Birthday feast | The no-menu teppanyaki I finally managed to book,隱覓鉄板燒
I had been trying to book for weeks with no luck, and this time I finally got a seat the day before my birthday! Seriously, so LUCKY, though I suppose that makes sense because I am a LUCKY Girl. For something as important as a birthday, you apparently need a little luck on your side.
The seating is fairly tight and the next table is quite close, so you do not really have to eavesdrop—the conversation simply arrives in your ears on its own. That is probably pretty common at teppanyaki restaurants, though. If you want romance and atmosphere, you may need to book the whole place or reserve a private room. Today I heard people in the private room singing Happy Birthday, and for a second I almost thought they were celebrating me. Good thing I did not stand up and wave.
Set prices
This place specializes in no-menu dining, but there are still two price options to choose from: 🥩 $1,380 | Standard beef、🥩 $1,680 | Upgrade to wagyuWe happened to order one of each. The restaurant also accepts cash only and adds a 10% service charge, so check your wallet before dinner. Otherwise, before your birthday is even over, you may have to ask your family to come bail you out at the police station.
Before the meal officially starts, the chef shows you the day’s ingredients. The abalone was still alive and actually moving; I think the chef said it was live South African abalone. I liked this approach because you get a preview of what you are about to eat.
Working our way through the starters
The first course was a salmon cracker tower, followed by Creamy Shrimp Soup. The ingredients go into the bowl first, and then the server pours in the broth. There was also a soft baguette with truffle butter, which felt very teppanyaki. By the way, the Chinese word for “served with” is kind of magical: bread with butter sounds ordinary, but write it on a restaurant menu as “soft baguette served with truffle butter” and suddenly it has dressed up for dinner.
Salmon cracker tower
Creamy Shrimp Soup
The ingredients go into the bowl first, then the server comes over and pours in the broth.
Soft baguette with truffle butter
Next came pan-seared chicken thigh with tomato, paired with tomato, pineapple, and a leafy thing that tasted a little like grass; crab-claw steamed egg soup, pan-seared threadfin, South African Live Abalone with Baby Cabbage, and pan-seared Hiroshima oyster with white sauce. None of the dishes looked huge on its own, but one after another, my stomach capacity was quietly shrinking.
Pan-seared chicken thigh with tomato
Pan-seared threadfin
South African Live Abalone with Baby Cabbage
Pan-seared Hiroshima oyster with white sauce
Duck-breast risotto was another course. The chef asked whether we wanted a larger rice portion, and both of us knew ourselves well enough to say no immediately. We had already eaten through a whole round of dishes; making it bigger might have turned dinner into an eating contest.
There was also a lemon sour in the middle, which gave me the dangerous illusion of, “I think I can keep eating.” Dangerous, because the beef had not even arrived yet.
Finally, the beef
The chef first asks how done you want the beef and recommends 3～5 doneness. My husband asked for 7～8 or fully cooked, then declared that 3 is bloody and uncivilized, while well-done is more civilized.
Fine. Everyone has their own philosophy of eating.
But the result was that my beef looked like fine dining, while his looked like beef jerky.
Both beef courses came with two kinds of salt—the chef did explain them, but we forgot—and garlic cooked until extremely soft. Everything tasted very good. The A5 Wagyu also came with mustard sauce, probably because the extra richness benefits from something sharp to cut through it.
Flat iron beef | 7～8 doneness
My husband’s version. The higher doneness gave it a firmer texture. All I can say is, if you truly insist on well-done, you also have to accept that its destiny may be a little closer to beef jerky.
A5 Wagyu | Chef recommends 3～5 doneness
This was the main event for me today. A5 Wagyu was ridiculously good: very rich, with that melting sensation people mean when they say it “melts in your mouth.” The chef recommends 3～5 doneness, and I think that makes complete sense. Beef like this really does not need to be cooked until it starts questioning its life choices.
Birthday dessert
There was a small birthday dessert at the end, with ice cream inside a chocolate shell—tiny, cute, and enough to give the meal a birthday ritual. After that came chocolate cake, cream, caramelized banana, grapes, and dragon fruit with a cup of black tea.
By dessert I was already very full, but humans are strange. You can keep saying you cannot eat another bite, then see dessert and suddenly recover a little fighting power.
Overall dining thoughts
From the starters all the way to dessert, the chef carefully explained the ingredients, sauces, and cooking methods for every course. We listened very seriously at the time, but after leaving the restaurant, about all that remained in our heads was “really delicious.” It is not disrespect for the expertise; our brain capacity is simply limited. So naturally, the dish names I remember are not quite the same as what the chef called them.
Still, you can feel the care in the sauce pairings, ingredient choices, and plating. Each dish may look small on its own, but after eating through the whole sequence, two people can end up extremely full.
No-menu meals are especially good at creating the illusion that “this course does not look like much, I should still be fine.” Then the next one arrives and you still think you are okay. It is only when dessert finally lands that you realize your stomach has officially resigned.
The location is also excellent, about a 5-minute walk from Zhongli SOGO. Of course we could not just go home after dinner. A rare birthday feast like this obviously had to be followed by a movie at Venice Cinemas.
Ladies, do not assume that a big dinner and a movie are simply the standard date-night routine. Once you are married, you may discover that this kind of romantic ceremony really has only one birthday-shaped chance to happen each year.
Overall, I think choosing this place for my birthday was well worth it. The A5 Wagyu especially stayed in my memory, and the ingredients and cooking were both at a solid level.
More importantly, I finally managed to book my birthday dinner.
After failing to get a spot for several weeks, I somehow squeezed in the day before my birthday. Clearly I really am a LUCKY Girl。
As for what to eat for my birthday next year, I am not thinking about it yet. There is still Mid-Autumn barbecue and Christmas turkey to deal with first.
