Yureka Teppanyaki

A long long time ago, someone told me about a place in the northern area of Singapore that served ‘Halal Teppanyaki’. That’s right. Halal Teppanyaki.

My first instincts were to say ” Sure or not…”.
And all those years ago, I never got a chance to explore this claim of what might have been the only place to serve Halal Teppanyaki in Singapore.

What exactly is Teppanyaki?
Well it’s basically a Japanese style of cooking food on a griddle or a pan and this is normally done in front of the diners. Food is served fresh off the grill and may also add an element of entertainment I guess. I mean, how much more freshly cooked can you ask for without having to cook it yourself?

I’ll be honest and say that we here at The Halal Food Blog have had teppanyaki before but it definitely was not certified Halal. And it definitely didn’t have any entertainment factor to it.

And what exactly do I mean when I mention “entertainment”?
Well a little bit of research online says that they added a little bit of showmanship when it came to teppanyaki in the 70s onwards. The chef would not only cook your food for you but also put on a little show while you waited for your food.

When I think of this, I remember that scene from Police Academy 2 at the teppanyaki place.
If you’re still not sure what I mean, you can go to YouTube and watch some videos including the Police Academy one and some real-life videos taken by diners.

Well anyways, back to the review.
Many many many years after first hearing about it, I hear again about this Halal Teppanyaki joint and even better news this time – they had an outlet in the East!

They have an outlet in Springleaf in the North-side but us East-siders are lucky they opened up an outlet at Jalan Masjid near Kembangan.

So we made our way excitedly to Yureka…

The first thing I have to point out is that they don’t just sell teppanyaki only.
They have other things like Sushi, Syabu-Syabu Mini Steamboat among other things if you’re into the whole Japanese thing. But if not, they also have other more traditional stuff including some Thai Cuisine too!

But we’re here for the Teppanyaki!!

They have sets already prepared for you to choose from so it depends on what you feel like having and also how many people will be eating. They have sets catering for diners ranging from 2-8 pax and items also range from seafood like lobster to premium Wagyu beef so take a close look at the menu before you choose.

We decided to have the Family Teppanyaki Set for 4 pax ($80.00).
It came with Chicken, Cuttlefish and a choice of 2 additional items like Chicken, Salmon, Scallop, Prawn, Beef and Cuttlefish. There’s also (strangely) Seabass which you can have either Sweet & Sour or 3 Rasa.
By the way, all sets come with Japanese Rice, Miso Soup, Vegetables and hot Green Tea.

We decided to top-up and upgrade to Fried Rice plus we added some Mix Mushrooms .

And boy were we in for a treat.

Our chef for the evening was this guy called Farid.
He did a whole range of tricks with the ingredients he was cooking and the utensil he was using.
Flipping this and throwing that! Knocking this and slicing that!

Okay okay call me a jakun but this was the first time I was experiencing this and it was actually really fun!

Chef Farid frying up some veggies for the Fried Rice

That’s an EGG he’s flipping!

Nifty knife-work before slicing up the meats

Chef Farid tells us it took him 4 years to learn all the skills he has today.

Yeah that’s some really fancy stuff there buddy.
But is the food any good?

Miso Soup

Stir-Fried Vegetables

I can’t say much for the Miso Soup to be honest. It was actually pretty bland.

But, it may look pretty simple but those bean sprouts are pretty tasty.
Errr if you’re not much of a taugeh fan then maybe you can opt for Chye Sim or mushrooms instead?

Mixed Mushrooms ($8.50)

This wasn’t part of the set meal but we added on anyways.
My darling wife and I are such big fans of mushrooms so we can never resist.
Totally worth the top-up!

Garlic Fried Rice ($3.00 for Upgrade)

We also upgraded to the Garlic Fried Rice.
I was actually expecting a really strong garlic taste but definitely not the case here so if you’re ordering it for the garlic then maybe you better let the chef know to garlic the bugger up.

Salmon

I actually enjoyed the salmon to be honest but I’m not sure about the rest.
It’s simply grilled and then the chef tops it off with the teriyaki soy finish which he also prepares there on the grill. And I was amazed how simple it was.

Basically he mixes up some butter with the teriyaki soy sauce he has and done!
He just lays it on that fish for you and it was delicious to me. He also does this for the chicken and I’m sure some other meats as well.

Cuttlefish

The squid was actually very well cooked.
But I didn’t care very much for the sambal which coated it. It was way too asam pedas-ish for me.

Beef

Tender beef steak grilled on the hot pan with some simple seasoning and sauce.
Simple and nothing too spectacular. We did ask for the meat to be cooked medium-well and it was cooked to exactly that but…. I think next time we’ll ask for well done.

Chicken

You know what? The chicken was probably the best meat dish I had there.
The chicken was PERFECTLY cooked so that it was still juicy and super tender while you still get some crisp skin and all covered in that butter-teriyaki magic sauce.

Tiga Rasa Seabass

Okay so this dish actually didn’t go with the seat meal.
In fact, it’s the only main dish that wasn’t at the teppanyaki grill but the Thai kitchen instead.
And it wasn’t bad but it didn’t really go with the rest of the food so it was just kinda odd.

And in case you were wondering, the ‘3’ in Tiga Rasa refers to the 3 flavours of sweet, sour and spicy.
If you go anywhere and you get other things like ‘salty’ or ‘bitter’ then I think they’re bluffing you lah.

Mean Mango & Red Passion ($3.50 each)

Not part of the meal but some fun-sounding and tasty sodas to wash down the food.
They have a whole list including some called ‘Black Ocean’ and ‘Arabian Nite’ among other things.

Adam’s Verdict: 4.5/5
Maryah’s Verdict: 4/5
Guest Reviewer #1: 3.5/5
Guest Reviewer #2: 4/5

We went to eat there with some special ‘Anonymous’ guest reviewers.
We may all have different tastes but we all agreed on one thing – Yureka is definitely a great experience once in awhile especially if you have someone like Chef Farid to not only cook tasty food for you but also entertain you with some fancy antics while he’s at it.

It’s some place where you can bring the whole family and everyone has something to enjoy even if they don’t like Japanese food. And I’ve read a lot of critics online saying Yureka is “not authentic” and all that but to me it’s a great place to have a decent meal with family and friends. Plus, it’s still the only Halal joint of its kind as far as I know.

Chef Farid tells me to video him in action the next time we go down for more.
And it looks like we’ll be doing just that.

Yureka Teppanyaki

10 Jln Masjid
Tel: 68427317
www.teppanyaki.com.sg

Operating Hours: 11am til 10.30pm (Daily except Friday 3pm til 10.30)