Japanese steak house Benihana is a restaurant that I've been wanting to try for a little while and decided to combine this with a trip to Her Majesty's Theatre on Haymarket to see "Phantom of the Opera". I've seen "Phantom of the Opera" before, but the bloke has never seen it so I took him to see it one afternoon. Admittedly, the play is not one of my favourites, but I like the music. We had a small bottle of Prosecco in the theatre before the show began and the show ended in time for dinner.
We walked over to Benihana just off of Piccadilly Street after the play.
We were a little early, so while we waited for them to set up, we had a couple of cocktails. They were a little too strong for me as I am not a fan of strong cocktails.
For those who are not familiar with the Japanese steak house concept, visitors sit around a table with a few other guests, and the table doubles as a large grill. Each table has a chef who prepares and cooks the meal in front of the diners. While the chef cooks, he shows tricks with the knife and other utensils, using fire and flames as a part of the show. This isn't the first Japanese steak house I've been to; they are more common in America.
The dinner started with miso soup, which was delicious, and a salad.
Sushi was also a course, and there were a few different varieties of fish sushi, but I asked for vegetarian sushi.
The bloke wanted to order a sake, a Japanese alcoholic drink made with rice. I am not a fan of the drink as it's too strong, so he drank that himself.
We watched the chef cook using flame. At one point, he made a little mountain using onion and turned the onion slices into a smoking volcano. Very clever.
I had chicken teriyaki.
The bloke had seafood and steak.
The chef used the rice to create some artwork with a heart.
We both had dessert as well. The bloke had ice cream, and I tried the deep-fried banana.
Overall, Benihana was good but it was not nearly the best Japanese steak house I have ever been to. I actually prefer this style of food in America. Would I go again? Yes, but it would not be my first choice of venue not that I have been as it is also expensive.
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