There are many expensive restaurants that I normally steer clear of, including Benihana, a pricey teppanyaki restaurant. So it was with great excitement that I went there yesterday when an old family friend invited my family for dinner at the Piccadilly branch.

My first impression was that the staff weren’t Japanese (well, a minority were). Even more surprising was the fact that the non-Japanese staff could speak no Japanese! I guess this isn’t such an issue as there appeared to be practically no Japanese customers besides our friend.

The restaurant itself was large and spacious. Strangely, the decor was bright red and felt more Chinese than Japanese. Apparently the Benihana in Chelsea looks totally different. Each C shaped table has a large hot plate set in the middle of it and after your orders have been taken and soups served, your table’s person chef comes to cook for you.

Our chef for the evening was ‘Andrew’ and I have to say that he gave us a great comedy set whilst he prepared everything from prawns to steak to Mount Fuji made of onions with the most deft knife-work I’ve ever seen.

I remember a friend telling me that watching the chefs cook and entertain you is all part of the fun and he was right. I wasn’t so happy when the chef challenged me to catch some ommlette that he flicked through the air and landed on my nose – poor flick on his part rather than poor coordination on mine!

The food was fantastic. I particularly liked the ‘Black Cod’ which was made me reconsider the definition of ‘melts in the mouth’. My rib-eye steak was lovely, too. If you have really expensive tastes you can go for ‘wagyu’ (expensive Japanese beef) for £60! The only thing I wasn’t sure of was the egg fried rice done on the hot plate which had a subtle but unique flavour I couldn’t put a finger on.