BENIHANA 30TH ANNIVERSARY, LONDON

I love Teppan-yaki and all things Japanese, and recently had the pleasure of dining at Benihana in Chelsea, in celebration of the restaurant's 30th anniversary in London, hosted by Benihana CEO Keiko Ono Aoki.
 The first Benihana restaurant was opened in 1964 in New York City, by Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki, the pioneer of “Teppan-yaki” dining, who was the first to commercialise the homestyle Japanese method of cooking on a hot plate. In each restaurant, a private chef is provided to every table, where the meals are served in several courses.

Since opening in Swiss Cottage 30 years ago in 1986 (closed in 2011), Benihana has firmly established their retro appeal, unchanged menus and flamboyant performances for diners in Piccadilly and Chelsea. Both prime locations locations are known to frequently host royalty and celebrities; Princess Diana was known to make regular visits for supper with the young princes to the original Swiss Cottage branch, and Michael Jackson and his entourage once took over the entire King’s Road restaurant on a visit to the Capital (!)

After being given a brief history of the restaurant, followed by the Kagami-wari sake barrel-breaking ceremony, we were seated for dinner in Rocky's Room. 

There were some pretty impressive performances from the World Teppan Champions, and I made sure that I kept my hair a safe distance away from the fire ...
 That evening, we were treated to Rocky’s Choice which is taken from the "Speciality Dinners” section of the menu:
Benihana Onion Soup, Salad with Ginger Dressing, Hibachi Vegetables, Prawn Appetiser & Steamed Rice, Hibachi Steak and Hibachi Chicken.
Plenty of theatrics were thrown in in between to keep us entertained, such as the 'Onion Volcano', 'Dancing Shrimp' and 'I Love You Rice'. 
We finished off with an indulgent chocolate cake - because what's a birthday celebration without cake? 

 

Rocky's Choice £30 offer is available for 30 days from September 1st until 30th - just remember to mention "Benihana 30" to claim this offer.
And if you have kids under 10 who love a bit of art and creativity, why not let them have a go at the Kids Colouring Competition which is running throughout the month of September - the winner can invite up to 20 kids to have a party at Benihana (!)
Now only if I was _ _ years younger ...

Check out their website for more information.  

The Cheekster, signing out x

The meal was complimentary, but views remain my own.
 

SUNDAY BRUNCH AT ROKA ALDWYCH

Everyone loves a bargain, and the four of us were lucky enough to grab the last few vouchers from the TimeOut website just before they sold out.

Located just a few minutes walk from Covent Garden, and just round the corner from The Strand, ROKA Aldwych was the fourth ROKA branch that opened in November 2014. 
The design of the interior is modern and contemporary, with a central open-grill kitchen where you can watch the chefs at work (and the occasional dramatic burst of flames) 

The Roka Aldwych Han Setto Sunday Brunch (available from noon until 8pm) comprised of a welcome bellini, 10 sharing starters, a main, a sharing dessert platter, and of course the two words that bring music to my ears - UNLIMITED WINE. Or in our case, prosecco, because we all love a good glass of bubbly...
And even more so when it involves unlimited top-ups (it does however come to an end just before dessert is served...so it's best to make the most of it during your meal *hint*).

We hung around by the bar until all of us had arrived, before we were seated at our table where the waiter kindly explained the menu to us.

The starters soon started to arrive in the order that they were prepared. The first four were some light vegetarian starters: edamame salad with ginger and soy dressing, selection of vegetable pickles, baby spinach leaves with sesame dressing, and tomato salad with shiso and hijiki dressing. I love edamame as it's so moreish and I find it so easy to lose count of how many I have had (!). According to May, the edamame pods are eaten whole in some Asian communities, which contain fibre and beneficial soyabean oils - we did try to chew on some empty pods, but it would probably need to be steamed a bit more in order to do so...  

Edamame

Otsukemono no moriawase

Horenso no goma ae salada

Tomato no salada

We got rather excited when the sashimi platter was brought to the table - we all clearly love sashimi and decided to indulge a bit more by ordering two more portions after...

Next up was the potato salad with bacon and egg that we weren't quite fans of, followed by the more favourable beef, ginger and sesame dumplings.
There were two different types of maki rolls: raw salmon, avocado and wasabi maki, and crispy prawn and avocado.
The last starter dish was a selection of lightly battered, crispy tempura prawns, beans and sweet potato slices.

Jagaimo to tamago salada

Gyuniku to goma no gyoza

Sake to avocado maki + Ebi furai to avocado maki

Tempura no moriawase

After a satisfying array of starters, we were ready for our mains: we ordered the glazed baby back ribs, sea bream fillet teriyaki with sansho salt, and double portions of the beef sirloin with chilli and spring onion. We once again shared all the different mains amongst ourselves - because sharing is caring. The baby back ribs was really tender with a delicious sweet marinade - best eaten with fingers, obviously. The sea bream, although it looks slightly burnt in the photo, had a pleasant texture and nice flavours from the teriyaki. We requested for one medium rare and one rare for the beef sirloin dishes - I generally have mine medium rare, but I actually favoured the rare one more this time as it wasn't too bloody as I thought it would be, and had a much softer texture.

And finally it was time for the much anticipated ROKA dessert platter, and what a scrumptious sight it was indeed. Indulgent mouthfuls of chocolate truffles; peanut, vanilla and chocolate sundae wih sesame poki sticks; cotton soft cheesecake with cream cheese ice cream and robata grilled pear (the pear unfortunately slightly overburnt with an unpleasant bitter taste...), a selection of seasonal and exotic fruit, and more little balls of  sorbet and matcha ice cream. Our favourite was undoubtedly the smiling happy Buddha, that we left til the end...before we slolwy devoured him in a couple of mouthfuls each - pure bliss.
This is definitely one of the better dessert platters that I have had so far - an impressive presentation with a good selection.

The lovely May

This was actually the first time meeting May, Ellie and Em in person after months of 'following' each other on social media. But with technology and mutiple social media platforms these days, you sort of 'know' someone even before you've even met them in real life - and if there's one thing that brings people together, it's food. And plenty of  other common interests as well, of course.

A beautiful venue, with great atmosphere, food and company - the perfect way to spend a Sunday.

Looking forward to seeing you all again.

The Cheekster, signing out x

"IZAKAYA BANGCOCK", KOYA

For all fellow lovers of Koya out there, I'm sure you have been equally saddened by the news of Koya closing at the end of May and the return of the talented Chef Junya to his homeland in Japan. 

I was however excited to hear about the Thai Special Blackboard Takeover by @theskinnybib - "Izakaya bangcock" using a combination of Japanese techniques, fresh British and European produce and banging Thai inspired flavours.

We arrived just before noon, unaware that the opening time was pushed back to 12.30pm - good thing we arrived early though and stayed at the front as the queue was unsurprisingly building up as the time passed by...

 There were of course plenty of tables to seat almost everyone in the queue, but I already knew where I was going to head towards.

It has been a while since the last time when I was at my 'regular spot' at The BackBench - the last one was held in March, the 12th and last Backbench event. I was clearly sad when it ended, but glad that I was able to enjoy all but one of them - I was pretty chuffed with my record!

The kitchen was buzzing as usual, Perm looking rather focused at the front (and I'm sure very excited inside!) as his Blackboard Specials would be served to the first round of customers of the day.

| Brown Trout "Nare-Sushi" with Kaffir Lime Dressing |

The trout had a really smooth and melt-in-your-mouth soft texture. It was soaked in fermented rice which had a slight sweet and tangy flavour. I really enjoyed this with the combination of the heat from the chilli and the aroma of the kaffir dressing.

| Tempura of Young & Wild Spring Leaves with Chilli & Peanut Salt |

Tim who was sat next to us kindly let us have a little taste of his tempura dish. I have always loved the unique tempura dishes served at Koya, using freshly foraged ingredients and deep fried in that light and crisp batter. A really more-ish kind of dish that I could snack on all day.

| Koya Style "Som Tam" Salad with Pickled Blue Velvet Crab |

Som tam salad is one of my favourite Thai dishes, and this version had English asparagus, rhubarb and kohlrabi - the use of rhubarb gave it a bit more of a sharper taste. Quite a refreshing dish, although I personally would have liked it to have a bit more of a spicy kick to it - I blame my Asian taste buds.

| Herbal & Udon Stuffed Chicken Wing Gyoza |

 I really enjoyed this dish which was one of my favourites - deliciously well marinated chicken wings stuffed with herbs and udon. I have had a similar version stuffed with rice before back in Asia, and this tasted just as good, or even better. The stuffing was sealed really well in the wings and each mouthful was a burst of aromatic flavours.

| Thai Style Nettle Omelet in Dashi |

Another sneaky taste of Tim's dish that we did not order! Fried in hot oil resulting in a perfectly browned and fluffy omelette, and soaked in Koya's deliciously clean and comforting signature dashi.

Such a simple dish yet highly addictive and I wished that I had ordered one for myself! 
I believe that it was a favourite from the Blackboard Specials for many other diners.

| "English Jungle" Curry with Wild Rabbit, Burdock, Dandelion & Thistle |

 I do enjoy a good and rich curry, but I also like jungle curries, also known as kaeng pa, a variety of Thai curry originating from northern Thailand. It does not coconut milk and is more watery with a nice level of spiciness to it. The rabbit was tender and overall a really fragrant dish.

| Northern Thai "Hung Lay" Kakuni | 

Regular customers at Koya will most definitely have tried the much loved Buta Kakuni (braised pork belly with cider). This dish had a Northern Thai inspired twist to it, a rich yellow curry based pork belly, packed with fragrant herbs and spices. The pork was, as expected, amazingly soft and tender, paired with sweet pickled new season garlic.

| Junya's Seafood "Tom Yum" Udon |

After wiping clean all of the other small dishes, it was time for the finale - Junya's Seafood "Tom Yum" Udon! An udon dish like no other, brimming with a variety of fresh seafood, tomatoes and combined with my all-time favourite tom yum flavours.  
We did the sensible thing and ordered a bowl each, because a hearty bowl of udon was never meant to be shared...

The ultimate comfort food.

Our bellies were full to the brim with satisfaction by the time we slurped every single last drop of that udon dish. A really unique collaboration and overall great food experience.

Kudos to both Chef Junya and Perm for all their hard work!

I am definitely going to miss this place a lot when it closes, but at the same time excited to hear about the news that the more relaxed Koya Bar, headed by Chef Shuko Oda, will soon be expanding.

I will hopefully be making a few more trips back to Koya and savour each meal before it closes.

Thank you Chef Junya for all the good food and amazing BackBench experiences over the last year. I am sure that I like many others look forward to your return to the London scene soon!

The Cheekster, signing out x