Review: Benihana restaurant, London

Restaurant: Benihana

Where? 37 Sackville Street, London W1S 3EH

The look: Wooden counters grouped around teppan (large grills amped up to 360 degrees) where all the hot food is prepared in front of you. Each table has its own chef that flings prawns around (flipping the tails into their pockets after removing them is a favourite) and toss salt and pepper shakers into their hats. This isn't just cooking, it's performance.

The food: My friend and I were there to try out the ladies-only 9-course 'Keiko' tasting menu, which is in celebration of the restaurant's 50^th anniversary and named after Benihana CEO Keiko Ono Aoki. Quick note: the word 'tasting' is something of an incongruity, I was expecting tiny portions; I was wrong. From the moment the food started, we didn't have an empty plate. Onion soup, swiftly followed by sushi, chicken crepes, veggie tempura, salad with ginger dressing, and prawns that (literally) flew off the grill. As we tucked in, barely a moment passed before the main courses hit the teppan - hibachi (infused with flavour) salmon and delicious steak, with rice - and both much larger servings than we were anticipating. By the time dessert - cheesecake dumplings with green tea ice cream - rolled around, we were groaning.

The crowd: If you're after a leisurely and intimate dinner à deux, this isn't the place. The counters seat an average of eight and you'll find yourselves grouped with other clapping, whooping diners who have come for the spectacle as much as the food.

Don't miss: Watching your chef turn a spiral of onion into a steaming, and then flaming, volcano. It's definitely an Instagram moment.

The perfect + 1: a big group of friends. The tasting menu is ladies-only, but if you were eating à la carte, it would be a good date venue, as the circus surrounding the cooking would put paid to any awkward silences.

Benihana's 9-course ladies-only tasting menu is £30 p/p. Diners must mention the menu when booking. Find out more: www.benihana.co.uk