Sushi Jiro is one of Malaysia’s well-known sushi restaurants and it’s loved by many Malaysians, both young and old.
Recently, rumours started spreading on Facebook about one of their restaurants in Central i-City Shah Alam. Was the restaurant really serving pork?
Facebook user Emma Azri wanted to eat sushi with her husband and two children at that time. But because it was 8:30pm, a lot of restaurants were already closed. Luckily for her, Sushi Jiro was still open. Emma also noticed that a lot of the customers were Muslims as many were wearing hijabs.
However, a Sushi Jiro staff apparently informed her that they were serving pork. Emma was not allowed in because she was wearing a hijab and felt upset about the situation. Her husband was also disappointed at the restaurant for allegedly serving pork. Emma then advised most Muslims to be careful when choosing restaurants.
Not long after the case went viral, Sushi Jiro gave an immediate response, dismissing the allegations through their official website. The statement clarified, “We would like to clarify and reassure we are definitely pork-free. Regarding the fake information, we will investigate accordingly, Thank you very much”.
Emma addressed the situation to netizens about the halal issue in Sushi Jiro. The restaurant serves beer and some of the dishes use mirin to enhance the flavour. For those who don’t know, mirin is a Japanese sweet rice wine and it contains alcohol. Despite that, the mirin will evaporate when the dish is cooked. Emma added that she wasn’t stating that Sushi Jiro isn’t a halal restaurant.
However, the problem was the source of the ingredients. They all came from distributors who have halal certificates. Furthermore, the Sushi Jiro staff stated that they don’t serve pork.
Netizens vented their frustration of the situation under Emma Azri’s Facebook post.
Sushi Jiro has also personally reached out to us with the following statement:
“We do not serve alcohol. We have stopped serving beer since year 2018. However, we do have dishes which contain a small amount of mirin or cooking sake at the moment. We are working on our recipe to be alcohol-free eventually.”
Source: Facebook.
