06-05-2025
A hot meal with a show at Benihana, a famed US teppanyaki restaurant, now in KL
The man standing before me is dashing and presumably handsome – he's wearing a mask, so I can't be 100% sure, but if his face matches his charm, odds are high that he is.
Fast as a flash, he adds hot oil to an even hotter teppanyaki grill, then sets it on fire. 'Fire in the hole!' he yells as flames flare up and flicker skyward, like something straight out of a television scene.
When the fire dies down, he continues stirring, adding ingredients and talking.
'And now I'll add a little Japanese Coca-Cola to this,' he jokes as he drizzles some soy sauce over a sizzling, hissing concoction of rice, eggs and garlic, smoking on a hot teppanyaki grill.
After the food is served, he asks, 'How did you enjoy the food?'
'Oh, it was very nice,' I chirp.
'You're very nice,' he says slowly and rather flirtatiously, before we both burst into laughter.
This is the sense of banter, theatrics and culinary showmanship on display at the spanking new Benihana Malaysia, perched on the fourth floor of the upscale Suria KLCC. If the name Benihana sounds familiar, that's because it is.
The culinary theatre on display features an exciting fire show that is sure to mesmerise diners. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
In the United States, Benihana has a storied history that dates back to 1964 when Rocky Aoki launched the first Japanese teppanyaki restaurant.
The eatery, which opened in New York, became nationally acclaimed as culinary theatrics – and teppanyaki – were both unheard of at the time.
The formula worked and Benihana has since grown and expanded its global footprint with outlets in Dubai, Singapore and the Caribbean, to name a few.
A week ago, Benihana finally opened in Kuala Lumpur, under the stewardship of the Continuum Hospitality Group, which also operates restaurants like Cili Kampung and Stefania.
'We thought Benihana would be more of a fun dining experience, which I think a lot of people are looking for these days. This brand is nostalgic and it was very famous 30 to 40 years ago from all the American movies and sitcoms and stuff.
'And I think now that social media is so big it's a great time to bring the brand because people like being able to post online about their experiences,' explains Kesavan Purusotman, who leads Continuum Hospitality Group.
Kesavan (left) and Kyran are the creative forces behind Benihana Malaysia. — Benihana Malaysia
Kesavan and the group's director, Kyran Arusalm, decided to adapt a franchise model that was similar to the Benihana in Singapore.
As a consequence, the theatrical elements so prominent at the tableside seating where diners get to watch the teppanyaki chefs in action, is limited to just 12 seats a slot.
Each slot is for two hours and during this time, diners get to indulge in a multi-course kaiseki menu.
The rest of the restaurant is taken up by a wide dining area that seats 60 people and utilises a fast-moving a la carte menu.
Around the corner is a huge private dining room, which seats 40 and has a separate menu not available at the main restaurant.
If you're going to Benihana for the first time, definitely pre-book your seats at the teppanyaki counter.
After all, this is reflective of the true Benihana experience that shot the restaurant to fame. At the moment, there is a relatively long waiting list and seats at the counter have been booked out for two weeks solid.
The teppanyaki counter is where all the action happens and is what transformed Benihana into a household name. — Benihana Malaysia
This is also the part of the restaurant that Kyran and Kesavan say was the most challenging to execute.
'I think the hardest part was finding the teppanyaki chefs themselves. Because there are three aspects to it – cooking, action and interaction with customers. A chef that is able to do all three at once is very, very hard to come by. We actually had to send our chefs to Singapore for training,' says Kyran.
Thankfully, the selected chefs tick all the right boxes. If you're lucky enough to bag a seat at the dining counter, opt for the Midori Kaiseki Course, priced at RM248 per person.
The fried tofu highlights its smooth, silken qualities.
Highlights from the menu include the Hot Appetiser, which features a slab of fried tofu with kombu.
The tofu is silken smooth and wobbly to the touch and has a crisp outer skin that is complemented by the umami qualities of the kombu.
One of Benihana Malaysia's signature items is the Beni Egg Roll, which is made right in front of you with a crab stick and then rolled tightly and topped with Japanese mayonnaise.
This is one of the highlights of the eatery and it is a creamy, eggy vixen that is plump and filling and utterly satisfying from start to finish.
From the kaiseki menu, diners will get to choose seafood items like grilled cod or grilled scallops, both of which are delicious. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
Part of the meal also involves choosing two seafood options like Hokkaido scallops, large prawns or wild-caught cod fish.
The scallops are particularly memorable – voluptuous and silken with soft, tender flesh within and a lovely caramelised carapace on the surface.
The cod fish meanwhile is lovely and buttery with an unctuous underbelly and a firm yet tenderly yielding countenance.
The wagyu steak features tender, melt-in-the-mouth meat cooked to perfection. — Photos: ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
The kaiseki menu also allows you to choose one meat and in this instance, the Japanese A4 wagyu steak is an excellent option.
The meat is grilled to your preferred doneness and I had it medium rare.
The wagyu has a sturdy, burnished crust that succumbs to meat that is pink and flush in the centre and pliant and malleable to the touch on the palate, lending itself to a melt-in-the-mouth textural odyssey that engenders pure, unvarnished pleasure.
The burnt onion soup is delicious from start to finish. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
One of the mainstays in the Benihana global universe is the Beni Onion Soup, which features a charred onion flower immersed in a soup rife with rich allium flavours.
This is a soup whose murky looks belie just how tantalisingly good it is – a sumptuous affair whose nourishing nuances make it a surprising comfort dish.
The garlic fried rice is one of the show-stopping offerings at Benihana. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star
A dish that has become legendary at the restaurant is the Garlic Fried Rice, which is a fantastic voyage through grains and garlic with fluffy bits of egg added in for good measure.
The entire dish is built around garlicky goodness interspersed and embedded into the molecular structure of the rice and fried to golden goodness with bits of smoky crust intertwined in this configuration, giving it an unforgettable addictive quality.
End your meal with the wonderful qualities of the Japanese milk pudding with black syrup.
For dessert, there is a Japanese milk pudding topped with sweet pools of Japanese black syrup drizzled all over it.
The pudding is a cloudy, fluffy affair that is velvety soft and enhanced entirely by the black syrup which is sweet and toffee-esque with divine molasses undertones.
Moving forward, Kesavan and Kyran are keen to expand the Benihana empire in Malaysia and plans are already afoot to execute this.
'There will be another Benihana outlet for sure. Maybe not this year or anytime soon, but it will happen for sure,' says Kyran. Address: 4th floor, Suria KLCC, 50088 Kuala Lumpur
