• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

mrssavageangel

First time mother just trying to figure out where to go from here.

The Beni Girl Bash

12/09/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

If you follow me in any shape or form on social media, then you will know that last Wednesday I had the most awesome day out. As so many of you have asked how it went, I thought it’d be fun to cover the best bits of the day in a post!

So yeah last Wednesday Benihana invited a group of us to come and have a little blogger get together while checking out the restaurant as a family destination. I was excited to go for various reasons:

1) I had never been to the Japanese restaurant Benihana, but always wanted to, 2) I hadn’t been to London in an age and certainly not to do anything fun and 3) Ben was looking after the boy for the afternoon, which meant I got to go child free (he was invited too, but if you read my blog you may be aware just how not ready for a trip to London my boy its yet!). Can you think of a reason not to love this?

I caught the train up to Waterloo and and then the tube over to Sloane Sq. It was so much easier than I thought it would be and only a short walk away from the station. I arrived at the a tardis of a building early. The entrance was tiny, but the restaurant itself was huge!

I got here in one piece!
I got here in one piece!
Doesn't look much
Doesn’t look big from the outside!

The only downside I could see was the large staircase we had to descend to reach the part of the restaurant we were in. There might have been a lift I didn’t see, but I think all those stairs might have put me off if I’d needed to take the buggy.

The group of bloggers who had come along were so friendly and all had children of different ages. It was great to get to meet other people doing really inspirational things (seriously I met a woman with 7 children who still has time to blog!) and despite not having Oscar with me I was drawn to those who’d bought toddlers or babies with them! Typical!

We had some amazing nibbles in the large bar area, including a really healthy array of sushi and chicken. They also bought out these crisp things which tasted far too good not to be loaded with syns, so I had a few and moved on. I admit I caved and had one cocktail, but only to be friendly you understand 😉 .

A mango cocktail and nibbles to die for
A mango cocktail and nibbles to die for
No body eats til photos have been taken when bloggers are around
Nobody eats til photos have been taken when bloggers are around

We then got to meet the Beni Girls. 50 years ago, ‘Rocky’ Aoki set up his first Japanese Benihana diner in the US, making this year a very special birthday for the chain. To celebrate, the Beni Girls have been commissioned to choreograph a dance, which they’re touring with across the world, visiting many of the 120 branches.

Rebecca and Megu, bless them, really tried their level best to get us up and dancing, but in the end the children put us all to shame by joining in with gusto!

IMG_7465
Up!
IMG_7466
Down!
IMG_7468
Swing it all around!

Once the ‘lessons’ were over, they showed us their dance.The girls were so good with the children! When a toddler decided to join in they happily incorporated him into their dancing. What great sports!

I don't know! Only I would meet the Beni Girls and pull a stupid face! Sigh!
I don’t know! Only I would meet the Beni Girls and pull a stupid face! Sigh!

After all that exertion it was time for the children to sit down, be entertained and eat from the specially created children’s menu. The teppan chefs truly are as good at theatrics as they are at cooking. You sit round the teppan plate (great if you’re in a group as we were) and just watch the show!

Diners all sit round the teppan plate
Diners all sit round the teppan plate
The children were truly entertained
The children were truly entertained – with menu hats and child friendly chopsticks
Fire! My favourite part!
Fire! My favourite part!

If you want to see them in full flow you can visit the Benihana homepage for an awesome video

Benihana Chef!

I love this style of cooking. It’s really healthy as it uses extreme heat, cooking the food quickly with little oil (great if you’re food optimising) and all the ingredients used are fresh. It looked like great fun! The only drawback I noticed was that all the food is cooked on the same surface. One of the children in our group was allergic to shellfish, meaning she could eat nothing cooked on the plate once prawns had touched it. In this case the staff were incredibly good, rushing to get her something else to eat and I’m sure if you told them in advance something could be arranged, but it’s something to bare in mind.

I came away absolutely convinced it would make a wonderful birthday venue for a child’s party. Sit up to eight of them around the teppan plate and let the chefs keep them entertained and quiet, except for the ooohs and ahhs! Would I take Oscar? No, not yet. Apart from the journey into London, I’m not sure he’s at a place where he would appreciate it. It’s more expensive than the usual suspects of ASK and more local Asian restaurants and you’d want to be sure they’d get as much out of it as possible if you’re going to push the boat out. Would I take him when he’s older? Definitely! I would love to be able to take a bunch of his friends up to town and celebrate with such an exciting experience. Maybe when he turns 10.

Only another 7.5 years to plan that one then!

 

I appreciate my photos are not the best – I so wish I’d taken the big camera. If you search Instagram or Twitter for #BeniGirlsBash you’ll find some awesome pictures taken by the others.

I was given free food, drink and entertainment at Benihana in exchange for an honest write up. I was not paid to write this post.

Filed Under: Review Tagged With: Benihana, children, Family, food, Motherhood

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Me

  • Facebook

Recent Posts

  • North Hayne Farm Cottages – our experiences as an SEND Family
  • One gift – an update…..
  • One gift….
  • Key Stage 2 and the Autism Mama
  • Amsterdam, the perfect city break with children

Instagram

Totally petitioning to move Bonfire night to June. Totally petitioning to move Bonfire night to June. It’s not so dark you lose your family, it’s way warmer and the sky just looks more dramatic. Much more fun all round.
Jubilee Beacon Fireworks. Jubilee Beacon Fireworks.
What an amazing day! The little sister who came in What an amazing day! The little sister who came into our lives when she was a sweet little ten year old, is now a beautiful, strong wife and mother. We couldn’t have been any prouder to share her day with her. Oh yeah and James was there too 😜 Only kidding we love you guys so much! #family #wedding
All the chocolate, all the good food. Happy Easter All the chocolate, all the good food. Happy Easter, Passover or Ramadan. Hope you’re spending today with your people. 💐🐰🌱 #spring #celebrate
New favourite cousin photo! #thuglife #jessandosca New favourite cousin photo! #thuglife #jessandoscar
Oscar’s party was a roaring success. The cousins Oscar’s party was a roaring success. The cousins all came and played together like they were best of friends, the Minecraft themed food was devoured, the castle was bounced to within an inch of its life, the grown ups chatted and most of all the boy had the best day! And now I’m so exhausted I’m off to bed. Thank you to the family (and chosen family) who helped make it such a special day for our special little guy. #whenoscarturnedten #happybirthday #familypartiesarethebest
Ten years old. Where has that decade gone? He’s Ten years old. Where has that decade gone? He’s ten years old. I’m ten years older. Sometimes it feels like we’re growing up together! Happy birthday beautiful boy. And Happy Birthing Day to me. 🥰
It’s that time of year again when I lay all his It’s that time of year again when I lay all his presents out and say I’m ready for him to be another year older and then quip that I am NEVER ready for him to be another year older. But 10 man? I don’t know, it feels so… significant. Double digits, a decade, it somehow feels different from all the other birthdays. I can’t quite believe it tbh. Anyway as he’s having his birthday here (tomorrow) but his party in Plymouth next Saturday it has been decreed it’s his birthday all week. And what with the grand age he’s turning, I think that sounds perfectly appropriate.
Breakfast in bed (toast and a makeshift cloche - w Breakfast in bed (toast and a makeshift cloche - we fancy!) and three cards and a sunflower he planted from seed at school 😱! Now off out for lunch. Very much a Happy Mothers Day to me! And to all the mamas I know. May you be treated like Kweens today!
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

Categories

Copyright © 2023 · Lifestyle Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in