Kagen is a very trendy Japanese Teppanaki restaurant in Chaoyang district of Beijing across the street from the old SOHO. Outside, the restaurant is all concrete and industrial, however, inside it is designed to mimick the clean look of modern architecture with stainless steel and granite throughout. There is also the zen feel of water, sand and stone inside, with a small raked sand garden just like they have in Kyoto but this one came complete with small child footprints in it. We had 12 people in our group and sat in a private room - unless you eat hotpot, that's all they offer is rooms. Each of us ordered a different set menu, each priced from $RMB200 to RMB250 and then we shared. It certainly pricey for Beijing, but it is a lot of food; (includes soup or salad, sashimi and main dish); a great setting; good service and a good show. First we have the sashimi appetizer which comes with the set menu. A few of us had minor tummy troubles and we suspect the sashimi was the culprit. This was a definite downer and keeps the food in the 4 range if in fact that was the cause (we're not sure). Next comes the large prawns which the chef cooks up. You can see him doing his twirling tricks with the pepper grinder (in photo). His hands moving so fast that they are just a blur in the photo below. That was fun and we gave him cheers and a round of applause. However, our cheers turned to nervousness when he started twirling knives as part of the show. Like my mom always said, "Its all fun and games until someone loses an eye." Nevertheless, these large prawns were delicious though and were worth the risk of minor cuts and bodily injury. The mayo based sauce was great with this seafood. Next came some vegetables and then the sirloin and tenderloin. They turned down the lights and he did some kind of trick with the flaming onion. Kind of touristy at that point, but we were all enjoying it. The beef was good. My personal favorite was probably the codfish (which is not on the set menu). The fried rice was a nice show, but it didn't taste all the different from fried rice you get anywhere else.
