Hosoi Teppanyaki

Hosoi Teppanyaki is one of the newer eateries at the Suntec basement circling the Fountain of Wealth. The staff here all seem to be mainland Chinese, giving this so-called Japanese restaurant a "Made in China" feel. But at least the chef we got seemed to know what he was doing, most of the time.


Hubby went for an a la carte item to which he added $10 for set accompaniments (bread, soup, appetiser, salad, fruit and desserts). This is probably his appetiser, which the clueless wait staff served to me instead (perhaps I looked hungrier). The chef tried very hard to make the prawn balance on its back, but he gave up eventually. He does try with the presentation.


Nicely seared without overcooking. The flesh was still sweet and tender within. I love scallops. Too bad there was only one.


We also opted for a wagyu beef appetiser, instead of the S$90 wagyu tenderloin steak (too pricey a gamble as we really have no idea how well they handle wagyu). Ah, the slices were thin but not overcooked. Yes, you can taste the wagyu-ness but these tiny slices were probably not worth the S$18 price. I'd rather head to Aburiya for grilled wagyu CUBES.


My seafood and meat (typo on menu says "meal") combination, S$28.

Luckily they served "ti wang miao" (what is the English name of this vegetable, anyone knows?) instead of chye sim! But I was still horrified when I saw the chef pour the brown sauce all over the beef! How criminal!


It was a thick, garlicky, taucheo-like sauce which absolutely robbed all and any beefy fragrance that the meat had.


Hubby's tenderloin steak (120g, S$30) was all right. Fortunately, no sauce this time, and it tasted fine. The huge cubes of garlic look intimidating but they tasted really sweet, without any of the strong odours.


We asked the meats to be done medium.


We were still not full so we opted for a seafood garlic fried rice. The rice quality is not very good. But hubby still enjoyed it. Nothing like the real Japanese garlic fried rice though. I still remember the best one we had, in a little basement restaurant called Ten near Harajuku.


Seasonal fruits, part of the set. Mix of tart and sweet to cleanse the palate. We also had a salad, which the wait staff forgot to serve until we asked for it.


A sloppily presented creme caramel, also part of the set. I later saw lots of these waiting in the wings, all pre-prepared.



Service was atrocious. Yes, they try, but fail miserably. The poor waitstaff are total "deer in headlights" when asked things in English, but light up when you switch to Mandarin. But they aren't much more helpful either in their native tongue at answering questions. One chirpily remarked that my tea would be refilled whenever I finished it. An emp-tea promise. My cup sat alone, unattended. I put it under the spotlight to see how long it would be before someone saw it needed refilling. No one came.

So, highs and lows. Hubby thought it started horribly but ended OK. Personally I'd rather spend my money elsewhere for some real teppanyaki.

HOSOI TEPPANYAKI
3 Temasek Boulevard
#B1-058 Suntec City Mall