Monday, February 18, 2008

Japan Inn

Our latest dining evening was at the Japan Inn, located in Plantation. This restaurant offers Sushi, Sashimi, Thai and Hibachi, but we went there particularly for the latter. If you are going to visit, I would suggest calling ahead for reservations, since it is a popular spot, especially on the weekends. Without reservations, on a Friday night our wait was about a half an hour. That’s actually not too bad considering the area and the average wait for a table during the weekends around here. However, I know other people have had to wait longer for tables there, so like I said, reservations are the way to go.
We sat at one of the hibachi tables, which if you didn’t know is a large table with a huge flat cooking surface on the backside, just an arm’s length away from where you dine. The chef comes to the table and cooks the whole meal (well, not the soup and salad) right there, to order. There’s a big production with knives flashing and flames jumping up on cue. There’s often juggling and joking on the chef’s side. Unfortunately, our chef was held up at another table, so we got the abbreviated version with no fire show and few jokes. The wait and the lack of show didn’t dampen our experience, but it did make at least one of our number extremely antsy because she was practically fainting from hunger. Our chef was quick to recognize that and made it a point to serve her first.
We each ordered from the hibachi menu (obviously), and the selections included soup, salad, appetizer and main course. There are no choices for the soup, salad and appetizers, or at least, not so far as I could see. We were all served the same salad with a ginger dressing that, in my opinion tasted a lot like your typical French dressing. I like French dressing, so that worked out fine for me. I’m not really sure what type of soup they served (I'm sure Cap and Guida know!), but it was a clear broth with mushrooms, scallions and other unidentified, but yummy ingredients. Our chef first whipped up a huge batch of fried rice, which he divvied out between us and the other party who sat at the same table. If you’d like some advice, I would suggest to go easy on the rice, because I routinely do not and then I can never finish my main course because I am too stuffed with everything that comes before it. It’s tasty, so it’s hard to hold back, but remember that you can always take it home with you, or even finish it after the main course, if you are so inclined.
Our appetizers were a couple of shrimp, just to hold us off until our main course was done. My main course consisted of the shrimp and steak combo. It was delectable, but sadly, as I have already stated, I ate too much rice and had to doggy bag the rest of my shrimp and steak after just a couple of pieces.
Mex ordered the chicken and steak combo and judging from the complete lack of left overs from his main course, I would not hesitate to say he enjoyed it. Cap ordered the shrimp and filet combo, which she ordered with a topping of garlic butter. The filet melts in your mouth, she swears. Guida ordered the filet with the garlic butter as well, but she also ordered the scallops.
Everyone was very happy with the quantity and quality of the food at Japan Inn. The price wasn’t at all steep. I think the most any of us paid was around $25 for their order and we got fed until we were all fit to burst. The restaurant is right around the corner from both of our homes, so we’ll definitely put this place on the “to be revisited” list.

1 comment:

Blue said...

I thought Japanese cuisine is all about the raw. What's up with this cooked stuff? ;o)