So Megan and I decided to go out for dinner because I wasn't going to see her for a week or so. Wanting to try something new we headed out to Langley hankering for something non-chain-like. We have seen Katana over the years as we drove past, hit the bookstore or visited the Tim's across the road. Tonight was the night to try it.
Katana (http://www.katanateppan.com/) is located at 19957 Willowbrook Dr., Langley, BC and is a Japanese Steak and Seafood Hibachi restaurant. Although the lower mainland is plentiful with sushi/Japanese places, I have not seen nearly as many Hibachi places. To refresh your memory, hibachi is commonly found as a communal table of 8 seats around a large grill top. The chef is as much about the performance, knife work, and entertainment as they are about the preparation, which occurs in front of your eyes.
Meg and I wandered in without reservations (which I would recommend on any night and especially on a weekend night) and found 8 of the cook tops seating 64 people. I can imagine this places fills up quickly. The atmosphere is "modern Japanese" and the owner seems to have an affinity for model/toy motorcycles which adorn the shelves along side Katana swords as you walk in. They also have a huge amount of Polaroids pinned to the walls of people who have celebrated special occasions there. Some of them are very funny and worth a quick read.
The menu is pretty broad and you can pick from veggies, to chicken, steak, prawns, scallops, lobster, calamari and many combinations of the above, including the "ultimate dinner" which sounds enticing and comes with steak, prawns, lobster etc. I ordered the chicken and Meg got the scallop dinner. With any of the hibachi dinners you get onion soup, a small green salad, fried or steamed rice, veggies, and of course your protein.
The show surrounding the cooking starts with the flashing knife and spatula routine. We realized that we got the "B" team chef when we saw the chef at the next table. He had much better moves and even got a couple spins in there. After the flashing blades you get the flare-up as a combination of oil and alcohol is ignited on the grill. WARNING: Sit back or you could lose an eye brow. The next step is the spinning eggs that get flipped with the spatula and cracked mid air with the edge of the spatula effectively "catching" it. This gets mixed with a huge pile of rice on the grill. Various liquids including the mustard sauce are added to create a unique and delicious fried rice dish. This is where things get interesting. As it is a communal dinner, the chef divides up the portions and serves them onto your plate. Had I remembered this I would have pre-tipped as the other folks at the table seemed to be regulars and got more eats by my eye. After the rice we move on to the veggies which are a blend of carrots, mushrooms, onions, zucchini and the ginger sauce. The onion is cooked in the usual onion volcano steamed and ignited. Difficult to explain and I didn't video it. Take my word for it, kinda cool the first time you see it, but I've seen this show before and I kept my eye on the shrimp that were nearing readiness on the other side of the grill. Everyone gets a shrimp "appetizer" which amounts to two or three medium shrimp.
After the veggies are divided and served, each person gets their ordered protein. Meg says the scallops were delicious but she is partial to anything scallop based and her judgement can't be trusted. They looked good from my seat, and she didn't offer any which means she savaged the whole serving without considering sharing. Cold. Real cold.
My chicken was very good. Tender, lots of flavour and a good portion. I think mid way through the meal we were both worried about being full at the end, but by the end we were both full. Its the rice starter, totally lays a good base layer of carbs to build on. I offered Meg some chicken but as she is still boycotting any proteins that previously had feet, it was a futile gesture.
Verdict- All told, the meal was very good. Flavours were great, portions were good. Prices were on the expensive side with mine being about $22 and Meg's being about $26 but when you consider that you are paying for the meal and a show it isn't that bad. This isn't a place I would go to frequently, and it seems Katana is a special events-kinda-place. The service is good and attentive. If you are looking for hibachi, I have no complaints and would suggest you give it a try.
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