Teppan-Ya @Mandarin Oriental

For our date night + Mothers’Day last night, Adamson took me to Teppan - Ya at Mandarin Oriental Hotel. He chose this place because I’ve been wanting teppanyaki and he read that this place has teppanyaki seating with a nice view. 

And indeed, their teppanyaki seating is quite special, and limited as there are only 2 tables. (so do book in advance). 

Mandarin Oriental Orchard has many good restaurants. Morton’s is there, and Melt (for Champagne brunch) is on the same floor as Teppan - Ya (that’s the 4th). 

The view at the table is of the skyline spanning Marina Bay Sands and the CBD. It does make a nice live backdrop. 

Their menu is of a decent range, with non teppanyaki dishes too. We opted for the teppanyaki courses. I chose the beef + foie gras combo.  And Adamson chose the seafood + beef (not seen on this page).  

The set starts off with a salad. With their in house dressing, tasted like chilli crab. 

The appetiser was fabulous.  A fresh oyster with some squid ink on top. Damn nice 

And the crab cake was so delicious. The crab flakes in it, nice and chunky. Tasted fresh and flavourful. 

The sashimi was good. Pretty standard sashimi. 

The soup came in a teapot. Quite novel. Although I’m not a clear soup drinker, I’m more of a chowder and bisque kinda girl.... 

Adamson drank my soup. He liked it a lot. 

The teppanyaki is entertaining and a visual treat. Also it feels very exclusive. So all that is a plus if you’re trying to impress a new date. 

The foie gras in my set was super duper yummy. Done just the way I like it. Crisp on the outside and creamy soft on the inside. 

The seafood component of Adamson’s set was so so.  The portion is 😳. It’s $188++ for the whole course, which includes a piece of steak... but erm the seafood was just one prawn and one scallop. Taste was average. 

Our steak (both our portions pictured here) waiting to be grilled... so exciting and mouth watering...

Feel the heattttttt.... wahhhhhh...

My honest opinion? My beef was not nice at all 😩. I guess because it’s just USDA prime beef and not some highly marbled wagyu. But for the price $178++.... I think it warranted better quality beef. I asked for medium rare but I really had to chew through it. :/  Adamson makes far tastier and more tender steaks for me at home. If not for the foie gras and the appetiser crab cake that came with this set, I would have been very disappointed with the meal. 

It just got worse from the main course onwards. This fried rice... so dry and tasteless! Seriously Wtf. 

Dessert was a scoop of Yuzu sorbet. I don’t like ice cream and I don’t like yuzu lol. But as a dessert it’s ok. Also by this point, I was quite full already so I didn’t eat the rice and ice cream , just tasted it. 

Would we go back to Teppan-Ya, probably not again. Not to say that it was horrible, it was overall a good place to dine, especially if you like a showy teppanyaki display complete with Flambé and a nice view. Service was good, our appetisers and the foie gras were great.  But the actual taste and texture of my main course (the teppanyaki beef) was not nice. And the fried rice is in all honesty not palatable.  😳 we both skipped it after one taste. 

Overall, bill was $500plus so expect to pay around $250+ a head. Which is around the same price as when we dine at Fat Cow... in comparison the food at Fat Cow is much better, and for the same $$$$ the food selection we got at Far Cow was much much more indulgent. 

Still, it was a good night out with my dear husband who I know works so hard to give our family such luxuries *grateful* , and a fun dinner with the teppanyaki ‘show’. Thanks so much for giving me such unique new experiences bubba, and for this thoughtful Mother’s Day treat. ❤️