Kirishima Shuzou Japanese Restaurant, Johor Bahru

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May 12th, 2009 stephen.wong

One of the few authentic Japanese Restaurants in Johor Bahru, Kirishima Shuzou Japanese Restaurant is located in Crystal Crown Hotel, just a 5 minutes taxi ride away from the Johor Bahru CIQ. The food is prepared by Japanese chefs, and there is a wide range of sake (meaning “wine” in Japanese) specially imported from Japan.

Limsimi.com - Entrance of Kirishima Shuzou Japanese Restaurant

The interior of the restaurant is cosy. It is nicely decorated with Sake bottles which is pleasant to the sight. There are rows of comics shelves and a LCD TV that broadcast sports channel and entertains you while waiting for your food.

Limsimi.com - Interior of Kirishima Shuzou Japanese Restaurant

Limsimi.com - Interior of Kirishima Shuzou Japanese Restaurant (Front View)

Limsimi.com - Decent Comics Selection at Kirishima Shuzou Japanese Restaurant

Limsimi.com - LCD TV at Kirishima Shuzou Japanese Restaurant

You can get a Bento Lunch set for a decent price (about RM$20/set). Besides Bento, you can also try out their wide selection which includes ramen, gyoza, sushi, sashimi, handrolls, baked fish..

Limsimi.com - Bento Set Menu Kirishima Shuzou Japanese Restaurant

One thing to note for non-smokers – There is no partition between the smoking and non-smoking area. Not a big deal as it hardly gets crowded here during lunchtime (including weekends) so the smoke level really undetectable. If you are seriously allergic to smoke, you can also reserve a separate room from the main hall in advance. It gets crowded here during the evening, when you can see many Japanese coming here for drinks and chit chatting.

Address:
Crystal Crown Hotel,
117, Jalan Tebrau,
Johor Bahru 80250
Malaysia
Contact: 072762838
Opening Hours: 12noon – 2.30pm, 6.00pm – 10.30pm

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Entry Filed under: Food

10 Comments Add your own

1. Geok | May 20th, 2009 at 5:58 PM

looks a little high class and yet rm20 for a bento set is cheap. Thks for the recommmendation and I will try it out one of these weekends.

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2. Nthman | December 4th, 2009 at 3:52 PM

I used to be intimidated by the exteria as well, thinking that it might be pricey.

But when I tried it once, I’m hooked! their Bento sets are very satisfying, and the taste, truely Japanese.

They even have a Sashimi Set that is only RM30.00!! Around 7-8 slices of Fresh Maguro, Salmon, Tako and other white fish… Yummy…!!

Another worth mentioning is their Chawanmushi, the egg custard is richer than most and not too watery.

In the evenings, they have aorund six typically Japanese side dishes, that are worth trying. My Favorite being potato salad.

There are Japanese comics for those who love ot read while waiting, and there is a special room near the entrance that’s really looks like a Japanese dining table, but with leg room underneath…!

Check out the Teppan Bull’s Tongue, one of their specialties. Something you don’t find everyday, even in good Japanese restaurants. Goes really well with Gohan and Miso!

So, for good quality and quantity, plus a classy ambience and with real Japs patrons… you cant go far wrong.

Warning: the portions in the Bentos are very filling. So for three person, order two bentos and a A-la Carte item with rice and soup will do.

It will set you back for about RM110.00, but with such friendly service and food quality…? I’m one satisfied customer. fact, it’s my regular spot for Jap Food in JB now.

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3. Pang Khin Wee | January 4th, 2010 at 12:26 AM

I’ve been a regular at Crystal Crown’s Kirishima Shuzou since years before, travelling up to JB once every few months to dine in on their Japanese dishes.

Today, 03 Jan 2010, at 9.20pm, I visited the restaurant again after a hiatus from a previous happy visit in 2009 August. I ordered a Stamina Don (Pork belly slices fried with onions, served on rice in a sizzling stone bowl, with a raw egg beaten in the midle), a Wagyu Tempura set, and for satay yaki i had asparagus bacon, pork belly cubes with leek, chicken slices with leek. Prices rose horribly from the last visit, but we figured it’d still be a good eat since we were having an all-out enjoyment holiday to splurge and enjoy.

First came the Stamina Don. It was fairly good, the pork belly fry was good in all honesty, just a bit too much sauce. Then next came the Wagyu cubes set, when the problems began.

As all beef appreciators know, Wagyu is meant to be eaten soft and silky, in maybe medium rare form for its sweetness. Hell, even its menu had the picture shown with red cube sides, which looked great, and was what we ate for years regularly. The Wagyu beef cubes served were on a sizzling plate, which is why when it was served we took it off immediately onto another plate as per experience. Turned out, however fast we did it, it was already [B]well done to the state of fibrousness[/B]. What a waste of Wagyu, and i lost my appetite already in shock (this kind of overcooking is NOT expected from a restaurant. Maybe coffeeshops, but NOT in a restaurant like that, and of course it was far from the wagyu we had all the while and loved.

When I was getting impatient with the beef done level (Definitely overcooked, what the hell), the satays came. The pork belly cubes with leek came as just pork belly cubes, but that was not the main issue. From first look, the meat was [B]dry[/B]. Good grilled pork should be SWEATING, not matte, glistening with juices instead of looking like minuscule sushi roller bamboo sheets. A bite into it turned out tasteless [B]fibrous meat[/B] again. My face was black at this point.

Then came the bacon with asparagus. It transformed into a whole row of just asparagus, which looked dry and fibrous too. The bacon was missing. I don’t know how my order got messed up, there isn’t even grilled asparagus on the menu IIRC, and I was pointing when I ordered.

Chicken came along as well. The meat was DRY again. On the first bite, the dry gamey chicken smell just wafted out, without any taste of marination at all, and it was HORRENDOUS. It tasted even worse than NS food, and was dry and fibrous yet again, like just taking out a piece of plain chicken and roasting it without any sort of marination, for 5 more minutes past the just done point. This is not what I remembered at all.

We were pissed. I was already damn angry, and i just stopped having my Stamina Don and got angry. Before anything, of course, I wanted to hear the opinions of a few others first, so I had a talk with two of their waiters. They revealed that they had a chef change 3 months ago in November 2009, and just another change yet again 1 week ago. I was stunned, change to a different inferior chef and still raise prices?

It happened that the lady boss was in at that time too, and we had a talk with her regarding this. She then insisted that this cook was lousy, and insisted she change a fresh pork stick (which was not what I ordered in the first place), and the chicken and leek, and the asparagus, AND the wagyu.

At this point, their explaination sounded good, so I tried to be civil. I lost all my appetite from anger, but since she seemed desperate to prove that she has the ability to turn out a good roast and wagyu set, I remained civil and let her be. She took the plates and left for the kitchen.

At the table, at this point, the waitress turned up with a bill. I was sick of it, and was already hesitant about paying, but this was not my home nation and their blame on the chef deserved the benefit of the doubt, so I just paid her anyway. The total was RM98. Expensive CRAP for this bunch of bullshit.

I paid her a $100 and she went off, and then since the two of us lost our appetites we decided to tapau the rest cuz we wouldn’t know if we would get hungry later. We decided to munch down on the salad and watermelon that we left untouched, and tapau the rest. I took the watermelon, which felt soft at this point. I put it cautiously in my mouth. [B]It was ROTTEN.[/B]

I had had enough. I lost my temper and when the waitress returned with my RM1+, I threw the plate on the table and told her it was rotten. I then walked out to the lady boss who was handling my grill remakes and asked her if the watermelon was pickled or seasoned, to which she replied no. I was fiery and just told her it was rotten then. Bad choice of actions on my part, cuz the moment I walked off to talk to the lady boss her waitress had already picked up the plate and brought it into the kitchen, and I lost my evidence.

Fuming didn’t cut what I felt at this point. I deserted tonnes of uneaten food, and tapau only the easily handled foodstuff, having lost my appetite halfway through my Stamina Don. I just lost my temper there and then, and when the boss and the manager turned up telling us they didn’t find my rotten watermelon, but tried out other pieces from the fridge, which all turned out fine, I just grabed up my tapau and stormed out. It was RIDICULOUS.

Cooks should never breach 3 rules, an ethics list of food preparation everywhere:
1. Food should never be served cooked under than it’s meant to be
2. Food should never be served cooked over what it’s meant to be
3. Food should never be served unfresh

Point 1 – Invalid in this case
Point 2 – Normally used for burnt food, but in this case it applied to the Wagyu and the meat sticks. Who EATS THEM FIBROUS, and of all places in a RESTAURANT?
Point 3 – I spat out the rotten watermelon. The sugars had already decomposed into sour stuff and it wasn’t even remotely sweet, and the melon was just soggy inside with no crunch. This was not just unfresh, it was way BEYOND that to the point of [B]rotten[/B].

I have never been THIS ANGRY at a restaurant before. They blame their chef, and say ‘yea i know he was lousy but we decided to let him stay’. If so, it’s your fault, not his, it’s YOUR restaurant for god’s sake! And when I waved the receipt in the boss’ face, her eyes followed my receipt (i was looking for that), and she never had an inkling of remorse to offer anything. Unless I was greatly mistaken, cuz since I never asked I can’t guarantee, this showed she was clear on her point and wanted us to just pay and get out. If this single payment is more important to her than a long term customer relationship, I’m not going to bother anymore.

I’m never going back there again. They’re no longer the standard they were.

This restaurant is from now on NOT recommended, for anyone who’s tried it before the chef changes, and the price hike from Nov 2009.

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4. Tokyo | January 4th, 2010 at 1:57 PM

I have been patronizing this restaurant for the past 5 years and is quite shock to seethe posting by khin wee. Will try it for myself the next time I am in JB (not visited this place since jun 09) and hopefully, it is not so bad cus it is a waste as I used to find their food reasonably priced.

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5. miki lim | January 10th, 2010 at 5:46 PM

that day i go with my boos have a dinner there on 3 jan. I was amazed to find a wagyu set in menu ths price around 40 only. so amazing! and the waguy square beef is really nice and oily fat inside beef, but i hear from waitress that most expensive beef is kobe, price around rm120 80gm, is quite expensive， i will try next time i with my husband。

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6. Albert Yap | March 26th, 2010 at 2:59 PM

Just had dine at Kinsahi Japanese Restaurant yesterday night.But really wish to Kirishima Shuzuo as soon.

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7. Albert Yap | April 3rd, 2010 at 9:50 PM

Ha Ha ! tomorrow i will be there…
Kirishima Shuzou.

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admin Reply:
April 3rd, 2010 at 10:16 PM
And let us know your review too albert!

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8. Eric | May 27th, 2010 at 4:28 PM

I’ve been a regular to this restaurant for about 4 years. I last visited the restaurant back in Dec 2008 and stop after my wife found that the standard was not what it used to be. I’m shock to see the standard has dropped so much since then.

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9. Ian | September 11th, 2010 at 11:46 AM

@ khim wee

Don’t know if you’d be considered a “regular” if you dine there once every few months, and not knowing the boss.

And throwing childish tantrums over RM98, i think you deserve a standing ovation.

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