Benihana serves fiery teppanyaki at a good price

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Benihana Singapore #01-41/42/42A/43 Millenia Walk 9 Raffles Boulevard Singapore 039596 Open for lunch and dinner daily: 11:30 am to 3 pm; 6 pm to 10 pm. No reservations. Walk-in only.

WATCHING the flames soar to the ceiling from Benihana’s teppanyaki chef’s table, we can almost imagine the glee the original caveman must have felt, as he roasted the first prehistoric drumstick over the fire he just invented.

Even then, we’re seeing this from the “cheap” seats. That is, the main dining hall of this American chain restaurant which gained fame in the 60s, for turning teppanyaki into a circus act of pyrotechnics and knife-juggling. It’s a dining cliche we would pooh-pooh with the same disdain as Wagamama, TGI Fridays and Planet Hollywood. Yet here we are, sitting with other rejected diners who failed to get a coveted counter seat, sulking as chefs do tricks like lob grilled beef cubes into diners’ mouths a distance away.

For us, it comes after an argument with the hostess over Benihana’s “walk-in only” policy. We’re there at opening time, but she won’t release the empty seats at the teppanyaki counter because they’re for diners who made reservations weeks in advance.

“But you’re walk-in only!” we sputter. Yes, she says politely but firmly. “They walked in to reserve weeks ago.” Ergo, a new meaning for “walk-in reservation”.

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So such is the scenario at Benihana’s Singapore outpost in Millenia Walk – open for just a month and overwhelmed with Fomo – that’s fear of missing out – Singaporeans who’ve filled up the counter seats until we don’t know when. We aren’t allowed to make a future reservation, and apparently, its website only goes live from Sep 8. Until then, you can try your luck or settle for its comprehensive a la carte menu while you wonder why you would even come here in the first place.

Call it curiosity or your inner arsonist, but we soon figured it out – price. Its so-called teppanyaki kaiseki menus are priced from S$68 to S$108, and easily compete with – or even outdo – Japanese eateries in that price range. Yes, it’s like eating in a theme park, but with main menu items such as salads at S$10 and teppanyaki lunch sets for S$25, served in moody, low-light surroundings, you can’t go wrong.

Benihana essentially serves the same food two ways – with or without fire and wise-cracking chefs. Whatever’s in the kaiseki course is also in the a la carte menu and more – cooked in a hidden kitchen and served ready to eat.

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You order via QR code, but the trick is not to tap on everything you want at the same time. The kitchen has no concept of starters and mains, and won’t stop until every single dish appears in front of you like they’re all gathered for a weekly meeting. You’ll be eating salad from one corner of the table, robatayaki from another corner, and your lunch sets in the middle. So, order in stages, in the sequence you want to eat in.

The choice is staggering. Snacks and starters fall in the S$10 to S$20 range and most of the mains stay comfortably under S$30. Thick sesame dressing and sweet sticky tare are the kitchen’s go-to seasonings, but creativity is not the kitchen’s strong suit.

The sesame sauce is the sidekick of Tokyo Salad (S$10) – a mountain of shredded cabbage and soft fried tofu cubes that picks up the creamy, sweet-tangy nuttiness well.

A variation of the sesame sauce also drowns a slab of pan-fried tofu (S$9), but not so much that you can’t enjoy the warm crinkly edges of the tofu and its soft centre, topped with spring onions and seaweed.

We’re less forgiving of the skewers of quail egg and pineapple wedges (S$18), made syrupy sweet and salty by a domineering shoyu-based glaze. The same goes for grilled sweet potato slices, unrecognisable in their cloak of teriyaki sauce.

Benihana isn’t associated with teppanyaki for nothing. A S$25 seafood set has grilled prawns, scallops and squid that are fresh and cooked to just the right texture, with the squid coming out tops with an unexpected supple bite. You also get grilled vegetables on the side, chawanmushi, green salad, garlic fried rice and soup. It’s a lot.

Add another S$5 and you can swap out the seafood for Australian ribeye, grilled medium-rare, sprinkled with crinkly garlic chips and all the fixings. It’s a credible cut of beef – tender and a decent portion that gives your S$30 a good stretch.

The servers are cool and calm under pressure, and proactive. When one even offers to heat up food that’s been sitting unattended for a while, that’s already a win.

Put your cynicism aside, give your wallet a break and let Benihana do its thing. It may not light your fire, but it’ll spark the fun side in you.

Rating: 6.5