Teppanyaki restaurants seem to be out of fad these days, being replaced by the ever popular shabu-shabu hot-pot joints. But Ben Teppanyaki has stood the test of time, and given its warm decor, excellent service and food, will probably be around even after the shabu-shabu joints have been replaced by the next fad.

Opened eight years ago, the restaurant has 15 teppanyaki tables spaciously spread around its vast dinning area. The cooks, all of which I am told have years of experience under their muffins, are orchestrated by veteran teppanyaki chef Bill Liu, who has been wielding teppanyaki spatulas at some of Taipei's finest hot tables for the past 24 years. 

Ben's plush interior sets the tone for the meal to come, and you immediately feel comfortable drawing up your chair for the ring-side show of culinary showmanship to come. Well, not quite. You see, unlike the teppanyaki shows in department store food courts, where the cooks love nothing more than to clang their spatulas and spray customers with sauce, Ben's chefs merely gently nudge and lovingly coax their food to turn over on the grill. In fact, they barely touch your food, and just let it sizzle away until ready to be served on your plate. 

The restaurant currently has a special promotion on abalone. Flown in live from Australia, these little crown jewels of the deep are being offered in a set menu, which also includes Omi steak. As you might expect, such treats don't come cheap. If you order the Omi steak and live abalone set menu, it will set you back NT$3,500 - not to mention service charge. 

I went for something a bit cheaper on the menu, Omi steak and seafood set menu NT$2,800. For that, you get a choice of appetizers, cold Sakura meat with soy sauce, or baked snail in mushroom and herb butter. 

I opted for the later, and watched my chef start work on this little gem. He first lightly fried the mushrooms and snails in a little butter, and then went to work on a delightful little sauce. This was given an extra layer of flavor with the addition of finely chopped asparagus, and served piping hot in a little copper pot.

I was offered four soups, seafood, oxtail, corn or consomme. I tried the oxtail, which was a rich, tomatoy broth brimming with chopped vegetables. I'm a great fan of oxtail soup, and prefer the thick, tangy variety, so I felt Ben's lighter style to be more along the lines of a borsch than oxtail. 

Next up was king prawn served with a mayonnaise and mustard sauce, followed by oyster in a Japanese-style sauce, which consisted of a gently cooked oyster served on its shell, over which my chef drizzled a light Japanese sauce which was given an extra kick with crushed red pepper corns. Capping the seafood part of the meal was a succulent chunk of cod, served in an extremely light egg white and bubble-spinach sauce. 

A Caesar salad created a break before the Omi steak, which was the crowning jewel to the meal. My chef first sprinkled salt and pepper on one side of my plate, before placing three slender fillets of Omi steak to sizzle on the hot plate. This was the only seasoning my steak would see. I asked for them to be cooked to medium-rare, but he suggested that I first give it a try at 30% cooked so that I could truly taste the essence of Omi steak. 

"Why not," I thought, and was glad that I agreed. The succulent cubes of beef melted in my mouth, and without any sauces to distract my taste buds, the full flavor of the beef shone through. 

 The sauteed bean sprouts and green vegetables following the steak stimulated little interest from my taste buds, likewise for the cheesecake for dessert. I guess that's why the steak is saved until last!