Teppanyaki Romantei is a foreigner friendly beef restaurant located in Azabu Juban (or Roppongi). Its claim to fame is their outstanding cost performance, which I have to admit, is really quite outstanding because for what you pay, you get a whole lot of "premium" items. I visited this restaurant in Feb 2019 and ordered the 12,000 yen course. I got items such as a whole lobster, abalone, foie gras, sea urchin maki, A5 Wagyu beef and the list goes on. However, there is a catch to this! You must be wondering by now, how can you possibly get so many premium items for this price, it's simply not possible isn't it? Well well well, before I touch on that point, shall we see what I ate for 12,000 yen?
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| Snow Crab Salad |
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| Cured ham and Olives |
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| "Mountain" of Sea urchin and salmon roe |
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| Grilled Lobster |
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| A whole price of foie gras (it's cut in two in case you can't tell) |
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| Grilled Abalone with it's liver |
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| Palate Cleanser |
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| 5 bite sized pieces of A5 Wagyu Sirloin (about 80g to 100g) |
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| Garlic fried rice |
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| Mini Okonomiyaki |
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| Dessert |
WARNING: Brutally Honest and Potentially Offensive comments incoming!
So what'd ya think? 11 items for 12,000 yen. For a Teppanyaki restaurant, this is a super duper good deal. However, as I mentioned, there's a catch to this. And as much as I hate to say it, the food was very mediocre, in fact, pretty bad at times. In other words, all your so called "premium" items, were of rather poor quality.The snow crab salad was cold, bitter and had a strange smell to it (probably taken straight out of the fridge). The sea urchin maki, probably the worst of the lot, was terrible! It was far from fresh and I could taste that stink with every bite, and yes it lingered in my mouth after I finished it. The foie gras was literally like a block of lard and it lacked that sweet and savory taste that good quality foie gras has. The lobster was all right but it would've been better with some sauce because whatever seasoning they put on it didn't really bring out the flavour. The abalone was nothing to brag about either.
By the time the beef came, my mouth was just overwhelmed by the lackluster flavours and felt like it was laced with a layer of oil (even after the palate cleanser). As such, the fatty A5 wagyu beef only made it worse. The one saving grace though was that the garlic fried rice was tasty and fragrant; it momentarily kind of rejuvenated my palate. But it didn't last long and I quickly finished the mini okonomiyaki and the dessert because I just wanted the meal to be over.
It's a shame though because I read many good reviews about this place before coming here. But looking back, I realised that these reviews were written quite some time ago (up to early 2018). Perhaps things have changed since then. I was also warned by a fellow Instagram foodie that I may be disappointed dining here and gosh she was right lol.
By the way if you sit at the counter, it is really really dark and you may not be able to see what you're eating at certain seats. I really had to up the exposure and brightness in my photos so that you can see the food I ate clearly.
Qualifier
Ok in fairness, I have to admit that my taste buds are rather spoiled. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bragging here but in all honesty once you've tasted things which you've considered are superb, you can't really go back to eating something worse off with the same level of enjoyment. Think of this as going from an iphone back to the old Nokia phone. What I'm trying to say is, if this is your first or one of your first few upmarket meals, you might probably enjoy this and think this is a wonderful place especially with the great cost performance. But if you're blessed to have eaten at reputable places, then chances are, you're going to be disappointed coming here.
Website: http://www.romantei.info/
Address: 東京都 港区 麻布十番 1-5-13 ニュー高雄ハイツ ２Ｆ
Budget: 10,000+
My rating: 2 - 2.5 / 5
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