Matsubishi @ Marriot

Four of us went to Matsubishi @ the marriot hotel to satisfy the birthday boy's craving for teppanyaki.. Actually it is my first time having teppanyaki in HK, I remembered dining at Benihana when I was young, but we didn't have that good of experience there which reverted us back to the traditional sushi and donburi whenever we dined out.

Teppanyaki is all about a guy standing in front of you performing a show of searing food and frying rice... and here is our guy who have been working at the restaurant for over decades.... wouldn't he get bored by performing the same act everyday?

A salad and gyoza to start off our meal.

We all went for a set menu which comprises of scallop/eel, sirloin beef/kurobuta pork, fried rice and sauteed veggies.

First off, our chef went on a full explanation of the origin of scallop while grilling and dicing our lovely shellfish. Our scallops are huge with large gonads...the shell itself is as big as my hand. I guess the chef is way too chatty and didn't notice he has overcooked our scallops.. what a bummer, they would have been so juicy if they are not overcooked....

Next we had our sirloin/pork. Chef placed a piece of toasted bread on our plates to absorb the excess fat of the meat. It looks like a special home made bread with their own seal on it.. but surprisingly it is actually the normal HK garden brand, nothing fancy about it...

We had 3 dipping sauce in front of us - ponzi/soy, tomato with apple, sesame

The sirloin was cooked perfectly, tender and juicy. The meat can go by itself without the dipping sauce.. it was served with fried garlic chips as an extra kick. well.. i have already established that this is not a good place for dating.. with that much of garlic what kind of distance do you want to keep with your dating partner..

The kurobota pork was thinly sliced and wrapped with scallions and fried garlic chips when grilled. The pork definitely is much better than the China fed ones sold at wet market..which are basically tasteless. Instead of thin slices, I would really want to try the pork loin since kurobuta pork is supposedly super tender and fatty.

After the meat course, chef started making the fried rice. The technique is fast moving hands, super hot pan, little oil, cooled rice, fresh ingredients, and lots of scallions. The fried rice was nicely done, seasoned perfectly with slight soy sauce flavor. Comparing the jap fried rice to chinese fried rice... I think I would still prefer the chinese version because of the seafood flavor from dried scallops.

To sum up - decent food, good atmostphere, nice decor, dimmed lighting, clean bathrooms.. one weak point is inexperienced staffs who didn't refill our choya every now and then...other than that a good meal overall.