Category: Banquet

Tem Ichi Teppanyaki Japanese Restaurant

Review:

This week our review is about an interesting Teppanyaki restaurant, Tem Ichi Teppanyaki. I went there because of an interesting deal from one of those deal websites that resulted in a very cheap price for a Teppanyaki.

We got the Kawasaki Set (Banquet-B) with supposedly 10-course banquet menu. However, we didn’t get the mixed stir-fried vegetable.

The first three courses were quite uneventful, a small bowl of Fresh Salad, a bowl of Miso Soup with beansprouts (?), and two spring rolls. They were… well… quite uneventful, except maybe with the introduction of bean sprouts in our miso soup.

The first action on the grill today was prawns and fresh fish. They were lightly coated and nicely seasoned. Unfortunately, the chef got rid of the crunchy prawn legs. Still on that same action, we also got Teriyaki Chicken. The chicken was perfectly grilled and I think was the nicest dish of the day.

Teppanyaki is all about theatrics and food entertainment and so far we haven’t seen that part of Teppanyaki. However, it soon changed with our next course, Misoyaki Steak. The chef started off by lighting up a huge flame on our beef. However many times you have been to a Teppanyaki place, seeing this is never boring! The misoyaki steak was grilled more on the medium side, but it is still okay.

Our chef didn’t do the egg-catching exercise, but he did do the ‘Gattling Gun’ egg show. He basically asked a volunteer to hold a small bowl facing the chef. He would then cut and throw the omellette in one swift motion, repeatedly. It’s a good fun for everyone… except probably the person tried to dodge the gauntlet.

The fun didn’t last long as everyone now got the chance to catch bowls, with the last being filled with fried rice – and you get to eat it afterwards.

We have a small scoop of soft serve ice cream as the last dish of the day.

The verdict for Tem Ichi Teppanyaki Japanese Restaurant

Like many other Teppanyaki restaurants, taste and aesthetic were the least things mattered to Tem Ichi Teppanyaki. The restaurant was sparsely decorated and the food was quite uneventful.

Rating for Tem Ichi Teppanyaki:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6.0 / 10

Price: $26 – $55 per set

Place: 6.0 / 10

Details:

125 Church Street, Parramatta 2150

02 9893 9594

Jul 15, 2014
Mr Wong

Review:

Mr Wong is located in a hidden back alley of Bridge Lane just near the corner of George and Bridge Streets. Although it can seat 240 people and is considered a pretty expensive place to eat Chinese, Mr Wong is always pretty busy.

They put a lot of efforts on the decoration of their two-level restaurant and they have quite a number of dishes in their menu. You have a choice between having small dishes of dim sum or a big dinner.

Small dishes (Dim Sum and Entree)

We ordered quite a few dishes in this department (as it should in a Yum Cha place):

Scallop and prawn shumai (3 pieces) – $9.8

Prawn har gau – $9.8

Chinese mushroom dumpling (3 pieces) – $9.8

Xiao long bao (4 pieces) – $12

Prawn toast with foie gras and almonds (4 pieces) – $12

Prawn and crispy dough rice roll (8 pieces) – $15

They made each dish as we ordered them. As a result, it took quite a while to get what we wanted. However, you can actually taste that freshly-made dim sums beat trolley ones any time! The dish of note was the scallop and prawn shumai. Even my son wanted to order more of this! The prawn rice roll was a bit tricky as they cut 2 long rolls into eight small pieces.

We also ordered a couple of entree: Drunken chicken and Peking duck pancakes. The addition of goji berries in this dish accentuated the taste. I found that the duck pancakes were just okay.

Drunken chicken – $18

Peking duck pancakes (half – 8 pancakes) – $45

Big Dishes (Roast Meats, Meat, Live Seafood, Tofu and Veggies, Rice and Noodles)

Since we were mainly concentrating on the dim sum and small dishes part, we only ordered a couple of dishes from this department. The first dish, “Mr Fong’s” stir fried chicken, was my least favourite of the day.

“Mr Fong’s” stir fried chicken, water chestnuts, shiitake, lotus root and Chinese sausage – $27

However, the large King crab and sweetcorn fried rice was pretty amazing. I think this was the most posh fried rice ever! A tip: If you are a rice eater like us, please make sure that you ask the dish to be made first because rice and noodles usually come last!

King crab and sweetcorn fried rice, trout roe and crispy conpoy – $29

Dessert

When I looked at the menu and saw deep fried ice cream and butter scotch, I was sold! Mr. Wong’s deep fried vanilla ice cream was a dessert to die for. How can you handle crunchy, hot and cold, sweet, salty and tasty all in one spoon?

Mr. Wong’s deep fried vanilla ice cream served with butter scotch sauce – $14

Shamefully, I forgot to take picture of the last dessert, Mango pudding, passionfruit granita, pomelo and pearls – $14. Instead of the heavy tasting pudding you usually get from a Chinese yum cha restaurant, you got this refreshingly-balanced mango pudding.

The verdict for Mr Wong

Yes, Mr Wong is expensive… but if you are thinking about going, you should already know that. It took quite a while for each dish to come out, but every one of them was executed perfectly. I would certainly come back for its shumai and deep fried ice cream!

Did you know?

Mr. Wong is part of a large hospitality group, known as Merivale. They have several hats restaurants. Mr Wong received the 2014 Good Food Guide award for new restaurant of the year.

You can only reserve a table for dinner if you have six or more people. For lunch time, you can book it with any number of people. They also serve banquet-style menu and mud crab.

Rating for Mr. Wong:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $300 for five people

Place: 8.5 / 10

Details:

3 Bridge Lane

02 9240 3000

http://merivale.com.au/mrwong

May 28, 2014