Sushi Galore @ Sushi King, Kinta City, Ipoh

Salute to the sushi chefs (?) for topping up the kaiten belt at an amazing rate

Haven't been renewing my Sushi King's membership card for years now, ever since I graduated from university, I supposed. Due to various factors, such as mediocre food, increasing prices, unattractive promotion etc. However, the management has this brilliant promo period annually (or 2x a year) offering RM2 per plate of sushi, irrespective of their plate colours. Interesting.

Typical ocha and shoyu+wasabi

This week, from 7th til 10th April 2008, all outlets are offering the same promotion. However as I do not possess a membership card, the closest thing to do (in dire times), would be to : 1) beg/steal/borrow one, 2) be at my best behaviour and hope that someone (with a card, nonetheless) would be kind enough to offer me a meal together with him/her, or 3) stand at the side line and salivate, while consoling self that Baker's Cottage's bread will have to make do for the time being. Hehe ..... Option 2) miraculously became a reality, and off we go for a sushi feast!

Unagi (Grilled eel) RM6 version

Though it was only 12pm, on a weekday, the place was packed, leaving no seats by the kaiten belt. Luckily, as I was approaching, a couple left, and I shot to their well-warmed seats, all the while waiting for my foodie companion to arrive. But she took her own sweet time, leaving me feeling awkward taking up 2 seats, while people at the door were peeking and staring through me. Muahaha, who cares? Sipped my hot (no cold version today) ocha and pretend to browse the menu, all the while preparing the wasabi-shoyu combination. Yeah yeah, REAL sushi lovers do not add wasabi into the soy sauce, but c'monlah, it's SUSHI KING we're talking about here, where sometimes they do NOT even put any wasabi underneath the layer of fish. Amnesia?

Ikura (Fish roe)
Seasoned japanese radish

Ebi Fry (Batter-fried prawns)

Ms V arrived in style, completely "potong" queue, and hurriedly sat next to me, at the same time apologizing and huffing and puffing away. Sorry, lady, very hungry liao, tell stories later. Then, the menace started. We took plates after plates after plates, without starting to dig in, as the 'kiasu-ism' spirit flourished, half expecting the other customers to grab everything from the belt. Minutes later, we realised the current Sushi King is pretty efficient, topping up the array of sushi very fast, jamming up the kaiten belt until you can't even find an empty space to place the wasabi container. Hmm, fast service. Then we digged in.

Crunchy 'hoy jit' (sea urchin?)
Seasoned herring roe
Colourful aren't they?
Ebi Ten (Tenpura prawns)

Being Sushi King, you would not expect real top quality products, but I'll have to admit the ingredients used are very fresh, and the sushi skills of MOST, not all, of the chefs are worth a praise. At least most of the sushis did not fall off or break while I was using my chopsticks. Items worth recommending include the herring roe, first time I am trying these, though looked funny, but the taste was nice, crunchy roes, and not too salty. The prawns (both tenpura and fried versions) are nice, as usual, and not as soggy/soft/tasteless like the last time I tried them.

The seasoned Japanese radish offered a crunchy bite, though priced at the usual RM2 (blue plate), I just had to try a plate. We looked for items priced at RM4 and above, to 'gain' as much as possible from the offer (typical Malaysians). But referring to the ala carte menu, only 3 items are priced at RM6, being both the prawns sushi and unagi, which were so small, they looked like miniature versions of the usual sushi. But at RM2/plate, who's complaining?

Variety of sushi placed on a single plate, to save some space

I was a fast eater, chomping down sushi after sushi, leaving my slight 'handicapped' partner with a ladylike manner, mind you, completely drained from pursuing my speed of gobbling. Therefore she had to arrange all her share on a plate like above. ;)

Unagi (Grilled eel) RM5 version

Smoked salmon

After a few more plates, we were completely full. We came up with a brilliant idea of discarding the rice in order to eat more main ingredients. Haha, fool proof idea right? WRONG. Suddenly the waitress, a pale-faced one, probably lack of sleep or over-powdering, came and commented that if we decided to use the membership card promo, no wastage is allowed. HA? Why didnt she say earlier? Means we had to eat all the remaining rice? =O

Gross-looking, right? We still have to stomach these ...

We nodded, and feeling mighty embarassed, started chomping down on rice dipped in shoyu. Boo-hoo. Sushi rice never tasted so bad. But we were fighters, ROAR! and in a matter of seconds .....

Prized trophy for 2 hungry ghosts

Huh, pale-faced lady, you think you can scare us ah? We ended up eating 18 plates among us, and the total damage was only RM41.40. Yeah, it's THAT cheap. 1 Blue, 2 Beige, 8 Pink, 3 Red and 4 Purple. If normal priced, at least RM80+. Sushi King, my faith has returned! =P

Location : Everywhere in Malaysia. This particular one is at Ground Floor of Kinta City Shopping Centre (Jusco). Very easy to locate.