Dinner with a dash of drama...
If you tire of the ordinary dining out experience, where you sit quietly, mind your manners, speak ever-so-softly so as not to offend fellow diners, you are not alone. If you’d like your meal served with a dash of drama, head straight to the Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi for the famous Benihana experience – it’s the perfect place to enjoy a special family occasion.
Benihana – born in New York in 1964 – is more than just food: it is a show. Top-notch chefs cook your food in front of you on a Teppanyaki grill. Most importantly, they do it with flair, humour and a sense of showmanship and bravado that delights young and old.
Benihana is well-known for its teppanyaki, which is a live cooking style that uses a large heated grill. The grill is the centre of your experience, where you and your fellow diners sit at a large L-shaped table around a teppan grill where the feast is prepared. Each table seats six to eight people so you will often share your meal with others, which can make for a lively communal atmosphere.
The show begins when a chef arrives at the table who takes the orders, and the preparation of your meal is the evening’s entertainment. It is extraordinary to watch the chef manage all of the table’s orders amidst the showmanship of slicing and dicing. Chefs will often toss shrimp for guests to try and catch in their mouths. A highlight of the dining experience is when the chef makes a volcano erupt out of an onion.
Each chef has their own jokes, tricks and styles to share with guests so no two dinners at Benihana are ever alike. As entertaining as the chefs can be, the mouth-watering smell of the food being prepared can make it difficult to pay attention to the show. Fortunately, the chef serves each part of the meal as it is prepared. Diners are first served grilled veggies. Next is the rice, which is either steamed white rice or another favourite, hibachi chicken fried rice. The fried rice is cooked with soy sauce, garlic butter, egg, and chicken to create a rich, albeit a bit heavy, side dish that complements the meal that follows.
The chef then starts with the main entrée. One worldwide hit features a filet mignon steak and colossal shrimp. The chef masterfully prepares the meals flavouring them with lemon juice, butter and other spices before serving them steaming hot right off the grill. The meat is always grilled to perfection, and the taste is uniquely Benihana.
A dinner at Benihana is a special occasion, even if you are not there for one. The talented showmen, aka chefs, will delight the young and old, and the food will not disappoint those with more gourmet palates.
Open daily 6pm-11.30pm at Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi, Al Zahiyah. For reservations please call 02 697 9000.
