Review : Sushi King

Malaysia’s largest conveyor belt sushi chain with more than 100 outlets around the country, Sushi King is commonly the local’s first encounter with sushi and for that, it bears the (unwilling) burden of ensuring that it gives a good first impression to one who is curious about this rice dish.

I arrive at the store early just before lunch ensuring that I try the first batch of sushi on the conveyor belt. The first batch of sushi on the conveyor belt just arrived as I took my seat.

Orders are placed on screen at each table.

I promptly ordered a set of 3 sushi (salmon nigiri, minced salmon gunkan and unagi) and a california temaki via the onscreen ordering system. While waiting for my order to arrive, I took one plate of sushi from the conveyor belt. It was a grilled salmon marinated in soy sauce nigiri. My guess is any excess salmon that couldn't make the cut to be served raw is then grilled to ensure maximum optimization of their supplies.

Nigirizushi is generally sold in pairs and hence I took one piece to be consumed entirely as a sushi and the other I've separated and tasted the fish and rice individually.

The rice for this conveyor belt nigiri is tightly pack and sticky.

The rice was served at room temperature which is okay. The construction of the rice is pretty much standard for sushi served at this kind of joint, compact and sticky. The vinegar taste on the rice is hardly present. Close examination of the rice seems to indicate a mixture of short grain japanese rice and local white rice. The grilled salmon is average at best, as these kind of ingredients would be better served raw or warm. Overall as a sushi, the taste of the grilled salmon completely overpowered the sushi.

Ebiko(flying fish roe) serves as a low cost alternatively to Ikura(salmon roe)

Next dish off the belt is a Ebiko Gunkan. The ebiko used is decent and expected from restaurant of this kind (fresh properly stored ebiko is actually soft, however the hassle and cost in maintaining its soft texture is high leading to sushi chefs favoring the traditional ikura). The nori used for the gunkan is soggy and lacks flavor due to improper storage and extended exposure to water and air.

This Unagi Temaki is well presented

Up next is the unagi temaki. After being disappointed by the nori used in the gunkan, I was pleasantly surprised that the nori used on this sushi is crisp. The rice used for this temaki seems to be less sticky compared to the earlier nigiri, but still maintain it's bland taste. The unagi used and other ingredients tasted average. The arrangement of this temaki is well made overall.

Up next was my individualy ordered sushi. I started with the salmon nigiri and the ingredients used is fresh. Like most cheaper sushi outlets the portion of rice is significantly more than the fish. Wasabi is generally not applied on the sushi so I have to apply the wasabi and soy sauce on the nigiri myself. The rice taste significantly drowns the flavor of the salmon and the salmon used is sliced too thin there's hardly any chance to experience its smooth oily texture.

The rice for individually ordered nigiri is less compact and breaks more easily in the mouth.

The individually ordered nigiri has a more loose construction in its rice. It appears to be less sticky compared to the ones found on the belt and breaks individually when eaten. This makes the nigiri feels more like actual sushi when eaten, which is a pity though that the rice flavor itself was not impressive hence making it less noticeable.

I generally do not expect much from conveyor belt sushi restaurants. They are after all meant to be low cost and will never compare to sushi bar grade restaurant. However being recognized as a large sushi chain, I expected more from Sushi King to provide more traditional sushi in its menu. Their focus on lower cost ingredients and non-sushi menu means abandoning traditional sushi making basics which is not worthy of its outlet name.