Benihana

Benihana - The Japanese Steakhouse

Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort

158 Ferry Avenue, Gold Coast

(07) 5592 9770

It's our five year anniversary and P has always been saying he wants to try teppanyaki so I decided to take him to Benihana - supposedly the best place for teppanyaki at the Gold Coast. It was April 24th, also Easter Sunday, so I wasn't sure if they would have a surcharge, let alone let us use Entertainment Card, but they did and no surcharge so that was lucky =)

I booked a table at 6pm and every time I go with my family we get taken straight in to the tables, but this time they told us to wait at the bar area which was a bit strange but we just took some photos while we waited =)

Got taken to our table, there was already about 4 other tables around us starting their meal already - didn't know so many people eat before 6pm!

An Easter Bunny came around and gave us easter eggs and took photos with little kids - he was kinda ugly so I decided not to take a photo with him =P

We ordered Rocky's Choice (hibachi steak and chicken) and Benihana Fish of the Day (snapper or salmon and king prawns). We chose snapper since we always make salmon at home anyway.  The meal comes with complimentary onion soup, Benihana salad, prawn appetiser and hibachi vegetables and steamed rice. We changed one of our steamed rice to chicken rice for an extra $7.

Onion Soup

I thought the onion soup was alright but P really didn't like it and said the teppanyaki onion in it tasted a bit weird. I think it's meant to be more "superior" compared with miso soup but he said he would have preferred that - oh well!

Benihana Salad

The salad was a little disappointing though, P got a lot of old lettuce leaves =(

The easter eggs that we got from the Easter Bunny - homebrand eggs but it's free so can't complain =P

The teppanyaki cart with all our food and all the pots of sauces and marinades.

The chef was trying to show off by making fire through the onion ring stack - P was impressed but I've seen this multiple times =P

Sauces

These are the sauces to dip our food in, though I prefer things they way they are more =)

Prawn Appetiser and Hibachi Vegetables

The chef didn't have to take the intestines out of the prawns in front of us, unlike the chefs in Japan - it was all done for him already.

Teppanyaki is a show more than anything - so the chef tries to throw a piece of prawn for each of us to catch in our mouths. Before dinner, P said I would fail miserably and it would land on my eye or something ridiculous like that - hmph! P went first - and he failed, wasn't even close :P Then it was my turn, I was concentrating so hard to get it in my mouth but I didn't go back enough and it really did land on my eye! OH... MY... GAWD =_____________________=;;;;; unbelievable!

After the appetizer, he cooked the fried rice. Here he is chopping the egg for the chicken rice - he chopped it all over my plate!

Chicken Rice

Chicken rice was quite tasty - we got 2 moderate sized bowls even though we only ordered one =)

King Prawns and Snapper

The snapper was very tasty and was very fresh and the prawns were very tender, though it was all slightly salty.

Chicken and steak

This was quite disappointing though - it was so very salty! I don't think this chef is very skilled =S Though he did cook our beef rare - just how we wanted it =) but oh so salty!!

Think this is salt?

We were quite full after all that, but since it was our anniversary, P decided to get a dessert - icecream tempura.

Sauce for our teppanyaki icecream - tasted like Maccas caramel and chocolate sauce

Teppanyaki Icecream

This was the highlight of the day! Very tasty! Crunchy on the outside and the vanilla icecream was very yummy! I really wonder how they deep fry this without the icecream melting? I was not a fan of the chocolate sauce though - tasted very much like the fake chocolate sauce at Maccas!

A little bit diappointing overall actually, but I think because it was a public holiday, they had to get all their amateur cooks out as well. Oh well, still an enjoyable experience.

Happy five years P! =)

8/10

C.

xo