There aren’t many places left where you can get two meals and a show for $20, but Durham’s Ai Fuji Japanese Steakhouse is one of them.
If you order a hibachi meal, you’ll get soup, salad, vegetables, a veritable mountain of fried rice, and your choice of meat or seafood. Portions are generous enough that you’re bound to have enough for lunch the next day. Plus, an exuberant chef will entertain you as you eat, juggling utensils, flipping eggs into his hat, tossing morsels into (or, more accurately, at) diners’ mouths, and lighting stuff on fire.
Kids will love it. Preschoolers may be scared by some of the pyrotechnics, which are optional, but those four and up will probably be talking about it at school the next day. Our ten-month-old’s mind was absolutely blown by the onion volcano.
And the food? It’s a cut above your typical strip-mall hibachi fare. The fried rice is fluffy and nicely seasoned, while a hint of caramelized teriyaki sauce adds interest to the veggies. The meats are tender and juicy, with everything from the shrimp to the steak being impressively well-cooked. Scallops, perhaps, are the standout protein: plump, shimmering with oil, bearing the slightest of crusts from the grill, and delicately salted.
The hibachi meal, before the steak was served. For reference, that plate’s about a foot in diameter.
The side dishes, however, disappoint. The salad’s mainly chopped lettuce, topped with a tasty ginger-mayonnaise dressing. The onion soup was pretty much salt water with a few token scallions bobbing around in it.
Onion soup.
We didn’t have enough stomach space to try the sushi, but Ai Fuji seems to be courting the Shiki Sushi crowd in this department, offering buy-one-get-one-free specials and kooky roll options aplenty. Purists will find plenty to shudder at, including rolls that incorporate mango and jalapeno and have names like the Sexy Girl Roll. But I’d advise anyone dodging the wait at Shiki by hitting up Ai Fuji to forgo the sushi and try the hibachi instead.
The post Dinner and a Show: Ai Fuji Japanese Steakhouse appeared first on Matters of Varying Insignificance.