First impression: pleasant ambience, lighting and decor.
Looking for a quiet corner table? Nope , be prepared for a kinda communal dining, while about 8 people sit around the Teppanyaki ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teppanyaki) with the Chef Centerstage. Be prepared for a performance that includes food. Clickety clack, flames, food histrionics while salt and pepper tins do a small jig on the steel surface of the stove. And disappear into the magician, oops, Chef's hat. As does the egg, which whizzes like a top and then disappears into the , you guessed it, the Chefs headgear! Who needs cupboards when one has a chef cap....
The communal dining style around the chef caught us off guard but it was fun, as we bumped into friends , who being on Course 3 , could tell us what to go for! And made for some fun conversation after. The tiny paper napkin trick is something to watch out for, so do! By the way, this is place that attacks you on all senses, so be prepared.
We ordered the set menu . Yes we are boring like that. But being a brand new place with mixed reviews on my Foodies in Blr Facebook group, my spouse and I were playing safe. A salad, soup, starter, two entrees , fried rice and dessert. Should have also tried the sushi and the ala carte, Melissa.
I ordered the seafood set menu at 990 and the SO (Significant Other) had the Meat Set Menu at 890. All expectant, with service of tea, and wafting aromas. So there comes the salad. Mine is a crisp lettuce salad with crabmeat and some crackling tempura on top in a lemony dressing . Spouse gets the creamy thousand island-y salmon salad. Didnt taste Japanese but it was nice.
The tempura tiger prawns with the tangy sweet soya dipping sauce was wonderful. The Miso soup as the next course was highly avoidable and I traded it for a clear soup, which was very tame and I passed on that. Then came the stand up chef working his magic with the main course. Basa fish cooked with garlic butter sauce and prawns (as they didn't have Red snapper) in oyster sauce. Slid straight onto the plate from the Teppanyaki .Very succulent . Nice.
Theres something interesting about a truly live counter, where the Chef is so clearly the Hero of the piece. Ours was a shy , inarticulate but lovely chap. A whole lot of knife clacking and egg breaking later , ( complete with heart shapes and arrows) we saw some fried rice emerge. A little overdone but tasted good. I wish it was available along with the previous course of fish and prawn , though.
The chef wished us a courteous farewell, put aside his weaponry, moved on from the table to cast his spell next door, and we were invited to move to the dessert section. Yes, you actually move to another restaurant section for the sweet course. We could choose 5 desserts and they were lovely. Hazelnut mousse, mango panacotta, crime brûlée, a honey fig sticky cake concoction, and some almond pista cake. All tiny , in their own containers, and beautifully presented.
The meal came upto about Rs 2500 and had a 5% service charge built in, so we added a little more on the tip. Service was good. The staff are warm , very helpful and answer most questions with ease. Teppan has a capacity of only 40 covers but I think the communal dining style will take some time to catch on. We called to make reservations, and the staff were very helpful. It's only been open a week, but I could see about 25 people there. Some Japanese diners too. No waiting people, although it was a Saturday night.
I don't know how authentic it is as a Japanese restaurant , but as an experience, definitely of interest. Stand Up has new avtar.
A good evening!
allhail
