Address: 158 Ferny Ave, Surfers Paradise QLD 4217 (Marriott Hotel Surfers Paradise)
https://www.facebook.com/BenihanaSurfersParadise
The girls and I went on a weekend trip to the Gold Coast last weekend. It was meant for a bit of r&r, which we ended up shopping our way through and gave our credit cards more exercise than we initially planned. :p
After a long day of feeding our soul/shopping, we've decided to go to Benihana to fuel our bodies.
Benihana is an American company founded in New York with chain stores around the world. It made onto my radar when one character from the recent Wolf of the Wall Street movie said "I'm never eating at Benihana again. I don't care whose birthday it is".
Call it trend chasing, whatever you will, I was excited to find out that there was a Benihana in Surfers Paradise.
Benihana Surfers Paradise is located in the Marriott Hotel, about 5-7 minutes drive away from the main strip of Surfers Paradise (which in my opinion is fantastic for you to walk off all teppanyaki after the meal).
Located on the 3rd level of the Marriott Hotel, the restaurant is spectacularly decorated - one of the best feature of the restaurant include the a shiny bronze wall imitating the waves of the ocean near the entrance of the restaurant.
The staff at Benihana was more than adequately friendly. We were shown to our seats in less than 5 minutes and an extremely chatty fellow took our drinks order and gave sound advices when we needed it.
For the meal, the girls and I decided to try the set menu, which came with miso soup, sushi, a salad, teppanyaki (with scallops, chicken and beef) and ice cream for dessert.
The miso soup, the sushi and the salad were all very tasty and seasoned just right, which we devoured whole heartedly (could be because we were starving at that stage).
Our teppanyaki chef Romeo came over to our table soon after and introduced himself. And the fun to our dinner started!
Amongst the set of tricks including "onion ring of fire" (where he stacked the onions and set them fire), catching and balancing the salt and pepper on top of the chef hat and making us catch our food (which we all failed spectacularly), to name a few, we were served our food.
Now whilst I enjoyed the tricks Romeo performed for us, I have to admit that I enjoyed the food somewhat less.
Whilst the stir fry veggies and the fried rice was very tasty and well seasoned. The teppanyaki scallop, chicken and beef really didn't shine.
With exception to the ingredients, there was almost a monotony to the taste of the food. And after such a great set of appetizers, having so much of the same tasting food just did not compare.
The greatest let down for the entire meal would have to be dessert.
For a restaurant in the Marriott and especially a Japanese restaurant, I was really expecting some specialized ice cream with flavours such as green tea, red bean etc.
However, all we were offered were - vanilla, strawberry and chocolate.
And they taste exactly like those neapolitan ice cream you'd get from the supermarket.
Admittedly, the set menu was quite a bargain in comparison to the a-la-carte. However, I did expect something better from Benihana.
Recommended: It's really up to you... but do try the fried rice, it's pretty nice
