F. f Teppanyaki was a special anniversary meal for my wife and I. We both hadn’t had teppanyaki in such a long time, that we thought we would go all out for it. Previously, we have had some other excellent teppanyaki at 初魚鐵板燒 (see pic below), but it was time to branch out and hit up the popular F.f Teppanyaki spot on Shida Road, right near Taipower Building Station.
I would go as far to say as you must reserve a space at F. f Teppanyaki if you want to guarantee a space. It’s not particularly big inside, and they do set menu only, with two sittings per night. So, if you don’t book ahead, it’s unlikely that you will get a table.
How to book ahead at F. f Teppanyaki
- Firstly, you will want to click on this link, which will take you to their online booking platform. They also have 3 other branches, see which location is best for you.
- The only thing you may get stuck on during the booking process is where to sit inside, see below for help:
Basically the top one entitled 一般座位（小方桌）is a small table, whereas the 吧台高脚椅（料理區）is the bar where you can see everything being cooked infront of you. You’d imagine that the bar would get smokey or excessively smelly, but it doesn’t due to the fact that there are clear screens in front of the bar that allow you see everything that is going on, without getting the smells and spitting grills firing at you.
How much is it per person at F. f Teppanyaki?
$1100+10% – shellfish dish will be shrimp
Or
$1700+10% – shellfish dish will be lobster
Kids under 7-year-old
$650+10% per person
They really go for the theatrical here, showing off and explaining the origin and cooking style of each dish before the food is actually served. It’s a lot of fun, providing you can understand Chinese…
All of the things on the wooden platter above are available, but not necessarily as part of the set. A la carte options on these blackboards include:
干貝 gān bèi – scallops $230
鴨肝 yā gān – foi grois $270
鮑魚 bào yú – abalone $250
海膽 hǎi dǎn – sea urchin $25/g
喜知次 xǐ zhī cì – Kichiji fish (the red one on the platter above^) $690 whole fish
There’s plenty of drinks available, too, with many alcoholic and non-alcoholic options.
Interested in having fantastic-quality teppanyaki? You should not miss this place:
ROBIN’S Teppanyaki’s Spectacular Spring Set Menu at Silks Place Tainan
If you want Taiwanese style teppanyaki, you should check this post:
Taipei Restaurant – 葫蘆小郭鐵板燒 Hulu Teppanyaki, Top Quality at Reasonable Prices.
OK, it's dinner time
When you sit down, you'll be given a little dish of smoked butter with some toasted barley...
Then the bread arrives, and I start to smile. I am a bread head. I could eat bread for every meal. This bread came warm, steaming, and delicately crunchy on the outside yet soft inside. Paired with the smoked butter and toasted barley and it was delicious. Fair play to F. f Teppanyaki on this one, simple yet delicious.
Next on the F. f Teppenyaki set menu came the first fish dish of the evening, served on top of yoghurt and osmanthus it was quite worrying to me. I mean, I don't ever remember having yoghurt with fish before, let alone with a seared piece of fish like this one...So, did it work?
Uhmmm... Kind of? If I was blindfolded and asked if I liked it without being told what it was, I might say yes. But would I be able to tell you what it was without seeing it? In all likelihood, probably not.
The fish was delicate with a light smokiness from the searing. The yoghurt and osmanthus was nicely balanced between sweet and sour. Together, it was a combination I wasn't wild for.
Next up was a black soup with a floating island. The black soup was made black by charcoal (not squid ink, which was my first guess), and the floating island was a smoked milk infused egg white thingy. The charcoal soup had no discernable flavour. It could have been a chicken base, but I really couldn't tell you. I'd probably pass on this if it is put in front of me again.
This delicate dish was a piece of fish sat on top noodles in a fish soup. Am I just not a fan of soup? Maybe. I feel like the soups here just lack something. Salt, maybe? However, the fish was delicately cooked and served with a tomato chutney-type-thing complimented with pea shoots. Bread and butter aside, the food was starting to change to suit my palate a little more, now.
If you didn't order the lobster as part of your set at F. f Teppanyaki, then these were the shrimp going onto the grill.
But we both went for the lobster, naturally! Shown here with a bit of black truffle goodness on top, F. f Teppanyaki was getting fragrant, and waaay more exciting, now.
So it seems like F. f Teppanyaki are entertaining the 'less is more' approach in each dish. Which is fine, especially here, as the lobster tail is served in the shell. After ridding the meat of the shell, the lobster was succulent, flavourful, and excellently cooked. I was starting to smile now (obviously I was smiling before, I mean, it's my anniversary. But, up until now the food had largely been slightly disappointing).
Waste not want not. Thankfully, F. f Teppanyaki weren't just going to throw away the body of your lobster. No. They were going to flame it with some black truffle sauce on top, and let you dig through to find the rest of the meat. I enjoy this, but I would have enjoyed it more if I had one of those long forks used for extracting such meat from shellfish. F. f Teppanyaki, maybe hand those out to guests in the future? There was still plenty of meat, but I felt like I couldn't quite get to it all...
Second to the delicious lobster, came this delightful creation by F. f Teppanyaki, incorporating octopus onto the menu. Octopus is one of my favourite things to eat, and this didn't disappoint. Served with taro cubes, puffed rice, soy beans, and a lemon foam (which I could've taken away and perhaps enjoyed a little more, in all honesty) the dish oozed with flavour and textures.
We didn't order this, but this is the privilege of sitting at the bar at F. f Teppanyaki - you can see all of the dishes being cooked and created. This was the abalone, priced at $250/portion I feel like I was priced out of the dish, really. I always enjoy abalone when I have it, but at $250 a pop, I wasn't feeling it. It looks beautiful, though, right?
Another flame licking shot for your eyes. This time, Wagyu beef is getting sizzled with the blowtorch. Ohhh yessss. So not only will you get lobster with your meal at F. f Teppanyaki, but you'll also get Wagyu beef?! YES.
And here is the beautiful finished product. Each of those cubes of wagyu beef get cut into four slices, then paired on the plate with some garlic, king oyster mushrooms, and some bamboo shoots. Did you expect more beef? Yeh, me too. But, in reality, it's a perfect portion size when you think that there are like a gazillion other dishes on the menu.
Now this wagyu beef has me looking all starry eyed at F. f Teppanyaki. It was like deep beef flavoured butter. The texture was unreal. Delicate. Lots of fat, but not fatty or gristly. Really, really good. Also of note was their homemade steak sauce, hitting the perfect balance between slightly sweet, sour, and tangy. Top notch.
Foie Gras.
Known for dividing ethical opinion throughout the world, and recently being banned by the King of England at all royal residences (in fairness, he's probably eaten his fill, and now at his age he has decided to take a lighter diet, the spoil sport) for it's ethical implications, I can see why it's not everyone's cup of tea. But, it is mine.
I love the taste that foie gras has to offer - an almost duck liver-like consistency and flavour, with oftentimes a caramel crunch to the outside of it, and a refined silky finish with the texture. It's a thing of beauty, to be fair. But, this one wasn't all I had hoped for at F. f Teppanyaki. Were my expectations too high?
It arrived on this choux pastry sandwich with some ribbons of daikon radish all sitting on top of some pumpkin puree. All of those individual elements are right up my street. But, there was too much pumpkin puree overpowering the strong foie gras taste. I don't expect to ever eat foie gras and not be able to discern its flavour from the other ingredients it is paired with, especially when dropping $270 on this small morsel.
And we are definitely still going on with more dishes coming out at F. f Teppanyaki. Here we go with this mushroom dish with what looks like an egg yolk on top, but oh not it isn't... Nope, that is a mini yolk of corn soup. Honestly, this was a little disconcerting to me. Mushrooms, with corn? I wasn't initially convinced. And, in all truth, I wasn't convinced after finishing the dish, either. I love mushrooms, and I love corn soup, but mixed together I am not wild about. Furthermore, the corn soup was cold, yet the mushrooms were hot...
My eyes lit up when I saw these beef sliders on the grill. I love me some burger,
You probably only get perspective of this slider when you look at the size of the onion. The burger came with a 'pineapple' bun, lettuce, fried onion, cheese, and special burger sauce. The burger itself was really juicy and excellently well seasoned. As a burger, it's as good as I have had before for a slider. But, I really take issue with this burger bun. Usually a fan of sweet and salty, you may presume that I like the brioche bun movement? You're wrong. You may also think I'd like a 'pineapple' bun? You're also wrong. It was not a match-made-in-heaven. Get it off my plate. I really don't like it with my burger. Personal preference, perhaps.
Looking at this, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it's the dessert. But, just like the burger bun debacle above, you'd be wrong. Here from F. f Teppanyaki, is the final savoury dish of the evening - black rice triangle stuffed with an egg, topped with flame-grilled mentaiko. Initially, I had my reservations about this dish, but mainly because it came with this wishy washy milk-like liquid in the bottom of the dish. However, the server assured us that the intention of this dish is to break it apart and mix the rice in with the soup.
I really liked the salty mentaiko on top with the under-seasoned soup, and thought the egg addition added the dimension that the dish would otherwise fail because of. It was good enough that I would buy it again if I saw it out anywhere (but without that white wishy washy liquid).
When booking, F. f Teppanyaki ask for the reason of the meal. As we wrote it was our anniversary, a special plate was designed for us. This was a nice touch. Some other people also took their own cakes, and plates were provided for them. Overall, this is the place you can consider for a celebratory meal.
Was the dessert any good? Not particularly. But, you don't really come to a teppanyaki spot like F. f Teppanyaki for a good dessert. It would be a plus though, granted. Maybe they could just provide some Japanese Wagashi or mochi, instead?
The bottom line
Is it worth going to F. f Teppanyaki? Yes
What was the best dish? A tie between the lobster and steak.
Do I think the a la carte options are worthwhile? Based on my foie gras, no.
Would I go again? Yes.