From the outside, Yaki (雅燒), located in the food court of Eslite Xinyi, resembles a run-of-the-mill teppanyaki restaurant. The standard U-shaped counter is present, with an iron griddle in the center. Meals are served in sets, with courses of fish, salad and a choice of meats. But Yaki’s food is several rungs above ordinary teppanyaki restaurants, where dishes are often held together by grease and salt — and Yaki’s prices are higher, too.
Yaki’s menu is divided into four set meals that range in price from NT$278 to NT$788, all of which come with coffee, green tea, black tea or milk tea. “Economy” set A (經濟套餐, NT$278) is served with soup, garlic bread, salad and a choice of marinated grilled fresh fish (醬燒鐵板鮮魚) or Japanese-style steamed porgy with bell peppers (和風彩椒煎鯛魚). For NT$50 extra, “economy” set B turns the marinated grilled fresh fish into an appetizer and gives you a choice of New Orleans-style tender roasted chicken (紐奧良嫩雞排), a 4-ounce rib-eye steak (燒烤助眼牛排), or Venetian-style grilled prawns (威尼斯鐵板班節蝦) for your entree.
The difference between “premium” meals (精選套餐) C and D and their cheaper counterparts include a dessert of mango pudding and bigger portions all around; for example, the rib-eye option for both is 8 ounces instead of 4 ounces. In meals C (NT$588) and D (NT$788) you can pick between the rib-eye and chicken, filet mignon (also 8 ounces) or “exotic” roasted lamb (異國香料烤羊排). Paying NT$200 extra for meal D allows you a choice between the porgy, roasted prawns or scallops for your appetizer.
Every dinner comes with onion or pumpkin cream soup. Stick with the latter unless you enjoy drinking warm onion-flavored water with limp onion bits floating about. The pumpkin soup is extremely mild, but it does have body and texture. Yaki does very well with all its fish dishes, which have a melt-in-your-mouth texture. The juicy New Orleans-style tender roasted chicken doesn’t seem particularly New Orleans-ish, but is still excellent, with just the right amount of crispness to its skin. My dining companion on several visits preferred the rib-eye to the filet mignon; the latter was “stringy” and a bit tough, he said, but the rib-eye was rich and buttery when cooked medium rare (六分熟). The grilled prawns served as an entree with meal B weren’t bad, but the dish included only two crustaceans.
Considering the number of courses per meal, Yaki’s service is efficient. On two occasions for dinner during busy weekends, our dishes arrived quickly and were swept away just as fast. Unfortunately, the briskness translated into abruptness when we returned on a Monday evening. Our main courses were plopped in front of us before we had finished our salads, leaving the impression that the waiter, while friendly, wanted us to skedaddle soon, even though an hour and a half remained before closing time.
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