Tags
Benihana, birthday, Breeze at The Samaya, Cocoon, food, massage, restaurants, San Francisco, Sarong, SE Asia, Seminyak, teppan grill
Who am I kidding?! Hell, yes, I am! My birthday isn’t actually quite here yet, but it’s in less than two weeks. Against my better judgment, and due to past experiences with flakey people, I decided to invite people to join me at my birthday dinner at Benihana. I only invited five people, but three of them showed up (one with an unexpected guest). The couple that I invited had to cancel a few hours before because their dog, who’s HUGE, seemed to have injured himself and they needed to take him to the vet immediately.
So Benihana… For those of you who aren’t aware, if you go on to the Benihana website and sign up, they send you a birthday certificate to be used during the month of your birthday. It can only be used during dinner service Monday through Thursday. In the past, the birthday girl or boy got their meal for absolutely nothing! Now, however, you get a certificate for $30 to be used towards your meal, PLUS you have to have at least one other person along to pay for a complete meal. Awww, inflation.
One of my friends, M.L., had never been to Benihana before. He was going to show me some photos of something, but commented “Well, this is awkward” when he realized that we were being seated at the teppan grill with other people. I told him to show me the photos under cover of the table if they were that private, which they weren’t actually!
Our teppan grill master was of Hispanic descent; didn’t catch his name. He did all the usual – the smoking volcano made out of onions, a heart with the fried rice, flipping the shrimp tails into his chef’s hat and pocket, as well as all of the fancy cutting techniques with plenty of fanfare.
Dinner was nice – I had the shrimp and steak, which came with soup, salad, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, rice and green tea ice cream. M.L. and I shared a carafe of sake. He doesn’t normally drink at all, so I tried to drink most of it (only worrying about him, of course!). The company was great. I’ve been largely anti-social as of late, so it was nice to go out, loosen up a little and chat with friends. I got a couple of bottles of sparkling wine and a gift certificate to Globe restaurant out of it, too!
My actual birthday will be celebrated in Seminyak. I have a late lunch reservation at Breeze at The Samaya, somewhere I’ve always intended to go, but never made it to. My dinner reservation is at Sarong, my favorite restaurant in Bali. Aside from that, I expect to spend my morning laying out at Cocoon, nibbling and sipping for a couple of hours, then sneaking a massage in somewhere during the afternoon. Then again, I thought I just read that Cocoon now offers massages, too, possibly in private cabanas. Will check that out momentarily.
Thus, au revoir until SE Asia, where I promise to TRY and be much better about blogging while I’m actually on the road.