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hibachi chef

Hibachi Grill Kyoto Miyako Tachibana
Lexington has two Japanese "Fast Casual" outlets plus two sit down Japanese restaurants, all excellent, unlike any other dining experience, and well worth a visit. They offer octopus, seaweed salad, eel, fluke, rice paper, green mussels, dragon rolls, fish eggs, sea urchin, and of course Sushi. Their various rolls (each restaurant has its own specialties) are interesting, with their fish and vegetable ingredients. You can order your favorite steak, fish or chicken at a Japanese eatery, but they'll fix it with a different twist than you're used to. Rice, noodles and soups are traditional Japanese side dishes but, as you might expect with a heavily populated mountainous island, sea food makes up a large portion of the menu. For example, that rice might be made into a seafood rice cake. A typical soup might contain various seafood items. The Japanese use both chopsticks and silverware, so you can experiment with the sticks but if you get frustrated there are always the utensils. Japanese wines and teas are very delicate in taste. The Japanese have borrowed certain dishes from the Chinese, Koreans and Vietnamese, but they fix them slightly differently, with their own seasonings. Japanese food tends to be milder than mainland Asian cooking.
When you eat at a full scale Japanese restaurant you always have the choice of a Hibachi Chef (in Japan, "teppanyaki") fixing your meal at your table on a propane heated iron griddle or simply having the kitchen fix it and serve in the the regular way. The Hibachi Chef is a little more time consuming, because they put on quite a show. But your first couple of times, and if you have children or guests with you, it's worth it. After you become a veteran Japanese restaurant patron, you can lapse back into the more traditional format. hibachi chef
Hibachi Express is a Japanese Stir Fry restaurant on South Limestone across from Memorial Hall. You could sit inside and eat, but there are only a few tables and it works best as a carryout. The menu's limited but the food's tasty. You pick an Appetizer from the Spring Rolls, Crab Rangoon, Sesame Balls and Dumplings. You choose your Entree from Vegetables, Steak, Chicken, Shrimp, Fish or some combination of these. Then you pick Hibachi or Teriyaki Sauce. It all comes with Yum Yum Sauce. You're going to spend about $10 : $6-7 for the entree and $3-4 for the appetizer. The place gets hectic at lunchtime and is especially popular among Business, Law and Engineering students. hibachi

Kyoto Japanese Kitchen is in Tates Creek Center, way out along Man o War Boulevard. It's "Fast Casual" style Japanese, in that you place your order and they bring it to your table. Kyoto is really geared to pickup and carryout customers, although there are a few tables for those who wish to eat in. It also seems a bit overpriced for the local market. With all this said, however, the food here is very good. They have a solid selection of Sushi ($10-14), of which we especially like the Crab Rangoon (crab, cream cheese, chili sauce, eel sauce) and Jalapeno (jalapeno, tuna, cream cheese, spicy mayo, eel sauce). There are five Poke Bowls priced at $15. Our favorite is the Dancing Dragon (eel, cucumber, crab, avocado, mayo and sesame), but the Sakura (shrimp, crab, cucumber, mango, seaweed, pineapple, chili sauce and fish eggs) is close. The Hibachi Soup (beef /chicken broth, carrots, onion, celery, ginger, mushrooms, scallions) is alone worth stopping for, but they also offer the traditional Miso Soup. There's classic Seaweed Salad, Rice and Noodles, and entrees of Chicken, Shrimp, Steak and Salmon. Beverages include Japanese Tea, Coconut Water, Ale 8 or soft drinks.

Miyako is out Richmond Road on the left just past New Circle Road. Miyako has the most extensive teriyaki menu in town with seven dinners, and offers two tempuras (battered and fried dishes) as appetizers and four more as dinner sides. Its raw sushi menu features squid, sea urchin and octopus. Cooked sushi includes Tako, Smoked Salmon, Ebi, Tamago and Unagi Kani. Miyako's Sushi specialty is its Dancing Tuna Roll, spicy tuna wrapped in seaweed and tart rice, topped with seared tuna, wasabi sauce, scallions and masago. Heavy with wood, the decor conceals the fact six lane Richmond Road is only feet from the building. The Plum Wine is the best beverage on the menu. Miyako
Tachibana Tachibana is the Japanese restaurant closest to the Toyota plant, and the one most often visited by the executives there, along with their guests from the home office back in Japan. LexMark and other major corporations are also nearby, and their executives drop by frequently for lunch or early dinner. As such, it is a bit pricier than the others, a bit more formal, a bit more traditional, and a bit more authentic. The biggest difference seems to be in the quality of the beef and the number of beef entrees on the menu. They emphasize Sushi a little less and the wine list is more extensive. Flavoring has not been Americanized as much, and the Seaweed Salads seem to have a deeper, darker, richer taste. 785 Newtown Court. 859-254-1911. Downtown, head out West Main and turn right on Newtown Pike. Follow it out past Lexmark over New Circle Road. Turn right turn into Newtown Court and look for Tachibana on the left.
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