The Dining Out Team was fortunate to be invited to a
‘pre-opening’ for the latest promotion being held at the Benihana
Restaurant in the Royal Garden Plaza. We have previously reviewed the
Benihana and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, with the restaurant living up to
its boast ‘Where every meal is a show’.
However,
this promotion was billed as being something unique, and features guest chef
Toshio Suzuki from the Benihana in Tokyo, who will be in Pattaya only till
the 24th of this month. Chef Suzuki-san is presenting the latest trend
called (Teppan)Yaki Zushi. He is also a licensed sake master and knows more
than one trick or two with the Japanese drink.
The restaurant, for those who have not been there before,
is set up around several hot plate cooking stations, with up to eight diners
at each. If your party is larger than eight, there are adjoining stations to
allow 16 people, with the chefs combining forces. They also have highchairs,
so in many ways this is an ideal family restaurant. There are also two
private rooms that will hold 16 guests.
The
promotion menu is a special, in addition to the normal Benihana one, and has
various sets ranging from the Yakizushi set at B. 820, through to the top of
the line Special set at B. 2,150 (as the restaurant is part of the Marriott
Resort, prices are ++).
Each of the sets has items that are certainly out of the
ordinary. Take roast beef glazed with teriyaki sauce and sprinkled with gold
dust, for example. Or salmon topped with salmon caviar, or foie gras sushi
or Japanese Kobe beef steak roll.
With our sake master, we began with a ‘sake bomb’
which was the first new experience brought to us from Japan. A small tumbler
of sake is placed on two chopsticks over a mug of beer. On the count of
three (works in any language) you smack the table sharply and the sake
tumbler falls straight into the beer and you have a new drink! I recommend
this as a great ice breaker or party starter!
Once we were ready, and had finished congratulating
ourselves at having pulled off the sake bomb, chef Suzuki-san began
preparing the ingredients for our meal. To keep us from getting peckish, the
staff served the Benihana soup (a type of Japanese onion soup and a great
palate cleanser), followed by, in our case, the Julienne salad. This was so
beautifully presented I did not want to disturb it by eating it! However,
one does the unthinkable and we speared our chopsticks into the culinary
work of art.
After this, Suzuki-san was ready and kept up a steady
repartee including tossing the butter container in the air and remarking,
“Butterfly!”
He presented us with all the delicate flavours that
delicate cooking can produce. The foie gras sushi with cooked goose liver
slipped on top and crowned with seaweed sauce was excellent, and was
followed by different sushis (or sashimis, I always get these mixed up)
topped with salmon or scallops or beef or sea eel, each having a different
sauce to go with them, and every one sensational! Then it was the Kobe beef
roll, again so different, followed by the fried rice.
We finished with a grilled mango steak with a green tea
sauce to round out an amazing gourmet evening. Thank you again, Benihana!
Suzuki-san certainly has a great ‘presence’ and runs
his culinary stage with consummate ease. The offerings are wonderful, with
many ingredients not normally found in Pattaya, such as the extremely
expensive Kobe steak for example, with this item specially flown in for the
promotion (July 14-24), so you have a little over one week to try these
delicacies.
Not a cheap night out for the family, but one that you
will boast about for months to come. Very highly recommended. Remember you
have from now till the 24th and you will have to book! But it is worth it!
Benihana, Marriott Resort and Spa, Royal Garden Plaza 1st Floor,
telephone 038 412 120 ext 1395. Open 12 noon until 10 p.m. Parking
underneath shopping plaza.
