Tairyo Teppanyaki Restaurant

1-4, Seaworld Plaza, Taizi Rd, Shekou, Shenzhen
Visited 30th January 2010
Shenzhen is usually pretty high on my list of 'places I can't see the bloody point in visiting', but the need for a night away meant that Joey and I headed across the really sexily named 'Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor Cable-Stayed Bridge Bridge' and into a world of weirdness. We stayed at the Cruise Inn; a strange, strange place in the expat enclave of Shekou. The hotel is really an old cruise ship that's been dumped on dry land; there are bizarre views of a golf course and shops out the portholes. For dinner we took a recommendation from a mate and tried Tairyo Teppanyaki Restaurant. This Japanese joint is located out the front of the hotel in the Seaworld Plaza; an area where bars and Italian restaurants jostle with branches of bad international coffee chains. The restaurant is scattered with individual teppanyaki grills surrounded on by bar style seating.

Tairyo Teppanyaki Restaurant offers an all you can eat and drink dinner option for RMB150 that sounded like a bargain to good to refuse. While we waited for our chef to appear we were bought a number of nibbly snacks including some OK tempura and eel sushi. The deal basically includes everything on the menu apart from wagyu beef and lobster. We munched our way through a fair bit including scallops, prawns, steak, lamb chops, chicken and mushrooms. The food was well cooked and tasty and I particularly enjoyed prawns and tasty lamb. My only complaint would be the lack of variety in the seasonings - it would have been nice to have seen the chef use something other than a mix of garlic, soy and wine that flavoured all the dishes in the same way. Included with the deal was plenty of cold, free flowing Asahi, a mystery red I didn't try and a surprisingly palatable Great Well White.
China can offer pretty mixed results in the eating and drinking department, but I really enjoyed my visit to Tairyo Teppanyaki Restaurant. The staff were extremely efficient and I was impressed with how we were kept topped up with both food and booze. We weren't rushed at all and as we didn't feel any pressure to leave it was great to be able to just kick back, chat, drink and enjoy the odd freshly prepared little barbecued snack. Though it certainly wasn't the most exciting or innovative Japanese food I've ever had it was all well prepared and tasty. At RMB150 Tairyo Teppanyaki Restaurant seemed to offer a bit of a bargain, especially considering the amount we ate and drunk. My only problem was the filthy clouds of cigarette smoke exhaled by the rude and ignorant, but that's just a hazard of being in China and nothing against this restaurant. I had a fun night at Tairyo Teppanyaki Restaurant and would love to come back with a big group for a boozy night out across 'Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor Cable-Stayed Bridge Bridge'.