Prologue. Yaoki Jap

This is the first night of food adventure in Johor Bahru. I’ll be going to a hidden gem which is apparently there for 6 years. The tube of light in the signboard is not working fully, my parents looks at me in doubt. “This is the place you want to bring us to?” They asked while looking around.

Ok the parking was a bitch; we are under the darkest zone ever in Johor Bahru. Every night dawns, these creatures will sneak in and make the high pitch voice of a AhGua acting timid… It is so infamous that everyone avoids coming at this time. What’s that? Bird shit attacks here mate… Both my sisters were drop bombed on their nicely styled hair (LOL) and once my mum stepped out of the car, her hand got hit by one also. My father quickly announced emergency mode and asked me to move the car to a “safe” place.

Well, that was fun. We took a stairs up to the first floor of the typical Malaysia style shop house. The moment I stepped into this place, I know this is it. It was kind of weird to hear Malaysia style mandarin asking us how many seats we need. It looks so authentically Japanese, their customers too.

There was a rack full of Japanese Magazines and Manga (manga freaks, nice place to hang out). With TV showing an unknown channel of Japanese News. I looked at one table of Uncles eating quietly.

We waited for about 15 minutes for a table to clear out. While waiting, the bottles with unknown transparent liquid in it which are labeled with different names in it attracted me. I guess that it is storage of shoju of which the customers wasn’t able to finish. The sushi bar is filled with colourful fish, though nothing very exotic, it sure entices my taste buds.

Here comes the waitress with a menu, with no picture at all. This feels right again, haha, though some might complain… Aji Shima… what the hell is that, but it just goes to show that their main customer groups are Japanese.

We ordered Chicken Gizzard, Bacon pumpkin, Agedashi Tofu, Bacon salad, Miso Ramen, Salt grilled Pacific Saury, Mixed Tempura, Jap style stew pork belly and Ebi tempura maki. My nonstop ordering frightened the waitress, who politely said, that’s quite enough for you three. I bet her monolog was “dude… looking at your belly, order less la~”.

We were served hot tea (oh, they did asked us if we want cold or hot tea, which is nice) and hot towels. Three of us chatted happily in this cozy environment. If only the waitresses are in full form Kimonos, that would be awesome.

First, the tofu is presented, my mum liked it, I found it a tad salty. Chicken gizzard, surprisingly delicious , the gizzard is chewy at first but snaps easily after few bites, makes me want to down a pint of sake (die on the spot).

All dishes followed up to the table, my favourites are the Bacon pumpkin, Chicken gizzard, salt grilled pacific saury, and a mention goes to the Miso Ramen. The ramen is presented in a very simple way, just Ramen, few Char Siu and loads of bean sprouts. The taste is much more deeper though, the bean sprouts are very fresh and plump, like baby’s fingers (yum), the noodle is cooked just nice and the soup base is one of the best miso soup I’ve ever tasted too.

The Pacific Saury was great too, it's all up to the materials. According to Keith this place imports their food from Japan. (got to try their sashimi one day).

We foot the bill, total RM150 including tax, reasonable reasonable!

Special thanks to Keith recommending this awesome restaurant!