Sachi and I just now got back from the Teppan-yaki place (cooking “right before your eyes,” as the famous Engrish misquoted) Sachi took me to for my birthday. Wow, that stuff is good! We ordered filet steaks–I got the “special” (read: extra-fatty) version, and the entire course was fantastic. The appetizer was high-quality roast beef, followed by a fish course of cooked scallop (though I got a replacement dish of nama-hamu and fruit), followed by the main course. Like Benihana in the U.S., the cook prepares the whole meal in front of you. He started by cooking garlic slices (delicious–just like garlic crisps!), then prepared the filet steaks (medium-rare), slicing them into bite-sized pieces as he cooked them, followed by asparagus and sprouts, everything garnished with delicious onions, garnished with rock salt. There were three tasty sauces–apple-flavored, tomato sauce, and soy sauce with an original wasabi garnish, all to dip it into before eating.

We were served a bottle of wine (after three beers between us), so we got appreciably high during the meal. The problem was, they seemed to be waiting for us to finish our wine before they served dessert, and we were saving the last of our wine to have with dessert. So it was a good 40 minutes or so of waiting before we finally got the idea and told them to take the wine to the dessert table–where they had a nice birthday cake (white layer cake topped with whipped cream, laden with cherries, orange slice and kiwi-fruit) waiting for us.

The place is local (to Ikebukuro) and pretty expensive, but man that was good! We splurged on a taxi home (all of seven dollars and worth every penny, in our state), and somehow made it back in the door.

Would every birthday be so delicious and fun.