HK Food Review: I M Teppanyaki, HK

The 2nd birthday dinner out was closer to home, which I had opted for Japanese Teppanyaki this time.

鐵板燒·鑄  I M Teppanyaki and Wine 

(http://www.imteppanyaki.com/)

Again, it was a new place, that was literally new and as well, a first visit for us. I chanced this accidentally while surfing for places to eat without having to travel much and what caught my eyes was the fact that the chef Lawrence Mok was from Shangri-La, HK's Nadaman.

I had been to Nadaman several times for those special occasions and we did like the Teppanyaki food there. So I was a little hopeful but cautious after the disappointment last night at St George.

I had initially booked the dinner at 7.45pm but I called to check if we could go earlier at 7.15pm, which the lady on the phone apologised to say it was not possible as they are really full. Okie...so we linger at home for a while longer but fearing heavy traffic on Sunday night, we still headed out abit earlier to catch a cab to Tin Hau.

We arrived at 7.30pm and thankfully our seats were ready. There he is in person, Chef Mok.

We decided to try the Mok's menu since we were both after some lobster and Japanese beef. The other menu was the American beef. Thanks but no thanks. It was Japanese beef or nothing.

Just a little description of the place. The entrance is unassuming and easy to walk past without expecting a whole lot. Inside, the place is split into 2 section, each able to host 2 chefs at work concurrently. The seating is a little tighter than I like but its ok so long as you have considerate diners next to you.

I had an idiot who was watching his video on his Samsung phone at max volume and it was a little annoying since it was disruptive to me actually wanting to have conversation with my date. I find it really strange that HK couples tend not to talk on their dinner date but this arse next to me was worse, playing videos during his dinner time while disturbing others. Great manners there old uncle. Luckily his female partner had more common social sense and told him to turn off the volume....esp SINCE IT WAS A KOREAN video and he was reading the subs instead of listening to the conversations. Classic idiot.

Anycase, appetizer was a trio combo of urchin, vege and sweet prawn. Fresh, light and nice.

Appetizers

Other diner's order.

Our choice of menu for the night.

Watching Chef Mok at work

Counting the number of diners he had, he started to pan fried his scallops...though unfortunately he somewhat accidentally left us out in his count. So we were served the lobster first. They didnt even realise it till I asked the server what had happened to my scallops? If I had not paid attention and asked about it, I would have missed out on my scallops!!! Now we wouldnt want that! Lol. Ooops!

My lovely Hokkaido scallop

I think Chef Mok was alittle overwhelmed and so Chef Calgine Cheng stepped in to take over the other 4 diners including us.

Chef Cheng cracking our lobster claw

While I didnt get to taste Chef's mok version, I think Chef Calgine was a little more showy in his "cooking" than actually getting the seasoning right. Personally we thought the scallop was kinda under seasoned because when he scattered the salt, none of it hit the scallop....it was just all over the cooking top. Lol. However that said, the 2 seafood dishes were still very good and I actually prefer their lobster sauce over Sessyu's Teppanyaki. It's lighter here and less rich, hence the lobster flavor was able to shine through.

Teppanyai Lobster.

Plate setting for foie gras dish

This is cooked to perfection. Flawless. Except I didnt like the round berries on the left which was slightly bitter.

The highlight was obviously the A5 premium Japanese beef. It literally melts in your mouth and it was GLORIOUS. The fresh wasabi, when coated over the meat was strangely non spicy at all. Completely harmless! It was sheer amazement. There is no way to describe the meat texture except for the buttery fragrance that coats the inside of your mouth and the juice oozed ever so gently on your tongue sending you straight to 7th heaven. It was a magnificent piece of meat, not a lot of pieces being so fatty but the food volume was just right.

Lastly, we caught up to the rest and Chef Mok was cooking the fried rice for the 8 of us. Looking at his intense face had me chuckling with respect because I had never seen anyone sooo serious over fried rice.

Veges with beef. they were in my tummy before the meat arrives.

 I have to declare this is the best fried rice I had in any Japanese Teppanyaki, JAPAN included. Usually they serve you some lame garlic rice with some onion or eggs if lucky, but Chef Mok's fried rice was awesomely pack with goodness! There's everything in here and i love the lobster head miso soup that came along with it. It was soooooooo full of flavor and I loved it!!!

My satisfied man agreed too that this was the best fried rice at a teppanyaki store to date.

The sweet ending was the Japanese sweet melon. The sweetness....the aroma, need I say more?

All in all, it was a delightful meal despite the small mixed up on my "lost" scallop, I loved the meal here. It's definitely a joint I would love to see flourish and prosper because it's simply fantastic and worth every penny.