If you are heading towards OUG from Midvalley direction, it's just located on your left opposite the 3rd Mile Square. It's located in a bungalow just beside the main road. Once you reached there, there are surprising lots of staff to guide you where to park. I think they have more staff at the parking than the restaurant. I will share more of my experience below. Here is a shot of the restaurant from the Old Klang Road.
Parking is plenty and they do double parking around the restaurant as well. No jockey parking though, but they will request for you to remove your car if other diners are leaving. I think it's a disturbance in the middle of the dinner to remove your car, but it might well worth it if the food is good. Let's see.
Once we step into the restaurant, it's almost full house and the 1st question from the waitress is "Do you have a reservation?". No, we answer, and we are directed to the bar seat. Not exactly something I expect and fancy when having a dinner with my wife. No choice, so we move over because we have a movie to catch later on at Midvalley. As we are seated, I checked the area and noticed most of the diners are young family with kids. There are also more diners joining in that's ranging around 40-ish couple. All are wearing shorts and leisure home wear.
I suppose Ishin is family orientated restaurant. Maybe they don't wanted to but because of the location, they are attracting local close-by family for frequent visit. A little surprise though, to me, never have the chance to see that in other japanese restaurant. Good or bad? Let's see.
As I'm around the bar seat, a big plus point because I got my dSLR with me. I quickly snap some shots and here it goes. The set-up is a clean and stylish japanese restaurant, maybe because it's still new. However, the place are basically open area and there is not privacy when having your dinner. There are noise and it's not good.
We go through the menu and the price is not very cheap nor expensive. I thought a good sign and I asked the waitress to recommend what's good. There are no photos available and I don't memorise all japanese foods name, but the waitress is not helpful. In the end, I make my own choice. The waitress are attentive but that soon to change. Keep reading.
A basic set-up, we took the ocha and it's tasteful. From my experience, there are two basic things that determine a good japanese restaurant. It is the ocha & wasabi. If both is good, then you can expect everything else is perfect.
A close up with the appetizer, we didn't order this, but add-on from the house. Free stuff, so no complain. It's good, and tofu is good for health. Japanese eat lots of them and they live very long. So take it!
Alright, first to come is the Shashimi Moriawase platter priced at RM58.00. Served with four type of fish & fresh prawns. We never miss to order a shashimi platter, because that's the main highlight. However, it's disappointing that the fish is not very good. Prawn is very great, but not the fish. Don't mistaken me, the food is good, but I'm comparing it to the best japanese restaurant I've ever tried, and it doesn't give a deep impression. I personally think there are much better japanese restaurant out there. The wasabi is also not good. Try it out yourself and let me know.
But do order a plate of shahimi prawn if you are there, it's very good. I think one of the best around the town.
As we continue to savour our shashimi, the chef is preparing our next order. The soft shell crab maki.
Again, to my disappointment, it's not good again. The soft shell crab is not crispy, soft and tasteless. The vege that and japanese rice is also tasteless. The only thing that keep me in finishing it is because of the mayonnaise sauce & seaweed that give my tastebud something to chew on. There are four pieces of maki and it's priced at RM18.00, a price that I'm expecting good maki.
The next up is the Ishin Bento set priced at RM38.00. It is surprising big portion for that price but with the earlier disappointment, we didn't expect much from this. I will do a detailed review of each serving for you.
The saba fish, this is good. Have it with the wasabi, and it's heaven like with your tears rolling down! That's how I eat my japanese food =)
Tempura, again soft and tasteless. I think they pre-prepare it and keep for serving. Bad. The tempura sauce is also not good, tasteless as well.
A mini portion of the shashimi, basically the same with what we have earlier, just a smaller version. Because it's not served with ice, it got heat up and warm very soon. Eat it fast or it will get worse. I put it with my big shasimi ice bowl to keep it cold.
I think miso soup is another way to find out the quality of a japanese restaurant, so far I'm still right. The soup is not good, and same with the food. No comment.
Some brinjal appetizer, nothing to shout about. Just something to make you full.
Last is the chawanmushi. My wife loves it, and of course, she finished it. Nothing to shout about, but at least it's good and ok. No need to mention about the japanese rice, it's tasteless.
Before I reach out for the conclusion, let me clarify my review. This is not a bad restaurant, but just that I have high expectation for this kind of place. The price is not exactly cheap and I'm expecting good food. Comparing food quality to price ratio, this place does not work for me. It's better than fast food japanese outlet, but there are definitely much better restaurant choice in my post earlier, if you fancy some good japs.
Overall, the place is ok, fill with local diners in leisure wear. It's not a place for romantic dinner with your girlfriend or boyfriend, but kids maybe. For me, it's not up to my expectations, and I'm not going back unless there is some drastic changes to the quality or pricing. Another complain is that in the middle of our dining, the place is packed with people waiting at the door steps. The waitress are very busy and they are not attending to us. However, there are at least 5-6 staff outside directing cars, I'm thinking, WTH.
The whole dinner cost us RM132.00, not exactly expensive but not cheap for that kind of quality. The Ocha is good, but priced at RM3.00 each! Most expensive Ocha, but I don't complain on price if the quality is good. I'm more than willing to pay for it, but not the other food. Maybe it's just me that fancy good dinner and willing to pay a good price for it, do comment if you think otherwise. I'm all open. Cheers!
Ishin Japanese Restaurant
202 Persiaran Kelang Off 3-3/4
Jalan Kelang Lama
58000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 7980 8228
Location Coordiante: N3 06.171 E101 40.662
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