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Genki Sushi

Imagine this: you are doing some shopping (or window shopping as most of us do before the pay cheque comes in at the end of month ) and suddenly you felt this intense craving for some fast and cheap Japanese food. What do you do? And who do you call? G.H.O.S.T.B.U.S.T.E.R.S. of course, yeaahh … Love that show, I still remember how Slimey (the shapeless green ghost with the long red tongue) used to leave all that green goo everywhere he (or was it a ‘she’?) goes *eww …* and had a crush on that cute ghostbuster Peter (it’s a she then). Anyway, anyway, sorry for the little digression … back to the review. So WHAT DO YOU DO? Answer: you can either head over to Sushi King (SK) or Genki Sushi (GS).

Granted that this is not a special restaurant or even one that serves special food to write a review on, but I figured there must be some lost souls out there who have never ever step foot into this place and wondering what the big fuss is about or why the heck are all those people queuing up outside this place. So if you are one of them (the lost souls that is), then this is for you *smiles*.

Malaysian have taken the “Look East” policy propagated by our former PM, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, to heart and to stomach (literally) judging by the crop of Japanese eateries that had mushroomed all over the Klang Valley in the past few years. GS in Klang Valley alone has 5 outlets, all situated inside a mall: KLCC, Pyramid, 1-Utama, Klang Parade, and The Weld. If you think that GS is a local concept without any Japanese linkage much like how Manhattan Fish Market is not related to Manhattan let alone a fish market in Manhattan, then you are wrong *smiles smugly*. Outside Malaysia, you can also find GS in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Japan (TADAaaaa!!! The Japanese link). In a way, GS and SK can be considered as the McDonald's of the East, or more specifically of Japan.

Note to self: less blah blah and more pictures. Ok, here are some pictures taken on one of our visits to GS:

Green powder scooped up with a small cute wooden spatula to make:

THIS! Green tea or ocha. Of course must mix with water first la.

Wasabi in light soy sauce. To those people who think highly of their ability to consume spicy stuff, word of caution: go easy on the wasabi if you are new to it.

Open kitchen where you can watch the chef prepares your order of sushi or makimono. So now you can eat your food in peace knowing that it does not contain extra ingredients such a boogers from the chef's nose *sniggers*.

Me showing what's on the menu to Chloe and Wilfred and Wilfred sneakily took a shot, hence the slight surprised look.

Closeup of the menu showing all the mouth-watering *drools* food that can be ordered. These are all considered cooked food and takes a longer time to arrive as compare to the pre-prepared sushi that comes whizzing past on a conveyor belt.

Fried tofu ala Japanese Style bathed in soy sauce with seaweed, spring onion and fish roe topping. Crispy on the outside and soft inside, think tofu and not anything else, ok?

Mixed veggie (lady finger, brinjal, sweet potato) tempura. Understandably this dish takes a while before making an appearance. The bowl behind with some black sauce (not soy sauce, not sure what it is called though) is the dip for the tempura.

Spider temaki. It doesn't literally meant those are spiders in there, ok? Those fried things are actually soft shell crabs. This is mine and Chloe's favourite food at GS *yummy*. Definitely a must-try.

Chuka kurage (jellyfish). The jellyfish is sometimes serve as one of the appetizers in the 'Four Seasons' dish at Chinese wedding dinner. It is crunchy (can hear the sound as you chew on it, serious) and the bits of sesame add some zing to it.

I think this was called 'Firecracker maki' or 'Firecracker something'. On the menu, there is a little chilli next to this dish to indicate its spiciness, but other than the generous topping of raw onions covered in paprika powder, we can't really taste any other ingredients that would make this sushi spicy. The redeeming value for this sushi would be the use of the skin of some kind of fish (the pink layer) to wrap the rice rather than the normal seaweed. That pink layer has the taste, smell and the texture of one of Malaysian favourite snack: "yau yee".

Can't exactly remember what this was called already but those are soft shell crabs (yes we have a soft spot for soft shell crabs) embedded in there within the rice. And no, those are not cobwebs weaved by some humongous spiders, it's actually mayonaise. Again, seaweed is not used to wrap the rice, but rather a thin slice of egg substitutes it.

Prices for sushi and makimoto ranges from RM2 to RM8 and cooked food (like the tempura) is from RM8 to RM15 (for prawn ones). Additionally, GS also serves set meals that comes in compartmentalised boxes containing rice, a cooked dish, desserts, salad and miso soup. So the next time you feel an urge for some Japanese food that wouldn't put a dent on your pocket, pop in to a GS outlet near you.

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