I just realized this is my first teppanyaki coverage in my blog. In other words, teppanyaki is apparently not something I frequent yet quite enjoyed mainly for the watching how the chef skillfully maneuver around the food in addition to the food itself of course. Based on my humble research (thank you wikipedia - apparently there are more details in the Japanese wiki for the same entry for those interested and know Japanese), tappanyaki was introduced around 1945 as a way to cook Westernized food on iron plate. However, this concept was poorly received among local Japanese yet greatly welcomed by foreigners and tourists mainly due to how diners can watch the chefs do their magic in front of them. I do think it is a main part of having teppanyaki, at least to me, but here at Kaiko Teppanyaki, there wasn't much of a show yet you will get a great view overlooking the Victoria Harbour Hong Kong. To be fair though, the chef we had was very friendly, initiated various chit chats and very attentive to our needs, more attentive than the wait staff to be honestly.
One thing to note, most of the items served on this evening were slightly under-seasoned, so for those on a sodium diet, it wil be your lucky day! We ordered the Seafood and Beef Course (US Prime Filet) which started off with some fresh Sashimi, a bit boring but very fresh indeed.
The Cod was slightly under-seasoned and overcooked, not as silky smooth with fish oil as I expected from a typical Cod.
King Prawn was one of the few items that involved some sort of interesting cooking maneuver so I paid extra attention.
Under-seasoned once again but being a fan of prawns, no complaints, there were more than enough sauces there in case you need to spike it up a bit. Firm to the bite and nicely presented.
One of the reasons it took me these long to post this birthday dinner was due to this Salad! What so special about it? It was the fizzy leaf sitting on top! I had it twice in Hong Kong before, one of Japanese and one of French origin but I FORGOT the scientific name for it! Thanks for HK Epicurus' reminder, it goes by the name of "ice
Next was our steak, medium rare please!!!! Watching our steak being prepared made us more hungry to be honest.
It was overcooked but not overly so so that I would complaint.
Fried Vegetables were boring especially without much action on the teppan (iron plate). I know some may argue that it should be the food that matters right? If that is the case for teppanyaki, the food might as well be prepared inside the kitchen to be honest.
Miso Soup = boring ... enough said.
Fried Rice is one of the key items as part of a teppanyaki menu in my opinion. It may seem easy to do but to do it well on a flat iron plate is another story. Rice has to be dry and each individual grain should be on its own without sticking together, much like how a good Chinese fried rice should be. The fried rice being served here was alright, not the best I have tried but decent enough with the right amount of seasoning for a change and it being dry.
Yet another rather boring dish but more cabbages would be nice for the fried noodles.
Dessert was so-called tiramisu, likely brought up from their sister Hooray restaurant downstairs. It was ... hard, the texture was quite hard and took me some effort to spoon it out. definitely a sign of over chilling perhaps? They should really rethink about serving this as desserts, perhaps something more Japanese? Thumbs down!
At the end of the meal something catch my undivided attention. It was the toothpicks they offered. The letter "H" on the package was so familiar and distinctive, it was the H use by Harlan's at The One (again it is strictly different from Gold by Harlan Goldstein which is the only one run by Harlan himself, the rest are now under the operation of JC Group. Why they would use toothpick from Harlan confused me even to this date, save cost? promotional purposes? In any case it just ... weird in my opinion.
Under the JC Group, it has another sister, big sister I suppose, Teppanyaki outlet named Kaika located at The One shopping mall. I do wonder if Kaika would offer a different experience compared with Kaiko. I wonder.
Likes:
- the amazing view overlooking
- king prawns were fresh, firm to the bite as well
- very attentive service by the Chef ...
- Most items seem to be slightly under-seasoned. Perhaps they wanted us to adjust the flavors with the various sauces offered.
- tiramisu - hard, took some effort to spoon it out from the little plastic container
Avg Spending: Above HKD 500 per person
Kaiko Teppanyaki 鐵板燒‧海幸
P502 ,World Trade Centre,
280 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2895 0885
http://www.jcgroup.hk/restaurant.php?name=Kaiko
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1 comment:
Your photos look very attractive! I think it's perhaps a little deceiving but hey I read your review word by word, luckily haha..! I think I must be a year behind writing my Kaika review.
Sessyu and Inagiku with their Japanese chefs and menu design was better and more relevant and up-to-date with Japan teppanyaki trends. We should do that 1 day :D *Just another 20% away haha :p
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