Unfortunately, after my last visit to Kimurakan I have to say that I'm slightly disappointed. Don't get me wrong - I still love the place! However, the quality has dropped a bit over time.
Customer Service: The service at Kimurakan is still consistently and laughably bad. Still really inattentive - the waitresses were hiding away in the kitchens, which caused a bit of a wait. Also, I asked for red pepper and the waitress looked at me with a blank expression on her face.
Food: This is the category in which Kimurakan has changed. Some, it changed for the better. In another case it has changed for the worst.
~Positive: They really have expanded their menu. Now, there are loads more options rather than the basic bentos and donburis that they have on a double-sided menu. There are now entrees and even ramen!
~Negative: They raised the prices by around 1-2 dollars. This fairly disappointed me because before, you were pressed to find a meal for over 10 dollars. Now, you'll find it difficult to find something for under. They also now skimp a bit on the bentos - one entire section of the bento is dedicated to 2 weird-tasting jellies. Wtf?
I ordered a Chicken Curry Bento, which came with Tofu Salad, Rice, Jello, and 1 Gyoza. Plus, you get an option of having green tea of Miso Soup (I picked the soup). Because of the new expansion on their menu, I wanted to try something else and settled on the Chicken Wings.
Chicken Wings: A bit of a disappointed. They properly DEEP FRY these wings and the batter used is thick and rough to bite through. The meat is succulent and juicy, but I felt so greasy and unhealthy just from eating them.
Chicken Curry Bento: The curry was made a bit amateur-ish. It seemed really basic and lacked many flavours. I really enjoyed the Miso Soup! They don't skimp on the miso paste, so instead of a watered down soup you get most places, you get a strong taste of delicious miso. I found the tofu salad pretty good, but easily made. The mayonnaise they used as the dressing was great. What I was most surprised with was the Gyoza piece - it made me want to order a plate of Gyoza because it was SO JUICY.
The only thing weird and unappetising about the bento was the 2 pieces of jelly. They were a bit too condensed and concentrated - I don't even know what they're doing in a Japanese bento box.
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I should note that Kimurakan is probably not that authentic. The restaurant is managed by a Chinese crowd instead of Japanese, but the food is still fairly tasty and cheaper than most Japanese spots in the CBD.
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