by Miss Terry Diner
In August 2005, the Benihana restaurant moved from its
position on the first floor of the Royal Garden Plaza, and went up in the
world to the second floor, close to Beach Road. In this removal was a total
revamp of the restaurant, and the ambience is certainly much warmer than
before.
The cooking stations are perhaps a little closer
together, the cream and red walls with the copper hoods over the hot plates
all seem to work better together than before. Difficult to pinpoint any one
feature, but Benihana now is very ‘user friendly’ compared to before. There
are also some private rooms for those who have large parties to entertain,
and the Japanese theme is continued through these as well.
The new fold-out menus initially look a little daunting, but are actually
quite simple to navigate, and have sections called Appetizers, Rising Sun,
Traditional Seafood, Meat, Specialties, Ichiban, Vegetarian, Side Orders and
Japanese Green Tea. This is where you can really make this more simple (and
keep an eye on costs) by choosing the Ichiban set menu. For B. 980 (++) you
receive Japanese onion soup, Benihana salad, shrimp appetizer, hibachi
vegetables, a choice of two main dishes from Australian sirloin, calamari,
shrimp, soy-marinated corn-fed chicken, king fish, scallop, salmon,
marinated pork or yellow fin tuna plus steamed rice and hot green tea.
We began our evening, with a Japanese Asahi beer, to get in the mood for
Japanese food, and I have to say, it is certainly a nice drop, reminding me
of the Castlemaine Perkins XXXX pilsener (rumor has it that it was first
brewed by an Irishman who couldn’t spell ‘beer’).
Our
chef, with the unlikely name of “William” (from Srisaket!) arrived and
introduced himself and discussed and took our Ichiban set orders. From there
it was into the ‘theatre’ of Benihana, where William kept us all laughing as
he went through his repertoire. In fact, from time to time it was difficult
to concentrate, we were laughing so much. However, looking at my tasting
notes, the Japanese onion soup came hot to the table and was very enjoyable,
as was the fresh Benihana salad. The repartee continued through the shrimp
appetizer and hibachi vegetables, with William and the chef at the next
cooking station interacting together with their comedy routines. The
children at our table actually sat quietly mesmerized as shrimp tails flew
through the air, eventually ending up in William’s red tocque.
We tried different mains and the Australian sirloin beef was exceptionally
good, flavorsome and very tender and eaten dipped in the mustard sauce. The
large and plump scallops were done in lemon-butter, and certainly went well
with the ginger sauce which was dispensed by William. Finally we were served
with the special fried rice and hot green cleansing tea, and we were more
than satisfied.
I have often stated that food should be ‘fun’ as well as sustenance, and at
Benihana it certainly is Fun with a capital F. The food is also very good,
with the fresh ingredients cooked before you, so Food is the second F. We
went ‘en famille’ and everyone in our family enjoyed the experience, with
special plates for the children, high chairs for the really young ones, and
even clever chopsticks which children could manage, so Family makes the
third F. As an additional bonus, on Saturday evenings children under 12
years of age can eat free from the children’s menu, so Free makes my fourth
F.
By ordering from the Ichiban set, we also found that there was more than
enough food for everyone, and I would even suggest that perhaps three sets
would be more than enough for four adults.
Many people will go to Benihana for special occasions, but it will never
lose its charm as every diner is made to feel ‘special’, no matter what the
occasion. Very highly recommended.
Benihana, Royal Garden Plaza 2nd floor (Beach Road end), telephone 038412
120, fax 038 429 926. Open noon for lunch and going through to 10 p.m.,
seven days. Secure free parking in the Royal Garden Plaza car park, but
remember to get Benihana to stamp your docket.
