Sapporo

Let's be clear, Sapporo is catagorically not a first date restaurant. By sitting down at one of the communal teppanyaki tables at this vast new Japanese joint in the heart of the Merchant City, you're complicit in having slices of potato flung at your head (you're supposed to catch them in your mouth, stop ducking!), admiring a (genuinely pretty impressive) juggling show of cooking utensils and eggs and screeching as faux ketchup is sprayed at the best-dressed girl in your group. By the time the lights are dimmed and a seven-foot streak of flame bursts up in front of you, you'll know you're in a very Disneyfied version of Japan.

The menu is suitably epic - starters include a light prawn tempura and a vast sushi choice taking in everything from giant clam nigiri to the signature 'Glasgow' roll (smoked haddock and tempura asparagus wrapped in flying fish roe). You'll be pleased to know that the teppanyaki grill isn't just for making comedy shapes in fried rice- it sizzles up everything a treat, from rare fillet steak to lobster, aubergine to scallops.

Those watching their sodium intake might want to turn away when the salt shaker appears to do a prolonged dance across your still-cooking dinner, but go to Sapporo with a group and you'll have a blast- we were fortunate to be joined by a cheery bunch of BMI cabin crew.

Sapporo has sister restaurants down in Liverpool and Manchester and there's no doubt its mix of bawdy fun and vast spreads of protein and carbs will kick off countless nights on the tiles up here, too.