Ottawa Foodies

I've been a regular at this teppenyaki for a few years now, and I've tried the other two teppan places in town that I know of (Edoko on Queen, Shogun on Carling) twice to compare. It's now the only teppan I'll go to, despite its minuses.

It's probably very sedate compared to most teppans and even to its own history - I have distinct memories of Japanese Village television ads in the 80s with chefs shown juggling salt/pepper shakers and being quite more enthusiastic. By now the place is kind of quiet, the decor has not changed and is a little tired for it (the carpeting could absolutely use a replacement if nothing else), but the food preparation is where it shines in comparison. (I'll do a writeup or Edoko and Shogun seperately for details.)

There is a difference between lunch and dinner; lunch is smaller portions, fewer options and is meant to provide a quick meal with lots of turnover. (I don't know if J00clown had lunch or not, but it seems probable.) Dinner is more sedate, has good portions and you can take your time eating if there's some slack in attendance. If you go on the ultra-busy Friday and Saturday nights' 6-8pm shifts, you may get your bill quickly as a sign that another reservation is waiting to be served, with all tables taken. I usually go on other nights, or later on those nights. As a single person, they always find me a space without making a reservation.

The full meal is a little unusual in that it doesn't include dessert, like several other teppan places I've tried(Ottawa/Toronto/US). They also don't do any fancy fried rice at the table - it's white rice in a bowl from the kitchen. (But you can ask for more rice for free.) The "shabu shabu" soup is a usually flavourful mushroom broth with a few slices of mushrooms. (The intensity changes, I figured by whether it's the beginning or bottom of a cauldron simmering for a while.) The salad is just some lettuce, bits of onions, mushrooms and a tomato slice, but it's definitely enhanced by their addictive ginger sauce.

This is a steak place, and it's where they shine; but other ingredients are also good. They get their salmon from Lapointe each morning, and all their tiger shrimp are hand-shelled every day.

This is the only place I've seen that uses the fire aspect _intelligently_: no stupid onion volcano here. The fire is used to _flambé the shrimp_ making them oh, oh so good and tasty. I honestly did not like shrimp - until I had them at this Japanese Village.

Unlike some other teppans, they cook each steak individually; unlike all other teppans I've been to, when the chef feels it's ready, they provide one testing square and bring the rest on the outside of the grill so it is kept warm but doesn't continue cooking, instead of dumping it on your plate. As I like mine close to well done, only occasionally have I had to ask to continue cooking - and never has it been overcooked.

It is also the teppan I've seen which uses the least cooking oil. One small bit to start, some added to flambé around the shrimp (then immediately scraped off), and some in the bean sprouts at the end; and whenever they have finished with one portion, they scrape the oil and sauces off the gril so it doesn't accumulate. This makes for a remarkably lighter meal than other teppans (*cough*Edoko*cough*) where the side sauce is useless as everything already swims in teriyaki and other sauces in your plate. Here, you use sauces as you want to dip or not, making the food taste much more like itself.

They also have the best spring roll I've had, anywhere, period. Lightly fried, all ingredients shredded to yummy filaments, tastes mixing wonderfully.

Sushi is fine, but nothing great; but more than just edible. It doesn't taste "cold" instead of fish.

They can do some allergy accomodation, such as cooking shrimp last to not contaminate the meat. Tell the chef.

Prices without wine/sake or dessert are $30-40 counting taxes/tips.

i thought that place was very expensive for the amount of food ive ordered some fish that sounded good it came as a tiny square with some rice.
came up to 32$ i ate and left and felt ripped off

I ate here for dinner today before a trip to the theatre and was fairly impressed. It was a bit slow when I arrived and I had to agonize over the menu. Everything looked good. Expensive, too. But that's to be expected from a Japanese place in downtown Ottawa. Or maybe that's just the student in me talking. My meal came to just under $30 without booze or appetizer, but with desert of green tea icecream (very nice) and I didn't grudge them it.

The service was nice, as was the atmosphere. The tenpanyaki for the others at my table was artfully done. All in all a pleasent meal.

They have sister restaurants in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria. Never been to the Ottawa location, but the Victoria spot is a favourite for lunch. You get a tasty salad, a knife show, fresh teppanyaki'd chicken, shrimp or beef and veggies and all you can eat rice... all for under $10 (Victoria location: lunch only)

It's really all about the steak sauce, however. This wonderful condiment is offered to soak your rice and harden your arteries. I don't know what's in it, but I'll bet you butter or cream or both figure into it. Savoury success!!

I had the BBQ eel today for dinner at this restaurant. It was very good, not over-cooked and well seasoned. The soup it came with was a little bland and only had a couple slivers of button mushrooms floating in it, but the salad was nice with a pleasant dressing.