Penang have so many Japanese restaurants, giving us ample choices where to go hunt for yummy Japanese cuisine.

Japin Restaurant have been established in Penang for quite a long time with their 1st branch in Island Plaza. Maybe the location is not so well-known, so they didn’t really grow to be a famous dining outlet. Finally when Queensbay Mall opened, they made their way into the mall and open another branch on the 2nd floor to cater for Penang southerners. (My earlier post on Japin)

They now spot a new menu and I don’t think ‘tong sui’ is served anymore.

Not a very big outlet but comfortable enough

They recently hav this Oishii Promotion at RM 7.90 and drinks promotion where you add RM 1 to get a free-flow of green tea or genmai tea upon ordering a set meal or ramen set.

Green tea and genmai tea.

Genmaicha (玄米茶?, "brown rice tea") is the Japanese name for green tea combined with roasted brown rice. It is sometimes referred to colloquially as "popcorn tea" because a few grains of the rice pop during the roasting process and resemble popcorn. 

Genmai tea is a little different from green tea, with a taste of roasted rice. Some can’t stand the taste while others feel it’s another flavourful tea, just like me since I’m a tea lover!!

Kim Cyahan Set (RM 14.80). It’s Kim Chi fried rice and miso soup, some kim chi and 2 pieces of watermelon as side dish. Looks very simple but the fried rice is very nice, enough ‘wok hei’ and the kim chi flavour spice up the otherwise plain fried rice. It was a surprise for me that a simple dish like this can be as delicious.

It’s also not oily. However, the miso soup fell short of expectation as it’s too diluted.

 

Teriyakidon Set (RM 14.80). Teriyaki chicken cubes on steaming white rice with the same side dishes as the above. The teriyaki chicken is well marinated and very juicy. There were bits of seaweed and sesame seeds in the teriyaki don. The teriyaki is very aromatic and taste very lovely. I ate up all the chicken but couldn’t finish the rice :P

The word teriyaki derives from the noun teri (照り?), which refers to a shine or luster given by the sugar content in the tare, and yaki (焼き?), which refers to the cooking method of grilling or broiling.

 

Japin Restaurant is locate at 2F-147, Queensbay Mall. There’s no service charge or government tax, something quite uncommon nowadays.