experimental, such as the frozen pineapple dessert: fresh pineapple, pineapple sorbet, ice cream and fresh mint.

I opted for the lemongrass rice with chicken, which arrived swiftly in a hearty serve and hit the spot. At PGK50, it also seemed great value considering the location and professional service.

Professional staff and service at Akura Dining Lounge and Bar. Credit: BAI

Where
Harbourside

Phone
+675 7320 7777/ 3207777

Facebook
www.facebook.com/Akuralounge

Open
Thursday to Saturday 11am to 2am;
Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday 11am to 11pm.

Style
Chic social hub.

Price
Mains from PGK50.

Our favourite dish
Lemongrass rice with chicken.

In a phrase
A crowd pleaser.

This article was first published in the August-October 2026 issue of Paradise, the in-flight magazine of Air Niugini.