|
The Weekly Eater Nadine Kam |
Benihana has much to
We all get set in our ways over time, whether people or institutions, so when a well-known restaurant veers from its routine, you have to applaud the effort, even if it gets off to a rocky start.
learn about the buffet
businessOver at Benihana of Tokyo, the sight of showmen/chefs holding court at the teppan tables has been a 33-year tradition, so the introduction of a lunchtime buffet comes as a surprise. Can diners accustomed to the sass, flash and sizzle of knife and fire play and food acrobatics be satisfied going D.I.Y. on a more sedate path to satiation?
The answer is "yes," if only because Homo sapiens are nothing if not adaptable. But ... Benihana -- after working on one aspect of its act for so long -- needs to learn a few new tricks to truly master the art of the buffet.
This town is full of buffets, and the restaurant's managers should be visiting as many as possible to acquaint themselves with the largess of the endeavor. I know, I know, the idea of letting some food go to waste is difficult to accept, but that's a buffet reality.
It's not that the buffet is skimpy. For $15.95 per person, you can't expect grandeur, but still, I expect restaurants of this caliber to feed the soul as well as stomach, and right now only the latter leaves full.
Benihana chef Daniel Boynton dishes out sukiyaki steak. The sukiyaki station is part of a new buffet at Benihana's.
Typically, the physical response to the sight of a buffet entails a widening of the eyes, a lifting of muscles around the mouth to form a grin, and a vocalized "Wow!" followed by a mad grab for plates. It's that wow factor that's missing here. I made the rounds completely around the buffet table without picking up a single item, hoping that the best were yet to come.
Yes, the miso soup was good, but it's an expected item. And Japanese curry with succotash vegetables is not most diners' idea of a vegetarian curry these days. Neither is roll-your-own sushi with offerings of egg, canned tuna and surimi. The finger-size rice forms are already shaped for you, but so were full sheets of nori. Did they expect us to mash all together in a hand roll? Local crowds will expect to see a colorful bountiful display of sushi, poke, sashimi and salads for starters.
The only ready-made sushi was a tempura roll that, though delicious, needed maguro, ebi and salmon companions, at the least.
They did have deep-fried calamari, barbecue chicken, kalua pig and cabbage, chilled shabu shabu and a sukiyaki station, with food that, like I said, proved fast and filling, but did I feel a pressing need to tell all my friends about it afterward? No.
Experimentation is always good, but with so much competition among buffets, Benihana will need stronger tactics to lure consumers from the tried and true.
Bali buffet
Also trying the buffet route is Bali Indonesia Restaurant at 1901 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 110. There, you'll find just about as many offerings as at Benihana, but at $6.95 for adults for lunch and $7.95 for dinner (children younger than 4 eat free).The menu differs about every two days but usually starts with gado-gado, or mixed vegetables and tofu with peanut sauce, something I was tempted to make at home. You'll usually find fried eggplant, spicy or coconut beef, a chicken dish, fried rice and fried noodles as well. Dessert is "es teler" -- coconut meat and jackfruit in coconut milk with ice.
The food isn't particularly distinctive, but for the price of a glorified plate lunch, you can't go wrong. Call 949-2254.
Hilton Hawaiian Village, Waikiki / 955-5955 Benihana of Tokyo Lunch buffet
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Food 
Service Ambience Value Cost: $15.95 per person
See some past restaurant reviews in the Columnists section.
Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:
To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to nkam@starbulletin.com
excellent; very good, exceeds expectations; average; below average.
