Sazanka

Ferdinand Bolstraat 333
Amsterdam

One Friday after work, J & I tried to go to Yamazato for some sushi, but no surprise it was booked full. So we decided to finally give Sazanka a go. The last teppanyaki place I'd been to was in Noordwijk with J's family, and it must have been our chef's first day working without an instructor. His fear was as obvious as the trail of shrimp guts on the side of his knife because he couldn't adequately clean the shrimp. And he knew that we knew he had no business being there, "cooking" for people. It was amusing and sad, but in the end my expectations didn't exactly come crashing to the ground. When in Noordwijk, eat croquette.

Sazanka, on the other hand, met all my expectations, even exceeding them if consider the Eastern European gangster and his Asian girlfriend with dyed blond hair, bleached eyebrows and taupe monochromatic lips. who sat across from us. And I think I should.

The restaurant is a lot smaller than Yamazato, with maybe 7 or 8 teppanyaki tables where the guests rotated in and out throughout the night. Catty-corner to us at the next table was the gangster and woman I described above, and neither J nor I could keep out eyes off of them. Luckily, we could stare as much as we wanted using Sazanka's mirrored walls; and we could take in the other guest too... at a table in the middle of the room sat 3 separate groups overlooking each other: 4 late-twenty something men sitting spending money, 4 teenage girls celebrating a birthday by spending daddy's money and 4 wives in their early forties whose husbands had excused themselves for an after dinner cigar. The tension at that table was palpable, each group staring each other, but knowing that they couldn't touch. Great drama.

Anyway, I'm here to talk about the food as well, right? We ordered the menu Sazanka, which started off with a lovely tuna carpaccio from the kitchen, followed by an absolutely amazing smoked duck and crispy duck liver salad made entirely on teppanyaki grill. Next was the obligatory lobster tail and scallop, which was cleaned, deshelled, cooked and re-assembled with skill and confidence. Of course, delicious; J not only tried but enjoyed his first scallop! He also enjoyed the grilled yellowtail with teriyaki sauce which followed, but I didn't at all. I prefer it raw and i thought the teriyaki sauce was too heavy, sweet and sticky for the fish. But I ate it anyway, what else can you do with the chef in front of you?

The main was as one would expect, beef steak cut into cubes, served with crispy fried garlic and the three traditional sauces. For dessert we were served a crepe with ice cream, which after some work I was able to change for green tea ice cream. The kitchen was concerned that the green tea would clash with the rest of the dish, and asked the waitress to communicate this concern to me. Of course, the customer is always right, but I have a lot of respect when a restaurant has standards and a clear vision, on everything and their desserts. Sazanka surely doesn't deserve to be treated as a fall back to Yamazato anymore.