Teppanyaki is a style of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food. The word teppanyaki is derived from teppan, which means iron plate, and yaki, which means grilled, broiled or pan-fried. In Japan, teppanyaki refers to dishes cooked using a iron plate, The originator of the teppanyaki-style steakhouse is the Japanese restaurant chain Misono, which introduced the concept of cooking Western-influenced food on a teppan in Japan in 1945. They soon found that the cuisine was more popular with foreigners than with the Japanese, who enjoyed both watching the skilled maneuvers of the chefs preparing the food as well as the cuisine, somewhat more familiar than more traditional Japanese dishes. As the restaurants became popular at tourist spots with non-Japanese, the chain increased the performance aspect of the chef's preparation, such as stacking onion slices to produce a flaming onion volcano

Ingredients

Typical ingredients used for Western-style teppanyaki are beef, shrimp, scallops, lobster, chicken and assorted vegetables. Soybean oil is typically used to cook the ingredients Japanese-style teppanyaki uses noodles (yakisoba), cabbage with sliced meat or seafood (okonomiyaki) which are cooked using regular vegetable oil, animal fat, or a mixture. In Japan, many teppanyaki restaurants feature Kobe beef Side dishes of mung bean sprouts, zucchini (even though zucchini is not a popular vegetable in Japan and rarely found in the market), garlic chips, or fried rice usually accompany the meal.

Some restaurants provide sauces in which to dip the food. In Japan only soy sauce is typically offered. The form of teppanyaki most familiar to North Americans consists of steak and other meats, along with vegetable accompaniments, and is often known by the name of hibachi, with the establishments often referred to as "Japanese steakhouses."

Benihana

In the United States, teppanyaki was made famous by the Benihana restaurant chain which opened its first restaurant in New York in 1964. Benihana and other chains of teppanyaki steakhouses continue to place an emphasis on the chef performing a show for the diners, continuing to introduce new variations and tricks. The chef might juggle utensils, flip a shrimp tail into his/her shirt pocket, catch an egg in his/her hat, toss an egg up in the air and split it with a spatula, flip flattened shrimp pieces into the diners' mouths, or arrange onion rings into fire-shooting volcanoes