I rarely go to teppanyaki. Normally I do it upon a request of a young vis-à-vis of mine; because it’s not about food, it’s just about fun.

We choose a fucking awesome view, location, delicacies, and cook on a griddle with fountains of fire and some stunning overthrows/overturns, almost with clowns: it’s great as a romantic adventure, but not as a dinner.

Though in here “everything is different”™. And that’s already a custom in our type of places.

This is an “adult teppanyaki” place: a blind basement, no windows, and a counter for about 8 people maximum. It’s usually overbooked. Zero view. You can remove foie gras from the set and replace it by a complicated soup (though we kept it). They don’t push you A5 beef for crazy money and you can easily stick to A4.

We had a seasonal set for 15 000 Yen (~ $135), which I should immediately say, was more than enough, and the Japanese merlot (!). To the honor of the establishment, besides the expensive French watery vagabond wine, the menu has also my new love – Slovenia and, for instance, lots from the New World.

Okay, here we go!

Snacks immediately tune you in: a thin slice of beef with some kind of herb sauce, fish, lobster. The rich variety of stuff on the side looks strikingly unusual for teppaniyaki – there’re sauces/additives, slices of root crops – and this is nice.

Further on everything is simple and tasty.

No throwing in the air and juggling with produce, no pyrotechnics and demonstrations of meat/lobster as they used to do it with a bottle of champagne in the 2000s, bringing it through the hall with Bengal lights. Only once did the chef light cognac on beef for a split of second and that was it – quiet, almost invisible cooking.

The foie gras was a nice surprise: instead of bread it came on a sort of latka made with either sweet potato or just the regular one. It perfectly equalized the taste, absorbing the extra “oil” in the liver and highlighting the hues.

The lobster was excellent. It was with drops of various sauces and shavings of fresh vegetables.

Also there were noodles in an absolutely great broth.

And a nano-dessert: grapes in jelly and chestnut ice cream.

Perhaps the most faded item was the marbled beef sushi with urchins. But I guess it’s because I prefer to have it in the “holes in the wall” at Ginza where it’s fat like my mom’s dumplings, and uni is flowing down from it along your lips.

Overall, it’s a great place!

Do enjoy.