The one thing Dad loved about Izumi on the Grandeur was the hot rocks style of cooking. I even got him to try a sushi roll only because it was philly cheesesteak flavored. While he was disappointed to learn that Oasis doesn't have the hot rock option since they have the Hibachi tables, he was interested in seeing the show that went with the food.
We walked into Izumi at 7PM for our reserved dinner and the host this time jumped out from the behind the podium like someone kicked her when she heard our cabin number. We were quickly escorted to the nearest hibachi table where one couple was already seated. We opted for the two seats on the opposite end which meant watching everything from the side. Still a great view no matter what seat you choose. Izumi's manager came rushing over the second we sat down greeting us by name to introduce himself and offered a bottle of Saki. We politely turned it down as we don't drink wine. He then offered to get us any other drink we wanted so we both asked for sodas. He passed along the request and then asked us to let him know if we had any service issues tonight.
Our initial waiter was named Richard and he not only had our sodas there instantly but took the time to ask about our "allergies." He then took the time to get everyone's drink order and choice of meat they preferred. While we sat chatting with what turned out to be new friends Braidyn and Jafet from our Facebook roll call (Congratulations again on your engagement!) we hadn't yet had the chance to meet in person, we had even more visitors come to our table to talk to us. I can only imagine what was the thoughts behind the looks we were getting from our tablemates at all this attention. Smitha stopped by to make sure all was well and let me know that the sushi order for the show would be at our room by 9:15PM. Then we got a visit from the true Food and Beverage Director Massimillano Mocerino wanting to check in and make sure we were happy.
They had started seating a couple people at the hibachi table behind us when Richard introduced our chef as Fernando from the Philippines. Stop reading here if you want to avoid spoilers from the presentation before your future sailing.
Fernando put on a great show first tossing and catching the eggs in the top of his chef hat. He cracked each egg onto the griddle as he retrieved them from his hat. After the last egg he naturally pulled a small rubber chicken from his hat right in Braidyn's direction and we all cracked up laughing when she shrieked and jumped.
While the show was starting we were all given bowls of salad but since we still only had chopsticks at the table, the best I could aim for was a cucumber slice from my bowl.
Sneaking in those carrots and onions into our fried rice. Just might get some veggies into Mr. Meat and Potatoes after all.
Fernando worked the cooked eggs into a rolled up snake creature and held it up between his tongs.
He then added the eggs to the large pile of rice frying in the corner of the hibachi griddle before forming it into a smiley face complete with the snake like egg end as his tongue sticking out.
He saved some of the cooked egg and tossed it into the mouth of the guy opposite us. Dad tried the trick as well but it managed to land instead on his chest. It eventually made its way to Dad's mouth via his hand after that. One of the ladies at the corner seat across from us agreed to try to catch some egg and it ended up on top of her head in her hair instead. Our respective meat choices were added next after Fernando also took the time to confirm everyone's order. Most everyone seemed to choose chicken so we all were munching on bowls of fried rice and a plate of flavored cut up chicken soon after while the beef took a little longer to cook.
Just as I was starting to get the hang of using the chopsticks to scoop up the rice, Richard brings everyone over knives and forks. Soon the rest of us had the flavored cooked beef added to our plates. As we all happily chatted and munched away, Fernando would slide extra servings onto our plates. Well most of us as that poor woman who'd gotten egg in her hair ended up with rice in her shirt and lap when he missed her plate. She was a good sport about it and joked that she'd be sending him the bill for her laundry. The food and the company was delightful and we had fresh soda refills brought before we could blink. It is a ton of food to eat and I finally had to make myself give up even though with all the extra helpings it looked like I'd barely eaten a thing.
The guy doing the same presentation for the table next to us started significantly later than Fernando but still finished well before he did. We definitely felt like we had the better show. Smitha checked in with us to ask whether we'd need her escort off the ship tomorrow in St. Maarten. We turned down the offer because we simply planned to get off after the rush and wander around.
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