We wanted to eat Japanese for dinner and noticed this new restaurant that has opened on the same row of our regular neighbourhood restaurant in Bandar Manjalara.
The signboard is a brightly-lit “Restoran Jepun” but its real name is Izakaya.
Having eaten at the same few places all the time, we decided to give this place a try.
# – Izakaya.
We sat down and a surly waiter passed us the menus. That’s okay, maybe he was just born with a miserable face.
I saw that they serve okonomiyaki and got really excited because I LOVE okonomiyaki.
Then I noticed that the people sitting at table next to us were Japanese. I got even more excited.
We ordered a few things and waited. And waited…and waited.
It took them 30 minutes before serving us the cold green tea. Okay, nevermind…..new establishments tend to need time to iron out operation kinks.
Then the RM8 potato salad came. It was literally the size of one ice cream scoop.
The taste? Not bad, well seasoned but certainly not worth RM8. Sorry no picture because we were too hungry.
For comparison, our regular Japanese restaurant serve potato salad that is 3 times the portion at RM6 and it is also garnished with ebiko!
Slight disappointment setting in…..
Then G’s RM20 chicken katsu arrived. It was mediocre. Curry gravy was lumpy and the chicken was dry but after having half a scoop of potato salad…G hoovered up the rice. I could only watch in envy as I waited for my okonomiyaki.
In comparison, our regular Japanese restaurant serves chicken katsu at RM16.90 that is so delicious and it comes with miso soup, coleslaw, chawan mushi and fruits. Can’t beat that….
Then, the “spider” maki arrived. We thought they sent us a wrong dish because no matter which angle we looked at the maki, there was no spider, or soft shell crab.
All we could see of the maki’s cross-section was one piece of cucumber and a fake crabstick of the cheap variety.
I waved to signal for help. One of the waitresses from across the room noticed me and raised her eyebrows as if to ask me what’s the matter.
Do I look like I could fucking communicate telepathically, dear?
I had to wave her over several times before she would move her arse to our table. I asked if the dish on the table was spider maki.
She said yes. I said, but there’s no soft shell crab. She said yes. We were wiff waffing for about a minute before she finally found some intelligence to summon someone with more knowledge and authority to speak to me.
An older lady came to our table. I asked her again if it was spider maki. She said yes and she insisted so. She said the chef weaved the crab into the rice. I said I can’t see anything except for cucumber and rice. She said it’s in there.
I told her that it is not and I wasn’t paying RM18 for a strand of cucumber, fake crabstick and some rice.
She still insisted it was in there and that if it wasn’t she would pay us back.
At this point I was tired of arguing. Then she said the mother of quote, “It would be priced differently if the soft shell crab was visible”.
Wow.
# – This is the damned RM18 “spider maki”.
I ate one and gave up. It was horrible, cucumber was dry and crab stick was as cheap as it comes. Yucks.
Finally, my okonomiyaki was served. In a nutshell, it tasted like bad, undercooked pancake – doughy, damp and disgusting. I could count like 4 pieces of squid, each the size of my pinky nail.
I ate a quarter of the pancake and gave up.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have found the worst Japanese restaurant, no….the worst restaurant I have ever had the misfortune to eat at.
# – Nasty.
The bill came to RM65, the most expensive meal we have ever paid for, ever!
We left still feeling hungry so instead of heading home in rage, we drove to Niji Teppan Sushi, our regular joint, which is just at the other end of the same street.
Had the most beautiful salmon wrapped maki stuffed with soft shell crabs for RM9.90, fresh succulent salmon, the best ebi tempura in Malaysia (imho) and silky soft chawan mushi – all for RM63. Not to mention, quick, attentive service with a smile.
# – Thank you for saving dinner, Niji Teppan Sushi.
So I guess what I am trying to say is that….avoid Izakaya Japanese Restaurant at all cost. Save your time, stomach space and money.
If you want good and reasonably priced Japanese food in Kepong, go to our regular joint – Niji Teppan Sushi instead.
Later, the hubs said we were very lucky that Izakaya ran out of salmon sashimi. Can’t imagine how it would have turn out if they served us raw fish.