Mr. Nico at the Teppanyaki show

Dear Friends,

at the beginning of the week, Caro (she is now on holidays and I am a bit lost), who knows my passion for the teppanyaki, organised a diner at Benkay.
Benkay is the japanese restaurant of the Novotel convention Center in Paris. The thing is that before being a Novotel, the place was called Hotel Nico (not sure about the spelling but let's say it was written like this no?) and was a japanese hotel. Neither the restaurant, nor the crew has changed since then.

You know why I love teppanyaki so much? On top of being delicious, the diner cooked in front of you on a hot table is a real show. You have the chef, who chops, burns, grills everything with style. You can see how he does it and all the little trick he uses. Off course, you should not try that at home! Last time I checked, throwing knives in air (or even food) was dangerous ! The thing is, when I am in such a restaurant, I totally escape from reality. I am forget everything and am captivated by the true art of cooking (you need several years of study to be a chef).

The menu we ordered was really good ! I had as a starter some cabbage with crab and cod that was cooked in aluminium  but the best starter was Aurel's, Caro's brother. He had some grilled hot foie gras with mushrooms ! It was fantastic.

As a main course, we ordered some grilled beef teriyaki and vegetables while Caro had a great assortment of grilled fish. Main course was a bit classical and maybe less amazing than the starters but still very good.

As a dessert, since we ate already a lot, we just ordered some green tea ice cream. But the people next to us ordered the "crêpes flambées" teppanyaki style with ice cream...and it was, between the burning and the liquid nitrogen, a real festival of artistic moves, .

The view is beautiful when you manage a table next to the windows  (for a date it is quite a nice place if she/he is into japanese food) and if you are a group, I can only advise you to book one of the private rooms. The price is quite high, but it is kind of always the case for good teppanyaki in Europe (cf. my Shanghai experience last April). Our Menu was around 90€.


I am still in Paris for two more weeks and I already have many things to post. I just hope I'll be able to put it all soon on the blog.

The facebook page reached today 82 people ! Thank you for your support and I hope we will be a 100 by sunday :-)

From Paris with love,
Mr. N

all photos by Caroline Lequertier,2010

BENKAY
(+33)1 40 58 21 26
61 quai de Grenelle
75015 PARIS FRANCE
http://www.restaurant-benkay.com/