I had plans to visit a popular skewers restaurant in Nagoya but after an entire day at Glibli park, we had absolutely no energy to travel anywhere else for food. So when our tour brought us back to Nagoya train station, we decided to walk around to check out the restaurants available. As we are midway through our trip and we really wanted to try a meal of Teppanyaki, we looked for a Teppanyaki restaurant which serves other meat rather then beef
From the directories, we found Kashiwa which is popular for Nagoya Cochin dishes which a is Nagoya specialty. Cochin is actually chicken so you can find either grilled or braised chicken dishes here. The restaurant is a semi-open concept where some of the seats are open view to shoppers in the mall and there are also private rooms available
We were shown to a table which comes with a hot plate to keep the food warm. We were also served a side dish and a plate of 3 different types of sauces; salt, chili vinegar oil and a bean paste
If you want to see all the cooking action, you can choose to sit at the counter where the chef cooks the meat on the Teppanyaki grill before getting the service staff to serve the dish at your table. It is pretty interesting to watch the chef work as the rest of the kitchen is also in full view but the greasy smell will leave an impact on your clothes since the counter seats are just next to the grill
We ordered one of their chicken set menu which came with a sampler of everything they sold. Some of the items include the chicken gizzards and heart. We were first served the gizzards and odds parts together with mushrooms, spring onions and asparagus. Since we are used to eating chicken organs, we really liked the crunchiness of the organs and the flavor will clean with a nice smokey taste. They were lightly seasoned so it paired well either with or without dipping them in sauce. The vegetables were cooked perfectly with the charred flavor but retaining their juiciness especially the mushroom and asparagus. This was a perfect snack to have with beer
The next items served were the chicken wing, breast meat, tight meat, skin as well as the backside. As each different part was served in bit sized pieces, it was easy to consume in 1 mouth and taste the different textures and flavours. I did not take the backside as I was scared of the nasty taste but my nephew said it was extremely yummy. It was just an explosion of fatty bits which was savoury and oily. For those who likes heavily marbled meats will love it. For the rest they were grilled nicely with a charred flavour and natural savoury taste of the chicken meat. The only part I found abit dry was the chicken wing, it was fried and not grilled and the meat was quite dry
Last but not least we ordered a Okonomiyaki alike pancake which was cooked in Nagoya style. This was a nice finish for the meal with a sweet and savoury crispy pancake. The top was nicely pan fried with a brown crispy finish and without the usual splatter of mayonaise and sauce, you can taste the taste of the batter with the sweetness of the vegetables and meat. The bonito flakes added a tinge of umami flavour
Overall, we had a rather satisfying and light meal. It was not greasy and since we had only 1 set, we were just full enough not to feel hungry and not too stuffed. The different chicken parts was cooked perfectly the way they should be enjoyed and would really be the perfect meal paired with alcohol drinks. I had a highball and it was just perfect
Address: 1-1-3 Meieki, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya-shi, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, 450-6660, Directly connected to JR Nagoya Station JR Gate Tower 12F
Opening hours: 11 am to 3 pm and 5 pm to 11 pm
The restaurant also goes by the name Teppanyaki Okonomiyaki Kashiwa Nagoya Jei Aaru Geto Tawa Ten for those who wants wants to make a reservation via Tabelog
Bear Travels . Bear Eats . Bear Cooks 