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BENIHANA
37 Sackville Street London W1 (Also Swiss Cottage & Chelsea)
Tel: 0171 494 2525
Fat Man rating: 81/100
Let me introduce you to Lee, the spawn of Satan who lives with me. Years ago, when he was ripped from my wife's womb (seen Alien?), I thought my life was finally accomplished. Wrong. It was finally finished! Joking aside, my beautiful, precocious little boy wanted to write a review so, as Benihana is his favourite restaurant, so here it goes, verbatim, I promise:
Benihana is a funny Japanese place. It's not normal because the tables aren't just round and you sit at them with other people. What happens is that one of the staff bring you a cloth to wipe your hands, then they'll take your order for your starters that are normally yakitori, sushi, tempura. Then they take your main course order and a chef will come and cook it on the table because there's this grey surface and he cooks on it. You can have for a main course prawns, lobster, fish, scallops, steak, chicken or calamari all served with a mustard and ginger sauce; included with this are beans, onions, courgettes, extra prawns, soup, salad and rice. The staff do come quickly (lucky them - BS) for your starters but the chef takes quite a long time; my favourite chef is Nino. Desserts you can have are sorbets and ice cream or fruit salad. There are different sorts of drinks; these are beer, wine (red or white), water and cocktails. The prices are very high. It is normal just to go straight to your table but in Benihana you normally have to wait so when you come in you'll find a bar and a few tables so while you are waiting for your table you can just order some drinks and also bring them with you when your table is ready.
Addendum: The style is teppanyaki and, once again, you choose your main course and the soup, salad, beans prawn appetisers, courgettes onions and the rice are included. Service is friendly and efficient and the chefs put on a juggling show at the table. Wine list is balanced and expensive. Great fun for the family but not cheap; expect to pay at least £30 per person for food and another £10+ for booze. Told you my first-born was a precocious little ****, didn't I?
Kids very welcome - if you can afford for them to eat.
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