Tei-An...Meh~~

Tei-An
1722 Routh Street
Dallas, TX 75201-2503
(214) 220-2828
www.tei-an.com
Price: $-$$
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Went to Tei-An (in One Arts Plaza) with some friends the other day. I’ve heard a lot about this place and was really excited to finally get to try their food! I’ve read nothing but positive reviews about Tei-An and had a list of foods that other reviewers suggested to try. Tei-An is a Japanese restaurant that is known for its soba noodles and other traditional Japanese dishes. Supposedly it is quite authentic.

I normally don’t blog about the décor, but this place was pretty amazing. The décor was traditional Japanese with a simple, sophisticated twist. It was clean, contemporary and chic and probably one of the most well decorated restaurants I’ve seen in a while. The bathroom was the coolest part!! :P The doors to the stalls are clear glass, but as soon as you lock it, the glass frosts up! How freaking awesome is that?!? :D

Anyways, it’s time to talk about the food! For appetizers we ordered the White Seaweed Salad. $9~
This dish came highly recommended in many of the reviews I read online. This was very fresh and light. I’ve never had white seaweed before. It actually reminded me of the Chinese Swallow’s Nest (if you’ve had it before then you know what I’m talking about). The texture and look is very similar to that. I wasn’t too impressed though…maybe the reviews hyped it too much. I admit that the quality was really fresh but overall it was ok.

We also ordered the starter Buckwheat Risotto. $14~ Upon serving, they pour a little bit of truffle oil over the dish. I liked this dish a lot. It was super cheesy and creamy and filled with mushrooms. The flavor and texture of the risotto worked together really well. The slightly al dente texture of the buckwheat risotto with the cream and cheese created great contrast.

Now on to the entrees. Most of us ordered soba (buckwheat noodles, can be hot or cold) since that is their specialty. For those of you that aren’t familiar with dipping soba… what you do is mix all the ingredients in with the dipping sauce… take a little bit of the cold soba noodle, dip it in the sauce, and slurp!!

This is the Poached Egg Soba (a cold dipping soba). $9.50~ You have the dipping sauce along with another bowl of a poached egg. You can mix everything together or dip in the sauce and egg separately. The soba and sauce was very light. I felt like the sauce didn’t have enough flavor and the egg was almost tasteless. I did like the mix between the noodles and the egg yolk though. Other than that it was very unimpressive. I felt like the soba was a little too thick and the texture was not right. What a disappointment. What is funny is that this was my favorite entrée out the three that I tried… :/

Next is the Creamy Japanese Yam Soba (cold dipping soba). $13~ If you’ve ever had the Japanese yam over rice, you know the texture of the yam. I’ve never liked the yams prepared this way before…the texture is mushy and runny and I always felt kind of gross eating it. Needless to say, I didn’t like this at all. The dipping sauce was the same as the Poached Egg Soba and equally bland…


I ordered the Duck Soba (hot soup soba). $10~
This was also highly recommended on online reviews. I’m not sure what those reviewers had but there was nothing interesting about this dish whatsoever. The entire dish had 1 flavor….bland bland and more bland. There was no contrasting flavors or textures. There was all of 3 slices of duck, which were flavorless. An absolutely one dimensional dish. I had to trade it for the Poached Egg Soba because I didn’t care to eat it anymore. Sigh~ It’s always upsetting when you eat something that’s not up to par, but it’s even worse when your expectations are already really high and everything (reviews, word of mouth, décor, service…) had hyped it up even more and then it all comes crashing down. T_T

So I was still somewhat hungry after everything. We decided to get dessert. A meal is not complete without sweets plus I just really wanted to end on a good note. We ordered the Green Tea Flan $6~ (which was also highly reviewed and praised) and the Black Sesame Mousse $6~. I love black sesame, so I was quite excited about the desserts. The desserts did not disappoint. The black sesame mousse was pretty awesome. Good flavor, good texture, I could’ve had nothing but that for dinner. The flan was good as well. Although the texture of it was quite thick and dense, so I was confused as to why they called it a flan. Flans are usually really soft and light… But the flavor was great and I didn’t mind the texture. It worked well together. I felt a little better after the desserts…the restaurant had somewhat redeemed itself...just a bit.

These were the other dishes that I didn’t get to try:

Black Sesame Soba (cold dipping soba) $10~
Short Rib Soup Curry Rice (a special of the day).This actually looked really good. I wish I could’ve tried some of it. I’m sure it was definitely more flavorful than all the soba dishes.
Overall, I was incredibly disappointed. I’m not an expert in Japanese soba or anything so I don’t know if this was as authentic as everyone said, but I would hope that the real soba would have more flavor than this. The dishes were just bland and uninspiring. I did not feel happy while eating it. Other than the risotto and desserts, I would not order any of the other dishes again. I’m somewhat tempted to go back just so I can try other stuff to let the restaurant redeem itself, but another part of me just thinks that it would be a waste of money. I definitely don’t recommend the soba dishes, but if you still want to check this place out, the décor and service are top notch and maybe the other dishes aren’t quite as boring.

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~