Eat Out - Teppansan (Japanese)

Day 215

Teppansan is right next to the Asian Grocer that we always frequent but it looks kinda dodgy and unappealing. I have been searching for Indian/Korean/Japanese food lately as I am rather sick of having Chinese food, except dumplings of course. By the way, we saw that "Petaling Street" is opening a branch in the city and I am really excited. This was the place where Mr Tan had "si-ham" in his laksa and I had the most delicious Thai-style fish. Yum yum. Anyway, Teppansan has received many raves for its cheap lunches and okonomiyaki. I love okonomiyaki, especially when it is topped with lots of okonomiyaki sauce, katsuobushi and mayonnaise. (yes, it's all about the mayo)

They do serve very cheap set lunches, $7.50 for a main and miso soup. I had the seafood okonomiyaki which is one of the mains in the set lunch menu while Mr Tan ordered Chicken Katsu. Service was prompt with menus and complimentary miso soup brought our tables once we settled down. When I heard the staff batter continuously in Cantonese and Mandarin, it sounded the first alarm.

When my seafood okonomiyaki was served, the second alarm went off. It looked nothing like okonomiyaki! In Japan, most okonomiyaki restaurants are grill-it yourself establishments. You get a bowl of batter and ingredients where you mix and grill it at your table using hot plates. I wasn't expecting to do it myself but I was expecting the batter and ingredients to be mixed together. In Teppansan's case, the ingredients were wrapped in the pancake. The ingredients and batter were cooked separately. The ingredients (mussles, clams, 2 miserable "hae-be" and octopus pieces) were fried with lots of onions and HEAPS of garlic (I hate garlic). The only positive thing was that they were generous with the sauces.

Mr Tan's Chicken Katsu ($10) was worse. He complained that the chicken was so tough that he couldn't bite through it and he has really strong teeth, The chicken must have been fried over and over again. It was really disappointing and I definitely won't be going back.