Kizuna @ Ipoh Garden East, Ipoh

Checking back my old posts…. then I realized this is my first Japanese food review! Well, gotta say that Japanese food (especially nice ones) are quite pricey in Ipoh and for a pity, underpaid worker like me, I certainly can’t have it everyday (maybe just once a month). *Sobs*

2 days before I left my hometown for KL, Kai Ching (which means ‘chicken essence’ ) and a few friends threw me a simple farewell dinner at Kizuna, a newly opened Japanese restaurant behind Tesco. It happens that the owner of the establishment is actually a friend of Kai Ching‘s mother.

The bad thing about dining outside on weekend is the crowds. The restaurant was packed but lucky us since Kai Ching knew the owner, we were only required to wait a while before we finally got ourselves seated. Tee hee hee…

Whenever Kai Ching stepped into a Japanese restaurant, California Roll (RM4) is a must order item for him. He say that it’s the easiest way to test whether they serve nice food or not. Agree?

We absolutely love the Unagi Maki (RM20), very flavourful with crispy edges on the perfectly grilled eel. *wipe drools*

We also had the Agetori no Teriyaki (RM8), a grilled chicken dish marinated with teriyaki sauce. For your information, I’m lost at this point as I got mixed up with those Japanese names for the dishes and I actually had to SMS my sensei to ask her “what is this called?”, “what does this mean?” and so on. But since “Tori” means bird, so I know I got this dish’s name correct. *giggles*

Like Xiu Long Bao, I don’t usually go for soba cos they don’t look appetising to me but that night, I had this Zarusoba (RM12). My premonition was right. The soba is too plain for my liking but it’s a big portion though.

San Ten Moriawase (RM33.80). I hope I got the name right as we had an extra item which is not in the menu and I think that I might got them mixed up. I’ve always try to avoid sashimi as I’m not a fan of raw fish but the salmon and tuna fillets were really fresh! We happily lick the plate clean.

If my memory serves me right, this is Kaisennabe, deep fried puffer fish. We actually did ask the waitress, what is this and she reply “It’s a deep fried fish, which have many thorns on its body”. So I assume it’s puffer. Or is it balloon fish??

Still crave for sashimi, the chef cum restaurant owner recommended us something that doesn’t appear in the menu. A combination of three different sashimi. I only remember there’s mackerel in it and totally forgotten the other two. I still prefer salmon than this.

I quite like the Nama Haru Maki. Zucchini (Japanese cucumber) and omelette strips wrapped with cabbage leaves and drizzled with light mayo dressing and topped with fish roe. It’s slightly sweet, while the mayo dressing gave it an extra tangy flavour. Oishii!

Our Kushiyaki Moriawase came the last. It’s basically chicken meat, pork and gizzards skewered and barbequed with onions and garlic pulps. Not really fantastic as I don’t take internal organs.

As we’re approaching to the end of our gastronomic journey for the night, the chef came over to our table and we had a brief conversation with him. He speaks in Hokkien with Kai Ching, so we don’t really understand what are they talking about. And later on, he actually showed us the ingredients or the seafood he use for his dishes… different types of colourful fishes (which makes me ponder whether they’re poisonous or not, LOL) and this…. a scary looking shellfish! Is it geoduck? I ask Kai Ching what’s the name of that creature but he don’t know the English name.

Overall, Kizuna does a pretty good Japanese fare, but I prefer the one inside Kinta City Shopping Mall which is much pricey compare to Kizuna.

p/s: Thanks again to you guys for the great meal!

Kizuna Japanese Restaurant
Jalan Medan Ipoh 8,
Ipoh Garden East,
(behind Tesco Hypermarket)
31400 Ipoh.