TEPPAN KENTA (24 Wellesley West, at St Nicholas, 647-345-0905, teppankenta.com) Complete dinners for $35 per person, including tax, tip and an imported beer. Average main $8. Open for dinner Tuesday to Sunday 5 pm to midnight. Closed Monday, holidays. Reservations accepted. Licensed. Access: barrier-free. Rating: NNN
Kenta Taniguchi makes no bones about his food philosophy. It’s hanging right there in the front window of his Teppan Kenta, written on a sign for all to see: “No teppan, no life.”
So you’d be right to assume that almost everything on his month-old midtown izakaya’s carte gets cooked on an iron teppan griddle. And you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Taniguchi managed the kitchen at the very similar Guu until recently. Like his former employer, he’s not afraid to push the fusion envelope.
No one expects to see guacamole ($7.50) in a Japanese restaurant, but here it is, prepared table-side by a giggly server to boot. So what if the avocado’s not as fresh as it could be and the corn chips that come with it taste like they’re straight out of a bag? The double-fried chicken wings splashed with mirin and lemon juice ($6.50 for four) make a better initial impression.
Blood-red slices of barely seared Angus strip loin ($10) benefit from a brushing of sweet sauce and pinches of fiery wasabi and sea salt. Part pizza and part pancake, the Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki omelette shows up layered with sizable shrimp, unusually tender squid, grilled pork belly, chewy chow mein and a handful of fishy dried bonito flakes that literally dance on the surface ($15).
You’ll appreciate the dish called ebi cheese ($7.50) more if you think of it as a study in visual and textural contrasts instead of home fries, fava beans and more of those toothsome shrimp in molten mozzarella. And who could have guessed that something listed as “pickled spicy fish innards with potato pizza (chan-pote, $6)” would prove one of the tastiest things on the card? Think cheesy scalloped potatoes with nary a trace of fish guts.
There’s also a secret menu posted daily on Teppan Kenta’s Facebook page. Not really in the mood for pork intestine hot pot ($15), we opt instead for the sliced duck breast dressed with balsamic vinegar ($7.50), only to be told there’ll be a 30-minute wait. Not a problem, since we’re still working our way through the okonomiyaki, but when it comes, stone cold as advertised, we have to wonder why the delay. Were they waiting for it to cool down?
All is forgiven with the arrival of Taniguchi’s idiosyncratic take on French toast ($5), four small slices of eggy griddled baguette sided with a scoop of generic vanilla ice cream and a pitcher of wild honey. Maybe it’s not the most traditional of desserts, but – like the bare-bones room, the quirky service and the obscure location around the back of a condo – that’s Teppan Kenta’s point.
stevend@nowtoronto.com | @stevendaveynow
