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2011-05-03
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Met up with K and G for lunch. First time lunching with K, G's friend. We sat at the teppanyaki bar overlooking...Kowloon. I couldn't really see the buildings below, I just knew the view was great - no obstructions (yet). According to G, upon her request, the restaurant had invited the Japanese chef to come back and prepare the meal for us. Cool - didn't know you could make such a request, especially when we're only small potatoes. Not sure it makes a huge difference from the lay consumer's poin
Environment:
Dimmed, mysterious entrance. Not grand at all, but dark. It led straight to the sashimi bar, which we walked straight past, to the teppanyaki bar. You could choose to sit at the bar, watching the chef's equipment clattering away on the hot plate; or, alternatively, you could sit yourself at the normal tables and the waiters would bring your food to you as it's made. Prefer the former.
Service:
Nothing special. One the of waiters was rather cocky, but not offensive.
Food:
We chose lunch sets priced around $200. Could've put photos of the menu up but I've depleted my photo quota for this entry already.
Appetizer:Vegetable julienne - carrot, cucumber? beans and corn in black sesame dressing
Served cold. Self-explanatory. Chilled green salad, cute miso cloud
Absolutely fascinating!
The average chilled green salad. Light sesame vinagrette dressing. Moist. Teppanyaki eel
Surprisingly good, and different. It's not the type of eel you always get with cheap bento boxes. Those are slimy, very thin, with very thick skin. This one was very meaty, fresh (not fishy), and firm. Not rubbery like some grilled eels I've had, if you get what I mean. I used to love eel when I was very young, but ever since I learned what it really was - as in, saw a live eel slithering about in the aquarium - I grew apprehensive, and stopped eating it altogether for many years. The notion of eating something snakey, like eel, was unnerving. (I don't eat snake either, for that matter, or sea cucumber.) It was seasoned perfectly, juicy, not too salty. Perfect when paired with rice. Teppanyaki chicken
Lovely. The chicken itself was very tender, didn't have the frozen chicken staleness, juicy, slightly charred on top (skin crisp and delicious). Though I had some suspicions that the middle of the chicken wasn't cooked through. Slightly pinkish in the middle. But I couldn't care less. Sauce: perfectly seasoned, not too salty, can be eaten on its own without rice. (I think that's how you're supposed to eat it because the fried rice isn't served until later.Japanese fried rice
I'm a huge fan of carbs, but this isn't what I fancy. Throughout the cooking process we thought the rice would have a lot of flavour and would be quite savoury because the chef kept adding some kind of soy seasoning. Probably soy sauce - very bland? Because the fried rice was not flavorful and was much drier than I would've preferred. Basically a very bland, uninteresting fried rice, plump dry grains. I didn't like it much. A matter of personal taste. I like pearl rice served moist. The 3 items shown below were ordered by G.
- and all seafood. Hence, no comment. Cooked veg - bean sprouts, carrot, cabbage
Although I love vegetables, I'm more a fan of greens that are actually green in color, and also substantial ones with lower water content. I do not, therefore, like bean sprouts. I am not, therefore, a big fan on this particular dish. Bland, watery and more peppery than I would have preferred. But it's just me. I'm sure the average unbiased diner would be accepting of this dish. Chestnut mousse cake
Not a big fan of chestnut. Not a fan of mousse either. But as a dessert to finish a meal this one was acceptable. I finished the whole thing. The chestnut puree wasn't too sweet and was quite fine, as in, smooth. It was a light cake. Again, there's nothing special about this cake - it's just a mediocre dessert. Conclusion:
I can entertain the thought of a nice treat at this place occasionally, but only oh-so-occasionally because it's quite far from home, and it's not THAT impressive. But the view is pretty nice by day, I'm sure it's even nicer by night. Best teppanyaki you will find at 花盃(CWB).
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