Hidden in the corner of a shopping center on the southwest corner of Beach and Talbert lies one of the best local Japanese Restaurants you may never have heard about. Matsu, which features both a “cook at the table” teppan experience, as well as an impressive candy bowl, dazzles customers with unique cultural decorations and delicious food.
As customers enter, they can watch the small bamboo pond to their right as water keeps track of time, filling a pipe until it tips, as they wait to be seated. To enter the dining room, visitors pass under an ordinary doorway adorned with red, blue, and yellow beads (spirited colors to any baron) into the main dining room. If you are headed for a regular table, your journey ends here, but if you have chosen to experience the marvelous teppan, you are led into a smaller room with four frying stoves, and enough seats to hold thirty-two people. The walls are painted red, flourished with pictures of traditional Japanese characters. The stage is set for the best kind of show, featuring the most interesting star: food.
The teppan chef approaches the table, and welcomes everyone to Matsu. Prepared with all of your food on his cart, he sprinkles water on the stove. The water sprints across the surface, practically flying. This immense heat, the chef explains, is one of the key ingredients to Japanese cuisine.
The teppan chef approaches the table, and welcomes everyone to Matsu. Prepared with all of your food on his cart, he sprinkles water on the stove. The water sprints across the surface, practically flying. This immense heat, the chef explains, is one of the key ingredients to Japanese cuisine.
The first dish the chef endeavors to cook for his audience is the fried rice. First, he pours chopped scallions, carrots, onions, and cucumbers onto the stove. On the other end, the cook spreads oil around, before dropping a massive mound of rice on top. He pushes the eggs gently across the stove, and makes a crack about eggrolls, before he picks them back up and cracks them. Once the food is cooked to perfection, he mixes it all together, and gracefully portions the rice into everyone’s bowl.
Throughout the rest of the meal, the teppan expert does all the tricks, like flicking shrimp tails into his shirt pocket, forming a volcano out of a sliced onion, and making a heart out of fried rice. Overall, he built one of the most interesting and memorable teppan experiences around.
Matsu Teppan is right for any lover of meat, rice, and soy sauce. Nothing about Matsu is simply pulled together. Everyone working there runs to a specific rhythm, creating smooth, seamless service and delicious, mind-blowing dishes supports the wonder around the restaurant.
