Hanahana, Newcastle

Superb restaurant, should have found it sooner! Great food and reasonable prices.

We went to Hanahana in Newcastle for the first time on 18th AUgust 2009 for my future daughter in law's birthday and we were not dissapointed. I had read reviews on other forums about raw eggs being tossed onto people's shirts and a rowdy atmosphere, well if you agree to join the tepanyaki chef in juggling raw eggs and then trying to catch them in a chef's hat that they give you to wear then you deserve all that you get.

The service was good and attentive from first arrival through ordering and seating. Our previous experience of a Japanese restaurant was BenniHana's in Bangkok which was superb. We were escorted to our table via the Japanese drum that is struck when being seated every time for everyone and the staff chant some Japanese words which add to the experience. The food is cooked fresh in front of you on a large hotplate directly in front of your table, their is no discreet romantic corner tables here it is a communal U shaped table that has you sitting next to strangers but the atmosphere compensates for the lack of privacy.

We opted for the most expensive banquet on the menu, the Hanahana Imperial and were stuffed with fresh cooked scallops, salmon, king prawns, half lobster each egg fried rice, soup and stir fry veg, the array of sakii and soy sauce dips were beautifully tasty and we are prparing to book up again for the next "special occasion" and at £135 for 4 people it is not cheap but great value for money considering the entertainment from the chef. Their are 2 styles of food to choose from, sushi/sushimi and tepan yaki, we all opted for the latter,

Great food, great entertainment, great night out.