Penang Restaurant | Nippon Yataimura QBM
As we made our way from the basement (LG) carpark of Queensbay Mall, the sight of a long queue greeted us at the entrance to the mall - Nippon Yataimura with its signature cat mascot located at the most corner lot had opened.
Our senses told us this would be another opportunity for tua puis to challenge their tastebuds. After all, with such a long line of people anxiously waiting to be seated, it must surely mean “ho chiak”.
And so we waited…scanned the menu and mentally deciding what to order the moment we sat down…and waited….wishing some customers would finish eating quickly and leave…and waited…stared down an extremely busy waitress (no response there)….and waited…
Tam Ciak’s tummy was making growling sounds, embarrassing us in public!! ..and guess what, we were finally shown to our seats somewhere at the back of the restaurant. Phew!
The first thing that struck us was the amount of tables that they managed to fit into the place! It looked very small and narrow from the front, but there were actually quite a number of tables laid out at the back of the shop. The other shocking thing was the uncovered cables and pipes at the ceiling, not the most pleasant of sights. 
Now, back to the food (more growling sounds brought us back to reality)…
Nippon Yataimura is supposedly famous for its ramen. And so we ordered a bowl of their recommended Kimuchi Ramen (with regular No 5 spice level – we were informed by the waiter that there have been requests for No 40 – stay tuned for super spicy challenge coming soon!!), soft-shelled crab, Rainbow sushi roll and a Bento box (tempura and sashimi set) (you can’t blame us for wanting variety, hehe).
There were other items of interest on the menu, notably Fire Pork which caught our attention, but after consulting with the waiter, we decided not to order the dish as the description (sorry, mr waiter) had been simplified to “pork with sauce”,
Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for the food to arrive, and we settled down to taste our meal. The ramen came in quite a large bowl, and did not disappoint. The noodle texture was just right and the soup was tasty (No 5 spice level suited us fine).
The sushi roll and soft-shelled crab however made us feel cheated due to the actual small portions compared to the ones shown in the menu. Taste-wise, no complaints – the ingredients used were fresh (but just wished there was more of it to chew on! J ) As for the bento box, what can go wrong with sashimi and tempura.. hahaha…lolx
The entire meal came up to be less than $100. The verdict? We’ll go back for the ramen spicy challenge (and maybe the fire pork, who knows!) but for the rest of the items on the menu. We feel that this place is much better than Ichiban Ramen.
Hmm.. still many Jap outlets to try in Penang! Watch this space!! 
Random
Other Dishes
I love their ramen too… My hubby brought me to try their level 6 ramen,it is very spicy. Dun understand how ppl can have the level 40
I never tired this restaurant yet. I saw this restaurant in the seberang perai Jusco, if I am not mistaken. Those photos in the menu is for illustration purposes only mar….. Do you see the wording there? If not, you can sue them. Hahaha, got similar case before. Price wise, seems OK.
The food quality and taste varies depending on which branch/outlets you visit. The most constant quality and taste is their Pulau Tikus HQ which I have been visit most of the time for cheap and good Japanese foods.
The one they had in One Utama PJ are so so only and not up to my expectation vs their HQ in Penang.
Pulau tikus one, also feel so so only.
Most of my friend told me QBM one also so so only…….
May be one day I should test it myself……..
too many jap food. i wanna see more variety. What about continental fine dining? the ones in upper penang road and batu ferrighi?! They have plenty of good food there. Do review Bagan or 32 Mansion sort of levels. At least to give us a variety of dining options instead of the regular outlets in the mall. Some people might have a special occasion coming up which they might want to try somewhere fancy like those places. other than that, keep up the good work.
Hi Gloria,
We tried no 5 first time, just tasted nice.. shall go back for higher number again.. hehehe
allenooi,
did you see this one at Jusco Seberang Perai City as well? Which part is it located? We didn’t see that one but saw ichiban ramen instead and we went there too..
The posting coming up soon too :):)
email2me, thamciak,
hahaha different ppl, different standards and preference. To us, both seemed to have the same standards but it’s quite subjective too.. well, you ppl be the judge
deb,
actually, our theme this month was mostly on Jap food, hence the Jap food postings you see here. Anyway, thanks for the feedback and the recommendation. We will try to incorporate these into our future postings to give better varieties of places and foods selection..
Thanks again~!
Hey there guys,
# 1 - Great new layout!!! Me likey very, very mucho!
# 2 - I actually tried the ramen spiciness @ level 40 before. Perasan me tot my spicidometer is quite high, mana tau I almost lost the taste of my beloved tongue!!! *sob sob* Couldn’t take more than 3 mouthfuls. Between the 3 of us lunch partners, we couldn’t even finish half the bowl. Patheticness~~
# 3 - Did you guys notice that the seats are at a very uncomfortable level? Our hands are at a very unergonomic position if we place our elbows on the table as most folks would do when we sit down at a table. I felt like a kid sitting in a restaurant with no baby-chair facilities! And mind you, I am taller than the average Asian woman (meaning over 165cm).
And that, is my 2-cents worth for this post.
TuaPui, I am not sure leh… I thought I saw it there. Hahaha, maybe I blur blur already la.
Hi Eleen,
Thanks you for the compliments. We’re glad to have positive response from you on the new changes
We had the intention to try level 40 but since you had tried for us and told us the effect, guess we should scale down the spiciness the next time we dine there… perhaps level 20 or25? hehehe
We didn’t realise about the seat heights as most of the time we were king of lying back against the chair and lean forward only to eat… what to do.. Tua Pui have got big stomachs… against the chair is better position for us.. hahah
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[...] us see, how many Japanese Restaurants do we have at Queesnbay Mall? Sushi King, Sakae Sushi, Nippon Yataimura, Japin, Shimaya Teppanyaki. Now another has popped up inside Queensbay Mall and just located above [...]
[...] along that area such as Yakiniku and Shin Kurumaya. Around this area you can also opt for Tsuruya, Nippon Yataimura, Sakae Sushi or Yakiteppan. [...]
Actually their Pork Mayo Ramen/Bento is very good. Not a fan of the spicy ramen, I tried up to 15 so far but still disappointed at it. Its not that filling anyway even though it looks huge.
Yeah service there is quite slow cuz always a lot of ppl!