Ikoi Japanese Restaurant

It is always not too good to have too high expectations of a place because the expectations the bigger the disappointment will be. Having saying that, it happens to this place. I have heard a lot of people telling me this place has one of the best Japanese buffet in town and it is worth the money, and it has been one of the places that I wanted to go and give it a try. The chance came when my partner invited me to join her colleagues for dinner there. So a big group of us went, not to say that one of her colleagues is a big fan of that place.

The restaurant is hidden in the first level of the hotel, if not for the Japanese style of door way, it is a blink and miss place. Once walked inside, I was surprise by how small the whole place is. It looks like those Japanese old cottages. There is a few traditional tables where you have to take off your shoes and sit. A number of small tables with small sets and the rest of the seats are bar counter seats. For a big group of people like us, we have to squeeze as well. If you are big sized like me, you will definitely knock to the person sitting next to you. Advice is to go in a group less than 10 people.

Next, is the food. The menu is cramped with words, no pictures. So if you expect to order by pictures, you will be sorely disappointed. At times, I just go by my guts to order as well. There is a lot of food to offer from sushi to sashimi to bento to soba etc. Lots of them in wide and different variety as well. They also served a few items as starters first, like smoked salmon. A mini seafood paper steamboat where the soup base is too salty. A miso soup that came in a tea pot and have to squeeze in lime juice as well, quite refreshing for that.

In a big group, there is confusion over ordering of food as the waitress just came with the food and we also not sure if we had ordered the food. Since it is a buffet, we just eat whatever is placed on our table. In other words, it can be a mess!

Sashimi’s lover would loved this place! Their variety is a lot and they came in big portions, not to mention that the slices came in very thick slices. Hmm… but not very fresh. Too bad I m not really a big fan of it. They got limited sushi chooses but I am not too impressed with their sushi as well. I have tasted better ones elsewhere. The rest of the food can be quite forgettable. Their tempera, again a lot of variety, from prawns to mushrooms, was quite ok nothing to wow off.

One funny thing did happen when I was ordering chicken cutlet, they asked me how many cuts I want. I thought in terms of how many full cutlets they mean. In the end, it turn out their cuts means how many slices I want. A bit … …

Their service can be quite slow and there was periods of time that we got no food and when we tried to order, their waitress always seem busy with other things or other people. As their tables are quite small, they also slow to clear the plates as well. Think they could have done with more help.

Seems that the place is quite popular as it was packed by 8pm and even the counter seats are packed like sardines. Like they say it is always better to make reservation for the place.

At a cost of $33 plus plus plus, in the end it was $38.80 per person. Personally, I think it is not worth the money and I would rather spend the money on other sushi places. Not to say because of my high expectations of the place, I was sorely disappointed and dun think I will be back to this place unless someone is giving me a treat. Hmm… so Sushi Teh any one?

How can anyone not review on the freshest and best value for money sashimi buffet! Ikoi is my friends, cousins and my personal favorite japanese resturant! Erm... although its our favorite, so far I've been there only twice. Cos its about $35/pax which to my wallet is quite pricely. Still its a value for money buffet.

If you're not a sashimi fan, I suggest you try other buffet. But this is a MUST try for the big fans out there! They have all kind of sashimi freshly sliced and served. Even their sushi is made of sashimi! Their menu is just list and has no photos. So check with the friendly waitress first when you order.

The buffet also comes with some standard dish, which is not in the menu. These items will be served no matter you order or not. There's this crunchy vege stick with special salad dressing, a soup served in those paper steamboat and one more I can't remember what. But everything is nice!

If you're planning to give this place a try, please remember to call to make reservation. It's a MUST! Else you'll be never get to eat their yummy and fresh sashimi! Just typing this now makes me want to go back there now! *Drools*