Yup, that is what the new chef, a South American returned, Philippines national calls himself. Jackie Chan! He may be Jed Ursal by birth, but he likes to be called Jackie Chan! He may not be the greatest Hibachi chef around with this tricks. Some were good, some were usual, the noises were typical of a Teppankayi, some missed eggs, some mistakes!

Thankfully, this guy's food is lot better than his tricks! The new menu is exciting and we didn't order anything from the old menu! He had us at our first dish, the SHIFFUDO MAKI. Unlike what I am used to in sushi with a single protein, this one is a mixed seafood, with some kind of vinegary rice topped off with some tobiko (fish eggs)! This was a stunning new experience for us and we loved it. There was some crunch and though it didn't feel too Japanese, with slightly more sauce than usual, it was a great package!

The next sushi was the Scandinavian Maki, with salmon and stuff. It was nice, but was no match for the Shiffudo Maki.

Then another stunner from the new menu, a soup. How good can a soup get? Well, it depends on the flavour profile and here it was super unique. A broccoli soup with seaweed! The balance between the two was simply perfect with neither overpowering the other! We were then debating between taking another starter and going with a main course. These days, we'd prefer going overboard on starters and sharing one main course! We decided to do both!

Surf And Turf. In Miami, a surf and turf denotes Steak and Lobster. In Teppan, it is Japanised as Beef, Prawn and Fish skewered and grilled and we were so glad we asked for it. It was a lovely dish with three different textures of meat and all grilled to perfection.

Between the two of us, we shared one chicken egg fried rice off the Teppan where our Jackie Chan did this tricks. Both the tricks and the rice were blah!

We finished off with Banana Tempura! Their prawn tempura which to date is one of the best we get routinely in Chennai is so awesome and somehow the banana tempura was sort of a savoury-ish dessert and didn't go well!

Trick in Teppan is to go big on the starters and slow on the mains and this has always worked for me. This time with the soup and the Shiffudo maki, the new chef has taken the starters to notch above what was already high by Chennai stand alone standards!

A meal for two will cost about Rs. 2000 for two starters, soup, rice and dessert! I am yet to try their set menus, but I am going back just for the Shiffudo Maki!

"Kaatru vanga ponen, oru kavidhai vaangi vandhen," sang a former super hero of Tamil cinema. It translates to, "I went to get some fresh air, but I came back with a poem."

That's what happened when I went to the Teppan Food Festival at The Flying Elephant.

OK, so the teppan is behind a glass, so you have to see the tricks with a glass barrier. Ironic. That didn't stop the guests from lining up in front of the glass to take a look and allowing their phones to do the same at the teppan Chef Lalit doing knife tricks while making some awesome Seafood Fried Rice!

While Park Hyatt invited me over for their Teppan dinner, they are not going to like this piece of writing. A little tea hijacking the evening! Can't blame me. They simply had a tea that was brilliant!

Back to Teppan. Dinner started for the four of us with Beef Carpaccio. Brilliant cut of beef soaked to perfection. This was followed by an excellent scampi starter and a wonderful mushroom salad. But man, the tea was Oh-so-good.....sorry. Focus. Focus.

The mains started with Chicken Teriyaki and tea. One piece of chicken, one gulp of tea! Focus. Focus. While the Chicken Teriyaki and the sea bass were pretty good, they were no match for the Seaweed salad that had all the elements of a Japanese and Teppan feel and taste to it. No, the tea wasn't Japanese, but hey......OK. Focus on food. Focus.

This was followed by some display of chef and knife skills by their new Teppan Chef from behind the glass and lots of guests joined us in viewing him chop the omelette with Ferrari speed and Omega Precision! I actually had to look at his fingers to make sure my doctor skills weren't needed! We loved the seafood fried rice long before it was served on the table. I wish The Flying Elephant sets up a Teppan table, but I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon (or late)! The seafood fried rice went well with the Tea! (Pun intended)!

Dessert. Yay! Nothing Japanese about it, but the dessert platter left us gaping and gasping for more! I had to divert my food pipe towards the heart and wished I had a larger heart! As large as the tea pot that carried that tea! He he. But if there was one thing that competed with the tea, it was the dessert platter. The salted caramel profiterole was a stunner that night. Perfectly salted caramel with a fantastic choux pastry. The tart and the macaron and the cake popsicle and the tiny orange pastry all complemented the profiterole. And the tea!

So what was this tea? It was an English Breakfast tea with Orange. As simple as that. Served cold on a hot summer day, this was so refreshing with the perfect balance of tea and Orange juice. I had more than a few glasses and that might have played a role in filling up the tummy leaving barely enough space for the dessert (that then had to be diverted to the heart)!

The festival is on till the 29th, but the chef is here to stay! And so is the tea!