'Allo! I'm not contributing to Ciao for the time being but if you are bored / desperate / weird enou...
'Allo! I'm not contributing to Ciao for the time being but if you are bored / desperate / weird enough to wish to continue to read my ramblings, you can find me on Dooyoo under the user name plipplop. See you around! :P
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Eating out is always an incredibly different experience according to what kind of mood you’re in and whom you’re eating with. Sometimes you want something subtle and romantic, whereas other times you’ll be looking for something lively and entertaining. I’m generally inclined to go for the latter, although my overriding priority will be good food and lots of it.
If you’re ever in Newcastle and fancy an “experience” then perhaps Hanahana is the place for you. Situated on the outskirts of the city’s China Town, Hanahana is well placed for clubbers, shoppers and theatregoers alike, and I doubt you’ll find anything else quite like it.
Hanahana is a Japanese Tep-pan Yaki restaurant, which means that the idea is that they cook the food for you at the table. Don’t worry, this doesn’t involve little woks and Calor gas stoves. Most of the table is actually an enormous hot plate, and what you do is sit around the metal hot plate, whilst the chef cooks your food for you, serving by serving and passes it straight to your plate. Of course, that means that the food is about as hot and fresh as it gets!
When you first come into the restaurant, the décor is not exactly inspiring, but it’s comfortable enough and you are asked to wait in a small lounge at the front of the restaurant
whilst a table is prepared for you. Whilst you’re sat perusing a menu, a waiter or waitress will come over and bring you some drinks, and you won’t fail to be impressed by the board of celebrity photographs adorning the wall behind you. It would seem that Hanahana is quite a hit with footballers and soap stars alike, so if you like celebrity spotting, then this would seem to be a good place to start. Generally, you don’t have to wait that long to be seated but for a party of more than four, I would recommend booking ahead and reserving space because this place gets busy.
Hanahana certainly isn’t a place that I’d recommend to anyone who is socially inhibited. The tables are arranged such that the chances are you will be sharing your table with other guests. This makes things kind of “intimate” and if you intend to whisper sweet nothings to each other, be prepared for everyone to listen. Each hot plate will accommodate around 10 or 12 diners, who each have a rectangular porcelain dish for their food and a pair of chopsticks – but English cutlery is also available.
The most popular menu choices are set meals, of which there are around four of five varieties. With each set meal, you tend to get a starter, as well as a couple of different main courses and side servings, but the price increases mainly due to the different main courses. The more money you pay the better quality the meat tends to be or the choice of seafood. If you are a vegetarian, there is also a set vegetarian menu, but alternatively, you can select separate starters, main courses or side orders as you see fit. I tend to go for one of the set menus, but have developed a taste for one or two of the starters, which I order on top. Normally, your starters are brought to the table as soon as you sit down so that you don’t spend any time at the table without anything to eat. Then, whilst you munch your starters, the chef will arrange the ingredients for the main course to get ready to get cooking.
A slight drawback of eating food cooked in this way is that both you and the dining room tend to pick up the cooking smells much more intensely than in a conventional restaurant. What this essentially means is that your clothes start to smell like a Chinese takeaway very quickly, which won’t really bother you until you leave and catch a whiff of your egg fried rice sleeves! It’s also something worth noting if you are then going to go and sit somewhere else like a cinema or theatre.
Once the starters are finished, the chef will come over and start cooking the various main courses. These normally comprise a selection of different meats and seafood, each cooked in a selection of different marinades and oils. The food is exceptionally fresh – some of it is actually prepared in front of you – and the cooking smells are all absolutely mouth watering. The method of cooking is also very efficient, which means that the food takes hardly any time to cook and is absolutely piping hot as it gets passed from the hot plate onto your dinner plate.
Foodwise, this kind of Japanese cuisine is very simple. Fresh meat and vegetables sliced up and then stir-fried in oils. Other delicacies include spring rolls, kebabs and little nibbly bits, but it's nothing that unusual. The food tends not to be particularly spicy - much like your average Chinese restaurant really. I particularly like the enormous, juicy prawns cooked in garlic butter – delicious! My favourite starter comprises thin pieces of steak, rolled around a weird vegetable and then cooked in a gorgeous tangy sauce. They really do melt in your mouth.
One of the “novelty” aspects of the restaurant involves the preparation of the egg-fried rice. The chef will place an egg for you on the hot plate, and will then invite guests up to have a go at flicking the egg up off the hot plate into a specially prepared chef’s hat. In the harsh light of day, it sounds a bit naff but after a few glasses of wine and a beer or two, I can guarantee several moments of mirth. My advice would always be to clear the area around the table and duck – low-flying eggs are a fairly common sight! Of course, if all goes to plan, the eggs end up on the hot plate and get turned into egg-fried rice. The food comes thick and fast, but isn’t limitless, so if you’re expecting one of those eat all you can buffets, disappointment will loom! The other thing I would say is that, in keeping with a lot of Oriental cooking, some of the meat tends to be rather fatty. Some of the kebabs I’ve tried have been rather gristly and the last time I visited, the entire beef course was a chewy, fatty mess. But the rest of the food generally makes up for this.
Desserts are not specialities in a restaurant like this and from what I recall there are only one or two on the menu. A set meal will cost from between £18 and £25 per person, with starters at around £4 and main courses about £6. With drinks, you’ll generally find that you can eat for around £25-£30 per person. Although this is an average price, I would say that the place is slightly over-priced based on the quality of the food – you’re probably paying more for the experience than the basic ingredients. The toilets are a bit grubby too, but we decided long ago that they were part of the “Japanese authenticity”!
Hanahana is popular, good fun and different. The food will probably appeal to most people, though I suspect that some people might squirm at the prices. I’d definitely recommend this for a birthday party or works night out.
Recommended
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Nice op, sounds my kind of eating hole! Although I'm confused - Japanese + Chinese = 2 completely different types of foods and I'm not suggesting your wrong but I've never had egg fried rice in a jApanese restaurant... Is this one a fusion restaurant or something? It is early in the morning but I did try and read as thoroughly as I could! Mx
smileybabe 14.02.2004 02:19
I'd prefer to smell of perfume thanks not 'eau de egg fried rice'
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