Shin-Nichi Japanese buffet restaurant

SL had cravings for buffet recently. Hmmm, when was the last time I went for a buffet? Think it was 1 year ago? I recalled receiving an email from KB on Shin-Nichi a couple of months back, remembering that the pricing was ok for buffet.

We decided to pop over for Sunday lunch, which starts at 12:00 and ends at 2:30pm. Shin Nichi is located at the far end (pass the lifts) of Kompleks Antarabangsa, at Ground Floor. As we were the first to arrive, we had a rather warm welcome as all the staffs (plus cooks) were screaming at the top of their lungs Irashaimase!!!

Shin-Nichi is a simple restaurant, nothing swanky about it. Decor is simple, clean cut. No ambience whatsoever, but heck, I'm here for the food anyways..;p

The buffet spread looks limited, it was spread across a L-shape area. We took a quick 'tour' of their dishes, and I was nicely surprise as there are plenty of dishes, neatly and compactly put together, looking colourful and utterly glorious.

The first area I attacked was the sashimi area. Dont be fooled by this small area. The sashimi looks really fresh, the norm of salmon, tuna, butterfish, swordfish, mackerel and octopus were there. There's also raw oysters and seared tuna. The sashimi I took were all really fresh (much better than the over rated Jogoya), the best I enjoyed was the seared tuna. So fresh that it melts in your mouth ;p.

However, I find the nigiri sushi lacking.. not in terms of variety, there were plenty, but the rice...I found the rice too dry.. did not complement the yummy ingredients at all. I didnt dare to order handrolls as I thought the rice may have the same texture.

Shin-Nichi had a good selection of side dishes like chuka itako, fried shrimps, fish, hotate, pickled veg, veg, edamame etc. I tried a few of it, was ok. The unagi there was thick and sticky sweet. Very rich but I like... ;). The not so common dish I found were braised mackerel fish head, grilled salmon head, and teppan baby octopus. I enjoyed the braised fish head (though the sauce is very sweet), which the main thing you savour would be the eyes. The grilled salmon is yummy too, very juicy and the texture, smooth.

Shin-Nichi also have a chinese section (with Ginseng Chicken soup and mini buddha-jump-over-the-wall soup. The soups were delicious, very sweet, silky smooth.), and cook chinese and jap dishes. I didnt really try much stuff from there. Other usual stuff you get there are the tempuras, teppan dishes and shabu shabu.

What Julia thinks?

Affordable, unpretentiuos and basic.

As Shin-Nichi is nearly unheard of, this place is not crowded. You can take your time and have your meal. Staff are friendly, service is prompt. Not the best, but good enuff for a RM42 (weekend lunch/ dinner) or RM38 (weekday lunch) buffet. It is located at Lot G-01A, Ground floor, Kompleks Antarabangsa, Jalan Sultan Ismail. Tel: 03-2142 4318.