Tera's imposing metal door opened to reveal a dark staircase with petite footlights illuminating the way to a subterranean designer's lair-not at all like the teppanyaki joints we're accustomed to. After walking past the handful of sleek tables in the elegant dining room, we perched on a couple of stools at the counter. A set of immaculately folded burgundy napkins and a sizable teppan sat before us and a blade-wielding chef offered a welcoming smile. Our night of the long knives had just begun.
As we sipped draft beer and a glass of plum wine (¥700 each), our waiter delivered the condiments first-Andean and Ogasawara salt grains, bonito-soaked soy sauce and homemade spicy miso-with an in-depth explanation of which entree matched which seasoning. Dying to dip some sizzling fare into these strange but succulent-looking salts and sauces, we finally got our opportunity with the fried mixed Japanese vegetable plate (¥700). The intricately shaved carrot sticks, fresh green asparagus and zucchini were lightly crusted yet retained all their juiciness to blend impeccably with the miso sauce-or in the case of our renegade partner, all the condiments stirred into one.
As we munched on our vegetarian appetizers, our white-clad chef, now joined by his second-in-command, busied himself slicing a lean, sumptuous chunk of beef filet (¥1,700~) from the Saito ranch in Yamagata Prefecture. The chef orders all his beef from this one ranch, having personally visited it and inspected the cattle's upbringing-knowledge that whetted our appetites in anticipation of our beef entrée, along with potato and mentaiko (Hakata-made spicy fish roe) pancakes (¥1,000), Indian Ocean tuna steak (¥1,500~) and fried garlic rice (¥900).
Completely immersed in the stories, the show and the sautéed delicacies on our plates, we hadn't noticed the several groups of middle-aged salarymen and fashionable couples who had arrived and were sipping aperitifs. But as the portions were carefully placed on our plates one by one, we returned to cloud nine and dug in. The tuna steak, auctioned off the dock in Tsukiji, was a delightful mix of crisp edges and a rare center all dipped in bonito soy sauce. The Yamagata filet, meanwhile, with not a trace of lard, had an exquisite tenderness and complemented the steaming portions of chunky garlic rice in all its pungent, mouthwatering aroma.
We topped our night off with seasonal fried fruits with ice cream (¥600), of course worked off the teppan. Inspired by this designer restaurant serving some truly savory fare, we vowed to return for some more sizzling selections in the near future.