A GEOMANCER said if the gate of the Shao Rou Yi Ding restaurant could be turned to face in another direction, the restaurant would escape the bad fortune of its predecessor.

Situated at the intersection of Shaanxi Nanlu and Nanchang Lu, the restaurant specializes in Japanese-style barbecue. This cuisine is similar to Korean barbecue, but the Japanese people have a long history of adopting things from other cultures and eventually claiming them as their own.

Since one of the owners once lived in Japan for many years, the restaurant believes that it can offer completely authentic Japanese barbecue. Except for a chef dressed in a traditional gown and slicing sashimi behind the counter at the gate, no other details inside had any particular Japanese character.

The most economical approach for diners is to order grills from the buffet menu, which includes the most popular and signature dishes in the restaurant. In order not to bankrupt itself, the restaurant requires that buffet diners should finish their meals within 100 minutes.

Although most things on the menu are grills, there are also other kinds of Japanese food on offer, such as sashimi and sushi.

Unlike teppanyaki, the grills are cooked on a grid in an oven inlaid into the tables. As with Korean grill eateries, the restaurant provides lettuce and garlic alongside the grills. These are not used to wrap the meat, but instead accompany a kind of home-made paste made of butter and beans as an appetizer or something to refresh the tongue after the intense-flavoured grilled food.

The major difference from Korean barbecue was the dips, which were a crisp lemon dressing and a light sweet sauce.

A sublime Japanese beef from cattle that were said to enjoy music and massages during their maturation provided the best meat for the grills. The fat was distributed delicately yet densely throughout the meat, looking almost like snow.

You need some skill to grill the beef for the right duration. When a thin of layer of moisture arises on the surface of the beef slice in the oven, it¡¯s time to turn it over, continuing to cook it for at most one more minute. The beef is so extremely tender that it seems to melt in the mouth.

The lemon dressing is only served with ox tongue, while the other dip ?which was rather too sweet ?can be applied to any of the meats.

My personal favourite was the chicken. It had been marinated in a kind of Japanese rice wine and a sauce of vinegar and peanuts. The taste was perfect when it was cooked to a golden colour, making the dressings absolutely unnecessary.

Shao Rou Yi Ding

344 Shaanxi Nanlu

Tel: 5465-7900

Average cost: 150 yuan(US$18) per person