Meal #19 – Japan (Part 2: Teppanyaki)

According to Danny Katz, teppanyaki comes from the Japanese words ‘teppan’ meaning “Don’t wear your best clothes when you eat here because it’s likely they’re going to get a little…” and ‘yaki’ meaning “yucky”. Thankfully, the staff at Yuriya Teppanyaki Japanese Restaurant provided us all with stylish paper napkins so our clothes wouldn’t get all yaki.

Yuriya
Teppanyaki Japanese Restaurant
172 Little Bourke St, Melbourne City
Fully Licensed
Open 365 Days
11:30am - 11:00pm
Fri & Sat Open
Till 2:00am
9663 3838

One of the best known teppanyaki restaurants, Yuriya is situated in the heart of Melbourne’s Chinatown. The restaurant is divided into two sections: downstairs is your typical Japanese eatery, serving sushi, teriyaki, tempura etc; upstairs, is all about the Teppanyaki. There are several teppanyaki hotplates, each encompassed by seats, ensuring that the diner is right in on the cooking action. To steal, and bastardize, a theatre term, this is ‘dinner in the round.’

This week’s team of tenacious teppanyaki tasters were: Sai, Helen, Erika, Daniel, Philip, Dom, Saeng, Caroline and Rami. Yuriya offers several set menus ranging from $39 to $65, we all ordered the $39 meal (what a bunch of cheapskates!):

Miso Soup – with mushroom and tofu

Choice of Vegetarian ‘Sushi’ Rolls or Seafood Cocktail

Teppanyaki (served with steam rice & salad) – Prawn, Squid, Chicken, Fillet Steak, Dumplings, Vegetables (mushrooms, spinach and bean shoots)


House Dessert – Lemon and Rice, and Sesame Ice-Cream

The Meal:


The appetizer wasn’t your typical miso soup, including slices of mushroom and cubes of soft, white tofu. These unusual additives were welcomed, but were difficult to eat as the soup was served in the traditional manner…without spoons!


Entrée consisted of either your typical vegetarian sushi rolls, served with soy sauce and top-shelf wasabi, or chilled seafood cocktail. Neither were ground-shattering, but they were enough to get our taste-buds ready for the main meal.


The staff at Yuriya were very accommodating, and as such those diners that did not want seafood for their mains were given extra servings of the chicken and fillet steak. The fillet steak was served first. The meat was well-cooked, medium to medium-rare, tender and delicious. The peanut dipping sauce provided helped to highlight the natural beef flavour. The chicken was next and was cooked in soy sauce, giving it a slightly sweet and salty flavour, a perfect contrast to the beef.


The seafood was next. According to our Japanese expert Philip, the prawns were a bit too “prawny”; apparently in Japan, prawns have a lighter flavour then what we were served. Conversely, other diners thought the prawns were “fantastic” and the “highlight” of the meal. Only a handful of diners, however, were game enough to eat the prawn legs! Nevertheless, everyone agreed that the squid was a bit chewy, but that the pork dumplings were great.


The vegetables were a welcome break from the piles of meat. The mushrooms were cooked in butter and were delicious! The spinach was delightful, cooked in garlic and soy sauce, and was complimented well by the subtlety seasoned bean shoots.


Desert consists of homemade ice-cream, a scoop of lemon and rice and a scoop of sesame. The flavour of the lemon and rice ice-cream was subtle and was a pleasant palate-cleanser, especially after the contrasting flavours of the tappenyaki. The sesame ice-cream was nice, but a bit strong.

Overall:


Although more expensive than our average Around the World meal, you definitely get your money’s worth at Yuriya Teppanyaki Japanese Restaurant. It’s dinner and a show – and what a show! There was flaming meat, and pillars of smoke, amazing knife work and meat flying hither and yon. But let’s not forget the food, which was not only delicious, the fillet steak being the unanimous highlight, but was also plentiful. The staff are helpful and friendly, accommodating to differing dietary requirements, and quickly re-filling empty water glasses – even before you realize that your glass was empty! If you’re looking for a special night out, and something out of the ordinary, we recommend you try the dinner and a show that is teppanyaki.

PS - Sorry about the photos, but we forgot the camera...again...and had to rely on mobile phone cameras. The first two photos are from Yuriya's website...