Dining at Kozan Teppan-yaki, the Japanese restaurant in Shangri-La Rasa Ria is one of the most unique, interesting and spectacular dinner experience we ever had. The whole dining process here might take up to 1.5 hours, but never at once we felt boredom. Every dish is cooked right in front of us on an iron griddle and we were thriled over the action packed cooking process. Then, the chef will serve the food directly to us upon cooking the food, and it was such a satisfactory process.
All 5 senses were stimulated when we sat over the counter witness the cooking process. We see how the chef prepared the food from raw ingredients, smell the aroma during cooking, listen to the clanging sound of the iron spatula hitting the griddle, touched and eventually tasted the cook dish.
Kozan Teppan-yaki offers 4 different types of Teppanyaki set, namely Kaze (Wind), Ten (Sky), Umi (Sea) and Kozan (Mountain). All sets are inclusive of appetizers, sauteed mixed vegetables, garlic fried rice, Japanese pickles, miso soup and dessert of the day. You may choose Teishoku (set meals) or a la carte dishes, but the best dining experiences still goes for the teppanyaki set menu.
We decided to go for Kozan (mountain) and Umi (sea) teppanyaki set which has below items:
- Kozan - Hokkaido Scallop, Sabah Slipper Lobster, French Foie Gras and Australian Wagyu Beef Rib Eye
- Umi - Hokkaido Scallop, Sabah Slipper Lobster, Norwegian Salmon and Black Cod
After ordering and confirmation, the chef will prepare all the raw ingredients in front of you and begin the cooking. If you feel like chit chatting regarding the meal, you can talk to the chef and ask her questions regarding the food you are going to have. I am sure the chef is willing to entertain a bit.
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| Appetizer |
So we began our thrilled dining adventure here with a seared tuna appetizer, while waiting the chef to pan sear the Hokkaido Scallop. Looking at a close distance on how the chef prepare the scallop from A-Z was a learning curve and entertaining experience.
And the Hokkaido Scallop is impeccable. It was firm, dense, with an umami taste with a tad of briny senstation by the sprinkles of salt.
Next up on both Umi and Kozan set is Sabah Slipper Lobster, which has been skillfully cooked by the chef. They separate and cook the lobster meat and carapace separately, then serve it on two different plates. We see the chef repeately press gently the carapace to draw out its stock, then mix it with some butter or cheese we presume. The resultant carapace is crispy and offers a rich flavour, while the meat is light in taste.
Then for the Kozan set, we have French Foie Gras coming up after the lobster. This was the very few times we have had quality Foie Gras, and the last time probably was years ago when we were overseas.
Somehow the foie gras tasted light. sleek in texture and very appeasing to the palate.
Finally it came to the heavyweight dish of the night - Rib Eye for the Kozan Menu. Expect to enjoy a buttery and tender beef, which is lightly seasoned with salt and pepper.
The chef will tell you when she is about to torch the Rib Eye as a final touch before serving the proteins to you. So either get your eyes or camera shutter ready to capture this impressive moment.
We were served a pair of seafood dish - Norwegian Salmon and Black Cod for the Umi Set. The fish is delicate, and the chef has served the black cod in 2 different cooking method - the fatty part with sauce, while the lean meat served plain and feel free to drizzle it with lemon.
Personally, the seafood is deliciosu but we would prefer less sauce on the salmon and it covers the original flavour of the salmon.
The dinner then ends with a garlic fried rice and a dessert (which we missed as the kid wanted to go back to room to rest). The giant garlic flakes topping the garlic fried rice is irresistible!
If you come to Shangri-La Rasa Ria, remember to come and check out Kozan Teppanyaki for an extraordinary dining experience.
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