Teppanyaki

Teppanyaki , often called hibachi (火鉢, "fire bowl") in the United States and Canada, is a post-World War II style of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food. The word teppanyaki is derived from teppan (鉄板), the metal plate on which it is cooked, and yaki (焼き), which means grilled, broiled, or pan-fried. In Japan, teppanyaki refers to dishes cooked using a teppan, including steak, shrimp, okonomiyaki, yakisoba, and monjayaki. Teppan are typically propane-heated, flat-surfaced, and are widely used to cook food in front of guests at restaurants. They are commonly confused with the hibachi barbecue grill, which is called shichirin in Japanese, and has a charcoal or gas flame and is made with an open grate design. With a solid griddle-type cook surface, the teppan is capable of cooking small or semisolid ingredients such as rice, egg and finely chopped vegetables. The originator of the teppanyaki-style steakhouse is believed to be Shigeji Fujioka of the Japanese restaurant chain Misono. The restaurant claims to be the first to introduce the concept of cooking Western-influenced food on a teppan in Japan, in 1945. They soon found the cuisine was less popular with the Japanese than it was with foreigners, who enjoyed both watching the skilled maneuvers of the chefs preparing the food and the cuisine itself, which is somewhat more familiar than more traditional Japanese dishes. As the restaurants became more popular with tourists, the chain increased the performance aspect of the chef's preparation, such as stacking onion slices to produce a flaming onion volcano.

Source: Wikipedia