Teppanyaki Table | Teppanyaki: Where They Cook In Front Of You

Trends in the catering industry continue one after another. For example, a few years ago, it was fashionable for some restaurants in the United States to serve oversized or overloaded food. In addition to your usual plates or bowls, there are some non-traditional ways of serving food.

However, some types of restaurants will never go out of style. This is because the restaurant’s style or menu is rooted in culture. For example, the Japanese restaurant is called "Teppanyaki", which is a very popular Japanese restaurant where the chef cooks in an iron pan in front of you.

Today, we will introduce this popular Japanese cuisine in the United States and tell you all about teppanyaki and what you can eat in these restaurants.

What is Teppanyaki?

Teppanyaki (pronounced te-pan-ya-ki) is a Japanese style of cuisine in which the chef cooks food in an iron griddle in front of you. It is called "teppan" in Japan. The word "teppanyaki" comes from "teppan" and "yaki", which means "grilled" or "broiled" in Japanese.

You can find many teppanyaki restaurants all over the United States. Some restaurants offer an authentic Japanese experience and only cook Japanese dishes, while some cooking food caters to more local tastes. There are usually two types of teppanyaki tables: shared tables or private tables.

The shared seating restaurant has a large square or rectangular teppanyaki table for guests to sit around. If a group of customers does not fill the entire teppanyaki table, other customers will occupy the remaining seats. Even if not all guests are in the same group, they must sit together. Inside the square is the chef, who cooks food and all necessary tools for all the guests.

On a private table, a restaurant can have multiple tables and multiple chefs to cook for private groups. Although teppanyaki originated in Japanese culture, the chef does not have to be strictly Japanese. Usually, the chef will add some talent and style to the cooking to entertain the guests.

Teppanyaki History

Teppanyaki dates back to the post-World War II period and is believed to be Fujioka Shigeji founded in 1945 from a Japanese restaurant chain called Misono. The idea at the time was to cook Western food in a Japanese iron pot. Although this is not a very popular trend in Japan, because people prefer traditional cooking methods, they find that foreigners are interested in watching Japanese chefs prepare dishes on it. It eventually caters to tourists, causing more restaurants to turn it into a show.

Teppanyaki arrived in the United States in 1964. The first teppanyaki restaurant was Benihana, a restaurant chain opened in New York.

Hibachi and Teppanyaki

Teppanyaki should not be confused with "Hibachi", which is another Japanese cuisine that entered the United States. Hibachi uses a small charcoal grill called "shichirin." Unlike Hibachi, teppanyaki is cooked on a pan heated by propane. This allows the chef to cook small or semi-solid ingredients such as rice and eggs. On the other hand, the metal grate used by Shichirins can only hold meat, fish and large vegetables.