Aoi resto introduces Teppanyaki lunch

There’s a new way to spend quick lunch breaks for a sumptuous meal that will not burn a hole in one’s pocket. At the Saipan Grand Hotel’s Aoi Restaurant, anyone may enjoy Teppanyaki lunch at a cost of no more than $12, a wise way of spending noontime breaks while enjoying the sight of the Japanese art of tabletop cooking, with its freshly cooked food.

Since the restaurant launched the new Teppanyaki lunch last Thursday, the guests just keep on flowing, drawn by the 10-percent discount for local residents, on top of the 20-percent discount for VIP guests.

“A lot of restaurants only serve teppanyaki at dinner time,” said Anita Go, the hotel’s assistant food and beverage manager. “We want to offer something different to the local market.”

The new Teppanyaki lunches deviate from the typical lunch buffets, so guests may enjoy filling meals that are served fresh from the pan.

Aoi Restaurant’s Teppanyaki lunch sets include miso soup, rice, refillable iced tea and a buffet of appetizers. The restaurant has four choices for the main course—Steak Teppanyaki, tasty strip loin steak with teppanyaki sauce; Seafood Teppanyaki, a combination of shrimp, scallop, squid, salmon and mahi-mahi; Vegetable Teppanyaki, a combination of at least four seasonal vegetables; and Chicken Teppanyaki, boneless chicken with Aoi’s distinctive teppanyaki sauce.

Steak and Seafood Teppanyaki lunches are only $12 each, while guests may avail of Vegetable and Chicken Teppanyaki lunches for only $10 each.

Since each serving comes in mammoth sizes, some groups order different Teppanyaki lunches and share them among themselves, according to Go.

She said customer service is fast, with Aoi’s experienced cooks preparing teppanyaki lunches for only 10 minutes or less. There can be no idle moment while dining in for lunch at the restaurant, since guests may enjoy the appetizer buffet while they wait for their mouth-watering teppanyaki meal.

Christopher Adams, the hotel’s executive chef, said the list of appetizers in the buffet changes daily. Some of the common appetizers include shumai, shoyu ramen, salad, breaded shrimp and fish, among others.

The new Teppanyaki lunch specials at the Aoi Restaurant is just one of the many ways that Adams has come up with to spice up the dining experience at the Saipan Grand Hotel.

Adams brings with him over 20 years of culinary expertise when he joined the Saipan Grand Hotel about four months ago. This includes working in Japan for several years, where he had served various styles of Japanese food.

“I’ve gone all over Japan, so I know the different styles in the country,” Adams said.

When he joined the Grand Hotel team, Adams instantly noticed the potential of Aoi Restaurant’s teppanyaki table.

With its Tatami room, a place where guests may enjoy Japanese-style dining while sitting on wooden mats, the restaurant can accommodate up to 150 persons. Besides the regular dining area, guests may sit down in front of the teppanyaki table and watch experienced cooks juggle bottles of condiments while preparing teppanyaki meal before their eyes. The cooks ask guests their cooking preferences while preparing the food.

SUNDAY BRUNCH AT THE AOI

The Aoi Restaurant’s Sunday Brunch is the manifestation of Adams’ culinary expertise that encompasses cuisines of all sorts—Japanese, Asian, Western, Italian, and anything else one might crave.

Food stations fill the spacious restaurant every Sunday noon—salad, dessert, sushi, sashimi, tempura, pasta, among many others.

The restaurant also serves teppanyaki for the Sunday brunch, this time including lobster.

“You cannot leave the restaurant not satisfied,” Adams said. The menu changes weekly, so trying out the Sunday brunch regularly does not become a routine experience. The price per head is only $20 for adults and $10 for kids.

Besides offering Sunday brunches and Teppanyaki lunches, the Aoi Restaurant also serves daily lunch sets that have established the place as one of the authentic Japanese restaurants on Saipan.

The restaurant serves tempura and zarusoba set, its own Aoi bento, sashimi and tempura sets, assorted sushi, broiled eel bowl, deep-fried shrimp and egg bowl, kake and sansai sobas and udons.