No, there wasn’t any music, not that I noticed, at that place and one thing I did like about it was how even though it was so crowded, it was not noisy. Perhaps it was the acoustics there – I don’t think the customers here are “more cultured and better-behaved“. LOL!!!
I must say that I was amazed by the crowd that day when we dropped by there after a very very long time. My girl said she wanted Japanese for lunch so of course, I was only too delighted to oblige since we had not had that for ages now. The last time we were there was probably in August, 2020! Gosh!!!
It was as packed as ever, just that nobody had to queue to wait for a place to sit and eat like when it first opened its doors on Christmas Eve, 2018 and I thought that it was kind of amazing, considering that the menu had more or less stayed the same. Imagine going there and eating the same things over and over again…not that there are so many things to choose from and no, things do not come cheap at these franchise places.
I felt they used to have a lot more choices on their sushi carousel. Maybe we were early and they had just opened, not going full swing yet so the choices were kind of limited that day.
The ladies loved this (RM2.80 per plate)…
…a lot so they had two or three plates of those instead of picking those other options that did not really tickle their fancy. I did try one but I did not like the wasabi in it. Period.
I picked these, wrapped in cheddar cheese (RM1.80)…
…and they were all right, plain and simple, nothing to get excited about.
My missus loves those inari sushi, the ones in the deep fried bean curd pockets so she picked one (RM3.70)…
…and had it all by herself. I do enjoy those too but I had my own à la carte order so I did not want to stuff my face with all that sushi while I waited.
I ordered their tori katsu curry rice only to be told that the chicken was not available so I had to settle for their ebi katsu curry rice (RM14.80)…
The curry was all right – what can one expect from Japanese curry, right?
Having said that, I genuinely thought the breaded prawn fritters were quite awful, to put it a little nicely, nothing like those very fresh seawater prawns that I buy regularly from my favourite fish & seafood stall in my neighbourhood. These were hard, not succulent and not sweet at all, so very bland, so very tasteless – I don’t think I would want to order their prawns ever again.
My girl had her favourite, their unagi don (RM20.40)…
…so of course, she did not have any complaint other than the fact that they were over generous with the rice so she could not finish all of it. Well, I did not finish my rice either and that spoke volumes as to how much I enjoyed my main order that day, if you get what I mean. Both our orders came with a complimentary bowl of miso soup.
I also ordered their spider chicken floss maki (RM14.80)…
…which I thought was very nice but the ladies did not really like the chicken floss in it.
Other than that, we also had another favourite of ours, their kabocha karokke or pumpkin croquette (RM6.80)…
All in all, the bill came up to RM70.90 but with the 6% SST and 10% service charge, the total came up to a whooping RM82.24.
SUSHI MENTAI, Sibu (2.303279, 111.843161) is located at Wisma Sri Minyak, Lot 3065, S/L4, No. 23&25, Ground Floor, Pedada Lane 7 (Now Jalan Dr. Wong Soon Kai).
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Japanese/Korean cuisine are expensive. Luckily I am not a fan of them. Again I am zero about them and all I can remember I ever eat and like is their steamed egg. What you call it? Cendawasih?… 😂😂
Chawanmushi! Personally, I prefer our own Chinese ones that we grew up eating – my mum used to steam for us, dunno what all the excitement is all about.
I do enjoy some of the sushi, not all…and the unagi. The chicken, the curry, the deep fried stuff…everything else aren’t really things to shout about…or at least the ones we can get here. Maybe it’s trendy…young people like that, going for Japanese, Italian and so on and so forth,
I am also zero about Japanese, Korean, etc. cuisine. I am not a fan of all these but I don’t mind going once in a while just for a change.
Great minds think alike. Honestly, there are so many nice things from other cuisines including our own Malaysian ones
I can’t even remember the last time I had Japanese! I usually enjoy sashimi and maki. At those places like Sushi Mentai where they have the carousel, I tend to eat many many plates. LOL!
I wouldn’t touch sashimi especially when we are served frozen imported salmon here, farmed ones and there are warnings all over regarding eating those…RAW especially. I wouldn’t mind if it is well-cooked. They claim that they are air flown – doesn’t make much difference, I’m afraid…just the price, absolutely outrageous!!!
My girl used to go for it here at one place once a week and she will always end up with the runs. These days, she will not touch raw salmon with a `10-foot pole, good for her!
There were not so many options on the carousel that day, not like before. Most disappointing and a group of young boys came in…and all that they had on the carousel disappeared instantly!!! All the other customers had to wait, dunno how long it took before some more came out!
Japanese!! Anytime for me! Lol. I like what the ladies have. Pumpkin croquette?? That must be nice too. I only tasted potato croquette before, not pumpkin.
Potato? It’s always pumpkin at such Japanese places. I had potato croquettas once, one guy back from Singapore, preparing Spanish tapas. Nice too! Something like bergedil from the Malay stalls.
I can assure you that you won’t find these sushis in Japan. Ha ha!
Only in Malaysia. 😉
Japanese curry is supposed to be thick and starchy (from potatoes).
Not too spicy but sweet. I know how to make Japanese curry, it’s rather easy.
Yeah! I found out that this Japanese franchise was started by some guys in Johore
so you can hurl your insults at your fellow-Johoreans as you wish!
But frankly, is there any law that all sushis must be like those in Japan?
If you remember my post of fusion dishes the other day,
I mentioned a TV show…and one of the dishes featured had nasi lemak sushi and chicken rice sushi.
Why not? Be creative and innovative and if it catches on, that’s good, isn’t it?
Like the nasi lemak burger at McD’s at one time – bet they never had that in the US!
We make our own sushi too and yes, we add our own filling
-things we like – prawns, sotong, siew yoke, avocado, mango etc…etc… The world is your oyster!
And why would anyone want to cook something as mediocre as Japanese curry?
I’d stick to our own Malaysian curry anytime, a whole lot nicer and with some very nice instant paste, so much easier too!
Yes, the Japanese curry I had that day was no good – I did mention that I did not even manage to finish half the rice
– so watery, so peppery…not much curry taste. We were saying that everything did not seem as nice as before
– the problem with these franchises – poor quality control…and yet, it did not seem to affect their business,
still so crowded, 99.9% young and trendy people (except my wife and I)! I would much sooner take the money
and go some place else for something MUCH nicer…and cheaper or around that same price – SEE TODAY’S POST!
That’s a very saucy and cheesy selection of sushi.
Something for a change. We all felt it used to be better, quality control’s a little lacking.