Michi Photostory

May 24, 2023

Birthday Celebration at Teppanya-Evia

I learned about Teppanya when my friend suggested this for our get-together but we ended up at Tong Yang - Eton Centris because most of my friends wanted a restaurant outside the mall. For safety reasons, because they will bring their kids, para iwas COVID-19 na rin.

Since then, I added Teppanya to my bucket list because my son hasn’t experienced eating at a Teppanyaki restaurant and it’s been few years already since my last Teppanyaki Experience at Yurakuen.

I remember last year when my mom was on vacation, we tried a few times na rin to reserve but it was always fully booked siguro dahil ber months na rin and weekend lang kami available. But finally, last March we were able to try Teppanya at Evia for my Father-in-law’s birthday.

My husband called Teppanya to reserve but he was informed na no need to reserve, kapag group of 10 lang daw para sa private room. Since we are only 5 people, walk-in na lang but it is on a first-come-first-serve basis so we were in Evia 35 minutes before the opening pero may mas maaga pa pala sa amin, hehehe!

It was my first time in Evia Lifestyle Center and when I saw the interiors, it reminded me of our trip in Venetian Hotel in Macau. I was wondering why it took us a long time to visit here samantalang lagi namin nadadaanan ito papunta ng Landers since 2019.

There are a lot of tables in the restaurant but it is good for sharing so for our table, we are 3 groups; 5, 3 and 2. Unlike in Yurakuen, na kahit 2 lang kami ni hubby, solo namin table. But of course, magkaiba ng rate.

They have a la carte meals but we went here for the Unlimited Madness. We chose Deluxe only since kasama namin ang in-laws ko na maraming bawal kainin. Upon seated, there are printed instructions and menus on the table so you will get an idea of how the Unlimited Madness works.

* To avail of Unlimited Madness, the minimum requirement is two full-paying adults.

* Everyone in your group must avail of the same type of offer, Deluxe or Premium

* The time limit per group is two hours and it starts when your first set of orders has been served.

Just like in Yurakuen, after a few minutes of waiting, the staff already get our order. We can order a maximum of 10 kinds of Sushi Dishes and 10 Kinds of Teppanyaki Dishes per group of 2-4 persons. Then after serving those dishes, we can order again.

It took us a long time to order because there are so many selections of sushi, sashimi, rolls, grilled dishes, baked dishes, ramen, soups, donburi, rice, and appetizers.

Unfortunately, for the teppanyaki, not all are available so we were not able to try the St. Helen’s Black Angus High Choice Sirloin Fillet Steak, Pork Tenderloin, Korean Pen Scallops, and Flaunder Fillet. Ang sad lang kasi scallops pa naman yung type ko sa teppanyaki, they only have Baked Aklan Scallops na hindi ko naman type.

After they served our soups and drinks, I was surprised because the chef already came to our table and she started cooking the main dishes. I thought, same sa Yurakuen na they will give us enough time to eat our soup, sushi, and sashimi before the chef arrived.

Imagine, while the staff is serving the 10 other kinds of dishes that we ordered, the chef is also cooking our 10 kinds of teppanyaki dishes. Everything was in a rush phase because the chef is cooking the vegetables, rice, beef, and seafood by batch. Hindi siya per type so halo-halo na yung kinakain namin, hindi ko na nga madifferentiate kung ano pinagkaiba ng Brazilian Ribeye and NZ Ribeye and ng Snapper and Uhu Fillet.

If I knew that this would happen, we will just order a few dishes like 3 appetizers, 1 meat, 1 seafood, and 1 vegetable dish. Then reorder na lang. Hindi namin alam na sabay-sabay lulutuin yung beef, yung fish, etc. Nasa isip ko kasi yung Yurakuen na one dish at a time so we really enjoyed the experience kasi slow eating. Well, maybe that is the disadvantage of shared table kasi mabilisan lahat.

And because of that, after one hour, we are done. Feeling ko tuloy kumain lang kami sa fast food or restaurant sa sobrang bilis. Kasi naman, hindi mo maenjoy food kung malamig na kaya dapat mabilis din kumain. Parang mas matagal pa yung pagluluto ko sa Samgyupsalan kaysa dito. Hehehe!

Overall, the experience is just okay because some food is hit and miss. Some food is too salty for our taste. My personal favorite is the Premium Yasai Itame, I like asparagus and mushrooms kasi. The service is good naman although wala silang staff per table so if we need anything, maghahanap kami ng staff na matatawag para magrefill ng drinks or if we want to reorder. The chef asked if there are birthday celebrants so may complimentary cake and birthday song pala sila.

Anyway, it was still a good experience for my son who is starting to love Japanese cuisine. Dati hindi naman yan nagsushi or sashimi, pero ngayon kumakain na. If ever we will go back, I will just order a few dishes at a time so we can maximize the 2 hours teppanyaki experience. It was a birthday celebration kasi so parang ang bilis lang din ng pangyayari. Much better siguro kung group of 10 kami para private room or table.