Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Finally, odourless teppanyaki!

I've been meaning to write a review of this relatively new teppanyaki restaurant in Suntec that we discovered one Sunday after church but I did not have my camera on me on my first visit, and we've not been back for a second visit until now. We've been meaning to return since our good first experience and I was initially slightly apprehensive as the standard of food in newly-opened restaurants seems to either deteriorate after the initial spark or have teething problems at the beginning and get gradually better. Thankfully, Hosoi Teppan-Yaki House has managed to maintain standards and pleased all 4 rather nit-picky eaters.

The concept behind Hosoi Teppan-Yaki House seems to be Japanese-style French food and the big draw of the place is the fact that you don't emerge smelling like a combination of teppanyaki meat and vegetables. The secret is in the fact that their extractor fans are not high above the iron griddle but at the end of the griddle (on the edge of the cooking surface, just in front of where the chef stands and cooks) so the food smells don't travel further than the cooking area, or even towards you!

As we were out for an early celebration of my brother's birthday, it was no holds barred when it came down to ordering. The restaurant was having a promotion on their French-style lobster so we each had one in addition to our set meals. The place offers set 5-course meals from $35++ and currently has a $9.90++ value set which comprises of teppanyaki meat, beansprouts and vegetables, served with a bowl of rice and miso soup.

We each picked some cut of steak for our main course (sirloin, tenderloin, ribeye) hence we were split down the middle with 2 of us having the $45++ and 2 the $55++ sets. For the first course, we were served seared scallops served with grilled mushroom and asparagus spears. The scallops were delightful and the accompanying sauce, which we made out to have wholegrain mustard and miso went very well with the dish.
Our second course was corn soup, served with garlic bread. The garlic bread came pipping hot and they were very generous with the garlic butter. My mom does not like creamy soups much and she really enjoyed the fact that the corn soup was not too heavy and the bits of corn were nice and crunchy.
As we ordered an extra lobster each (promotional price of $18++), the restaurant chose to cook up our lobster at this point so that the following salad would cleanse the palate before we had our steaks. The lobster was coated in flour and grilled with a generous helping of butter and olive oil (not to forget sake) and a slice of cheese added towards the end which gently melted over the flesh. Other than the fact that the chef left the lobster on the grill for a few minutes too long, the big sections of lobster meat were delicious (the smaller bits in the pincer were sadly a bit tough). Again the seafood was served with the mustard-miso sauce which I enjoyed so much I nearly forgot about the side dips of mustard and finely chopped onions in a sweet soy-based sauce.
The salad served after was very refreshing although the dressing was a bit odd - it tasted rather fruity and was not too bad but I would have preferred a lighter dressing, especially because it did not seem to complement the raisins in the salad.
My sirloin steak was beautifully done - not too bloody but not too well-done that it was dry and tough. I loved the peppery sauce that accompanied the meat. All of us pretty much ate in silence at this point.
The dessert was elegantly put together and the idea of having fruit AND something sweet (the creme caramel) was great because you get that nice sugary ending to your meal and yet are not overpowered by a heavy dessert because of the fresh fruit. We were slightly undecided as to whether the creme caramel had some kind of toffee in it or whether the chef had just burnt the caramel slightly as there was a bit of a bitter after-taste. Maybe it was cooked at slightly too high a heat as the texture was not as smooth as it could have been.
It was a lovely meal and a great place to sit around and have a casual yet sophisticated lunch. And the fact that you won't smell is a major plus point!

Hosoi Teppan-Yaki House is located in the basement of Suntec City, around the big fountain, near Soup Restaurant.

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