Ichiban Steakhouse - Average Teppanyaki

Teppanyaki is a style of Japanese cooking that combines quality ingredients cooked in front of you on an iron griddle with a show featuring the main chef doing tricks and stunts in an effort to excite and amaze their guests. Most major cities feature a Teppanyaki style restaurant and Winnipeg is no different with Ichiban Japanese Steak House. On a frosty night myself and a fellow co-resident made the trip to Ichiban for some flare and good food.

Ichiban is located in the heart of downtown kitty corner from the Delta Winnipeg and across the street from the Winnipeg Convention centre. The restaurant itself is in the basement and actually fills a large sprawling area with plush chairs, comfortable seating and the aforementioned teppan style grills. Great care was put into the experience with authentic decor and attentive waitresses in authentic geisha outfits. Everyone seemed to be having a good time with a cacophony of noise as the teppan tables exploded with excitement at the next act of each show.

Unfortunately we, having made an impromptu decision, were not seated at the teppan tables but rather at their regular dine in tables. We were assured it would be the same food (minus the flare of the show) at the same prices and most importantly, quality. The menu itself is quite limited and focused on the Teppanyaki combinations; with the occasional appetizer and sushi roll designed to compliment the main meal.

Each meal starts with a bowl of Vegetable Soup. Simply chicken broth with root vegetables, the soup tasted fine but severely lacked any authenticity (where was my miso soup?).

Alongside the soup came a starter salad: Marinated Cucumbers with Crab. Again an odd dish to serve with teppanyaki that was missing an air of authenticity. I appreciated the use of real crab meat here and thought it had a slight sweetness that rounded out the crisp vinegary cucumbers well.

The next dish in the meal was an appetizer of sorts, Chicken Liver with Vegetables fried and finished on the teppan. Again, an odd choice to surround a teppanyaki meal with, this liver dish was rendered inedible and devoid of flavour. The accompanying vegetables had a nice sweetness from the teriyaki based sauce but overall this dish was a complete miss (and a head scratcher for this type of meal).

For my main I ordered the Sirloin & Salmon Combination. The sloppily presented plate featured a sizable steak portion, cooked to your liking, and a chunk of salmon with a nice sweet soy glaze. Accompanying the protein was a heaping bowl of fried rice and a mix of teppan vegetables. Each individual component were fine, but there was no forethought or combination of flavours here. The meat was well cooked and salmon tasty, but the entire plate did not work and resembled a pick-four style combination plate one can find at any food court.

It was as if Ichiban wanted to overwhelm the diner with a host of options to give the idea of value. While one cannot discount the value associated with sitting at the teppan with a chef cooking in front of you, the food itself was simply not up to par. There was no planning or thought into why each course was given, nor was there any truly unique or tasty offerings. Rather Ichiban gives you pomp and circumstance almost to trick the diner into believing they are getting fine dining. You will get better food in almost any other Japanese restaurant in town and there you can enjoy the show of chefs creating real Japanese cuisine in front of your eyes. Do yourself a favour and skip Ichiban.