Benihana Chelsea King’s Road - Restaurant Review

Cuisine: Japanese Steakhouse
Style Points: 5/5
Location: King’s Road Chelsea
Price: ££
Overall: 5/5

I always love dining at Benihana, and when I heard about the revamped Chelsea branch, I had to check it out! Located on the affluent King’s Road and close to the Saatchi Gallery, this Benihana branch is as swanky as its surroundings.

The main dining space is on the lower level, and as diners descend the stairs they are greeted with a massive screen welcoming them, as well as a luxurious bar area as well as newly installed ‘Rocky’s Lounge’ which is a great space to relax with a group.

Drinks can be enjoyed in this bar area and when you table is ready you’ll be led into the dining space to your table equipped with a teppan hotplate and your very own personal teppanyaki chef!

Food?

As part of the revamp to Benihana Chelsea, the menu has also been upgraded to include small plates and astounding cocktails!

The new dishes range from Marinated Hamachi; served with pink peppercorn ponzu and daikon, a selection of maki rolls, as well as mouth-watering sashimi and nigiri, salads and hot plates, Pirikara Prawns, Tori Kare Age and chicken and mushroom gyozas.

As well as trying a few of these small plates, we opted for the Benihana Traditional Dinner which they have been serving since 1964. Our main course was Wagyu beef and hibachi miso black cod, which was theatrically cooked in front of us by our chef along with our sides of vegetables and rice. We could see that the kids at other tables absolutely loved this, especially as the chefs individually interacted with them.

Our meal was fantastic but the absolute highlight of it was the cocktails. Benihana’s new cocktail menu is innovative, delicious and theatrical too!

Curated especially for Benihana by The Cocktail Professor, the new cocktails are playful and energetic and style creating a unique drinking experience that tickles the five senses.

Using expressive Japanese flavour combinations and small theatrical rituals surrounding the drinks, the new menu takes inspiration from Japanese culture and cuisine, presenting it with an extravagant modern ‘Rocky Aioki’ twist.

We particularly enjoyed the Natsukashi and Tsuru cocktails, as recommended to us my our waiter. I’d suggest going with their recommendations as they did such a great job at pairing our cocktails for us!

Price?

Benihana is an experience and opting for one of the set menus means you get to enjoy all parts of it. The price can vary depending on the main course you choose with the seafood Diablo salmon and the Hibachi chicken being the cheapest at below £30.

Cocktails are a must try and cost approximately £12, which is a superb price for these unique, theatrical drinks!

Overall?

I’m so pleased to see that Benihana have expanded their menu and added variety to their offering. The addition of low-carb small dishes makes the restaurant more accessible to a wider audience.

The new cocktail menu, which will be updated twice a year, stole the show for me and is something I will be going back to experience again and again!