TEPPANYAKI DINING BANSHO

For a Luxurious, Comfortable and Convenient Teppanyaki Dining Experience

Teppanyaki Dining Bansho is a teppanyaki restaurant in the Asagaya neighborhood of Suginami, Tokyo that offers an authentic high-class teppanyaki dining experience. So just what is “teppanyaki”? Most well known for cooking tender steaks and aromatic fried rice on an iron plate grill, this style of Japanese cooking has become know as “Hibachi” overseas, particularly in the US with the success of Beni Hana restaurants. (A Japanese hibachi is actually cylindrical brazier for charcoal cooking). At these restaurants outside Japan it is even common for the chefs to put on a show while cooking at the grill, though this is not usual in Japan. For now, let’s forget what you know about “Hibachi” or teppanyaki from overseas and consider an authentic Japanese teppanyaki experience at Dining Bansho!

Located right in front of the south exit of JR Asagaya Station (JC08/JB05) within a minute’s walk, Dining Bansho was opened in May of 2022 by Chef Maehara, who has a wealth of teppanyaki experience that includes 10 years at a restaurant hotel in Amsterdam, 13 years at a restaurant in London, plus another 10 years working at a Kobe beef specialty restaurant in Kobe and then Ginza before opening Bansho. That means that you are essentially guaranteed a high quality teppanyaki meal at Bansho, but also you can rest assured you will feel comfortable here, knowing that Mr. Maehara has lived abroad and can communicate in English. He is especially familiar with Dutch and English culture, but welcoming to everyone. If there is a certain type of food you are not partial to or anything you are allergic to, please let him know and he’ll be more than happy to accommodate your needs.

That said, let’s get into the spectacular course at Bansho! There’s a wealth of options for various budgets starting at weekday lunch sets (5,000 yen or 6,500 yen), and 4 special dinner courses: the Ohgi course (9-course meal at 9,600 yen), the Tsuzumi course (11-course meal at 14,400 yen), the Miyabi course (11-course meal at 16,500 yen) and the Bansho course (10-course meal at 21,500 yen). As course prices go up they will include higher quality wagyu beef as well as some seafood items, but here we’ll describe an example of the Ohgi course.

First, we were served an appetizer of roast beef in a Balsamic sauce that as the first part of the meal let us know what we were in for—it was simply to die for—tasting so good it felt as though we shouldn’t be allowed to eat it. The roast beef was soft and easy to chew with a sauce that was sweet but with just the right amount of tang. Next, we were served the Chef’s Salad with Thousand Island mayonnaise dressing, perfect for the fresh broccoli, ripe cherry tomatoes, and lettuce with many other leafy greens. If you don’t like mayonnaise, you can request another type of dressing.

On to the main course, you’ll be served the most exquisite 100g fillet of A4 Wagyu beef (A5 quality for more expensive course meals), cooked in front of you on the teppan grill along with grilled vegetables. Our vegetables were fried garlic chips (perfect to eat along with the wagyu for an amazing flavor and texture combination), shiitake mushrooms, green beans, onion, and Japanese kabocha pumpkin, all grilled to perfection. The kabocha especially is something that overseas guests may be trying for the first time, and after being grilled just right is bursting with flavor, so you’re in for a treat. The star is the savory wagyu, a perfect cut of beef and worth the price of the course on its own. Chef Maehara recommends it done medium-rare, but you can request it to be cooked as you like. He only doesn’t recommend well-done, as if it is cooked that much it defeats the purpose of eating such high-quality beef. Both the beef and vegetables can be enjoyed with three additional flavorings: pink Himalayan salt, garlic soy sauce, and a homemade Japanese ponzu sauce (a citrus vinegar sauce). Try it with the salt first and work your way to the ponzu, as ponzu sauce tends to stick to the palate more than the others.

After the meat and vegetables, we had a Bansho special, garlic fried rice. Chef Maehara uses jako, whole dried baby sardines, to unleash some umami in the rice, cooked on the teppan grill with fried garlic and garlic soy sauce. Many overseas guests from western countries do not want to eat the jako, so Maehara-san understands well if you’d rather not have them in your rice, just let him know. There is still a good amount of umami flavor from the beef fat used for flavoring.

Next, you’ll enjoy homemade pickles and red miso soup. Many overseas guests will be unfamiliar with the red miso flavor, which is not quite as gentle as the white miso many are used to, with a more pungent salty flavor. Though the soup has tofu and green onions, it comes in a cup, as it’s meant to be treated more like a drink than soup.

As for other drinks, mineral spring water is provided and you will also choose between coffee and tea to follow after your meal. Customers who want to enjoy alcoholic beverages or soft drinks can do so at an additional cost. Bansho has a wine cellar with various red wines including Opus One and the house wine of Baron Philippe de Rothschild white wine, sparkling wine and beer (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), whiskey, shochu and sake, as well as various spirits and soft drinks.

Dessert is more than fitting for the whole exhilarating dining experience, a hot-fudge sundae on top of sponge cake, and a piece of cheese cake with strawberry sauce. The sponge cake is homemade with Okinawan brown sugar and the fudge sauce is also homemade using beet sugar, another healthy sugar, with fresh cream and 75% cacao. The nice bitter flavor of the dark chocolate sauce compliments the sweet vanilla ice cream perfectly.

Words do not do justice to the absolutely stunning teppanyaki course at Dining Bansho, so you’ll just have to come taste it for yourself! Situated in an elegantly lit luxurious room on the 6^th floor outside Asagaya Station with a grand view, it feels like the perfect place to enjoy the perfect meal and spend a perfect evening. Dinner courses can be made for 1 – 8 people, and lunch courses for 3 – 8 people. You can make reservations by phone or on Tabelog (external link), which can be done easily in English. Please reserve at least one day in advance (two days or more if possible). There is no cancelation fee, but please kindly notify Bansho if your plans change.

Chef Maehara is a welcoming gentleman, and his hospitality exceeds even Japanese standards. It is amazing to witness his one-man operation as he is busy serving you and cooking and clearing the dishes, all while making conversation and continually checking on you to make sure everything is to your liking. This is the teppanyaki experience you want to have, as you can feel his wealth of experience in every moment.

ACCESS

Writer: Greg
Photographer: Fukuyama