Marutama Ramen : The Rise of Japanese Ramen

Ramen shop is everywhere now. But I do remember, Marutama Ramen as the pioneer of authentic ramen shop in Jakarta. Last week I made a visit to their outlet in EX - Plaza Indonesia. I love the ambience; private, calm, and earthy. Even located among other shops in the middle of the building, they still have interesting view, which is bowling alley. So don’t worry if you go alone, you still can watch people playing bowling and shout “wow” when they do strike. Never find a restaurant with this kind of view before. 

Boiled Gyoza was my first dish. Gyoza is Japanese dumpling. Available in two choices: pork and chicken. You also can choose how you want it to be cooked; boiled or fried. The gyoza came with special house made sauce, made from vinegar and soy sauce. Tasted a little strange to me. The vinegar was too strong, ruined the gyoza’s natural charm. Maybe next time I’ll ask them to serve the sauce separately. 

Boiled Gyoza

Second dish I tried was Tamago Ramen (IDR 66k). This is their new menu. Well, not literally new, but they just created a new package. Before, you could order Marutama Ramen with tamago (marinated half boiled egg). Now, because of a lot of request, they allow you to order Tamago Ramen, and get the exact dish. Fun fact: here you can have all you can eat noodle, as long as you still have the broth. Don’t worry, the ramen come in a big size. A little truth about the broth, it is chicken broth, made fresh everyday. The spoke person said they need 30 kilos of chicken bones and more than 5 hours to cook the delicious rich broth. This broth is used for all ramen and menu. They call it toripaitan. That’s what makes Marutama different with others. So if you don’t eat pork, you still can dine here and order chicken, because you are always allowed to choose chicken or pork for the topping. Not enough? You also may order for extra topping with extra charge too. Enough with the information. Now my turn to share my opinion. I loved it! The broth was so rich and thick with perfect amount of seasoning. It was the hero of the dish. The tamago was beautifully cooked. Need a whole night to marinate the egg before served to customer. The ramen itself was silky and perfectly boiled. I’m not surprised that it was a homemade ramen. Yes, they made the ramen in their main kitchen and distribute to all of their branches everyday.

Tamago Ramen - IDR 66K 

Tamago Ramen - IDR 66K 

Marutama is still one of my favorite ramen in Jakarta. What about yours? Tweet me. (@yummyfordummy) 

Marutama Ramen

EX- Plaza Indonesia 2^nd floor #20

P: 021‐316 0705

F: 021‐315 1874

Operation hours:

Sunday – Thursday : 11.30 am – 11.15 pm

Friday – Saturday : 11.30 am – 12.00 pm

Nasi Ayam Bu Oki

On a vacation trip, it's a must to try local food, don't you agree? Suggested by the driver I hired for few days in Bali, after having fun at Tanjung Benoa, he took me to Nasi Ayam Bu Oki. I heard the name for quiet some times before. Ah, it's a famous thing. 

Located near Santika Hotel Nusa Dua, the place looked so simple but never empty. People just kept coming even it already 2 hours passed from lunch time. The first thing the waiter asked was the level of spiciness. I ordered medium. Apparently they already had one set of dishes so you don't need to choose, but it also open for your preference. 

Here is the picture of my plate. 

Nasi Ayam Bu Oki

One set of dish consisted of rice, fried chicken, ayam suwir (pulled out chicken), lawar ( in Indonesian we called it as urap khas Bali. Basically, vegetables - usually bean sprout and long beans - mixed with shredded coconut), telur pindang (egg boiled with soy sauce stock), sate lilit (fish satay). I love the sate lilit that I ordered more. It costed me IDR 2K for 1 sate lilit. All the side dishes were so good, I finished them all in less than 10 minutes! 

Cooked by native Bali, the dishes was rich of spice. Worth a try! 

Tips: Order for more sate lilit
Price : Less than IDR 20K (I forgot the precise price)
Payment: Cash only

Nasi Ayam Ibu Oki

Jl. Celagi Basur

Perumahan Puri Jimbaran, belokan di Jl. Raya Uluwatu

Jimbaran, Bali

T. (0361) 805 2059

[Food Tasting] Shang Palace: "Tea Wonders" Sensation

I was pretty amazed when I know we could eat alcohol (if you haven't read, you read my post here). Then I found out that we also could eat tea. Yes, tea. Amazing, right? 

Apparently, using tea leaves for cooking is not something new. Chinese people usually use tea leaves as cooking ingredients. Chef Benson Fok, yes he's a chinese too, prepared some delicious tea-infused menus for you to try. Please welcome, Tea Wonders. This menu only available during September. 

Tea Wonders consists of :

• Braised Bo Lei Duck - Rp. 68,000++/portion
• Stir-Fried Phoenix Prawn with Long Jin Tea Leaf - Rp. 98,000++/portion
• Lamb Chop with Golden Phoenix Tea - Rp. 88,000++/portion
• Steamed Bai Ling Mushroom and Seafood with Rain Flower Tea Sauce - Rp. 78,000++/portion
• Glutinous Rice and Fish Cooked with Yellow Treasure Flower - Rp. 58,000++/portion
• Steamed Tomato Stuffed with Assorted Vegetables with Dongding Oolong Sauce - Rp. 58,000++/portion
• Stir-Fried Lotus Root, Water Chesnut, Lily Bud and Pumpkin - Rp. 68,000++/portion
• Chilled Red Tea Jelly with Chinese Pear and Pipa - Rp. 58,000++/portion

I hadn't tried all of them, because part of me insisted to try the regular menu too. :p

Menu that day

Corn and Crab Soup 

Corn and crab soup wasn't part of Tea Wonders. But as it was a good dish to giggle my appetite, it was (actually) a good choice. So bad, due to my allergic to crab, I had no guts to try. Poor poor me. 

Braised Bo Lei Duck

Ms. Agnes - manager of Shang Palace - said Bo Lei was a type of tea. Bo Lei had similar taste with Pu-Erh, but they're definitely different. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of duck, but I do eat one slice, so I tried one and........one more, and.......one more. This was one of the best duck dish I ever met. Nice sweet savory sauce, juicy and well cooked duck meat. Apparently the chef really knows how to cook duck. 

Lamb Chop with Golden Phoenix Tea

Have I ever mentioned that I can't stand of lamb? If not, now you get it. 
I tried for some times, but my sense of smell was just too strong. Nah, lets talk about this one. To be honest, it was well-spiced. I didn't know how the chef cook it, but he succeeded to reduce the lamb-smell. This dish came with scrambled white egg and yummy sauce. I guess there's a tea ingredient in the sauce. The scrambled white egg was magnificent. Absolutely love it. :)

Steamed Bai Ling Mushroom and Seafood with Rain Flower Tea Sauce

Steamed scallop and prawn plated with Bai Ling Mushroom was nice. I am a big fan of prawn, and prawn never goes wrong with anything. :p
The sauce was mild. Actually i was hoping for stronger sauce because the scallop-prawn-mushroom need to be highlighted. 

Glutinous Rice and Fish Cooked with Yellow Treasure Flower

This dish looked similar with Lo Mai Kai, glutinous rice with meat that wrapped in lotus leaf. And I wasn't wrong. They tasted similar too. The difference was the presentation and additional ingredients. Lo Mai Kai didn't use bamboo bowl. Glutinous Rice and Fish Cooked with Yellow Treasure Flower had a 2x2cm piece of fish on the top. I assumed it was snapper fish. The glutinous rice was sticky and tasteful. I found little fiber appeared in the glutinous rice, and thought it was coconut until Mrs. Jajan asked the waiter and the waiter asked the chef and we found out that it was CRAB. Oh, crab! (As I told you I am allergic to crab)
The good news is there was no symptom of allergy later on. Fiuh. Am I crab-immuned already?  Maybe I am. I was a little regret that I didn't eat the corn and crab soup. :p

Chef’s Special Stewed Pork Rib served with Chinese Bread 

When I asked about what are their recommendation, Joris (Digital Marketing Manager) and Felicia (Marcom) said this stewed pork ribs, then we agreed to order. And none of us regret! The stewed pork ribs was soooooo tender and no pork-smell at all (that's my main consideration of ordering pork in a restaurant). The sauce was also perfect and joyful. So when I put the ribs' meat in the bread, it was heaven! (I'm drooling now)
Love the texture and taste combination. Good job chef! Hats off! ;)

Chilled Red Tea Jelly with Chinese Pear and Pipa

Back to Tea Wonders, here was the only dessert of the series. I watched how to make this pear in Masterchef US and was amazed and confuse at the same time. It's pretty hard for me.:p First you must peel the pear, then make a big hole in the middle where the seed and core are there. No worries, here you can enjoy the pear effortless. The dessert wasn't sweet, more in to plain and pipa taste. Good dessert to finish the dinner. To be honest, I didn't know what is pipa. But as we talked about it, the taste reminds us with one of cough syrup, and we assumed pipa was a kind of chinese herb that also used to make cough syrup. I did some small research and got some endorsement for our "theory". lol

Anyhow, the conclusion was this dessert was healthy. ;)

Psssttt.. they also have dimsum menu available everyday until 2.30pm, and all you can eat dimsum also available on weekend at IDR 188,000++. Will try that soon! 

Shang Palace 
Shangrila Hotel Jakarta
Kota BNI, Jl. Jend. Sudirman kav 1, Central Jakarta
Ph. (62 21) 2922 9999
Fax. (62 21) 2922 9900
http://www.shangri-la.com/jakarta/shangrila/
http://www.shangri-la.com/jakarta/shangrila/dining/restaurants/shang-palace/
Twitter : @ShangrilaJKT
Facebook : Shangrila Jakarta
Instagran : @ShangrilaJKT

Aloha! Welcome to Hawaiian Bistro

If you walk down the PIK area to have lunch or dinner or just hanging out, you sure have a lot of choices. Hundreds of restaurant approaching their potential customer with various ways; unique concept, unique food, unique design, etc. 

Let me present you one of restaurant that catch my eyes; Hawaiian Bistro. Located in the corner, the good news is beside good food and good place, it also has good parking lot. Since PIK is not a place you can go without your own vehicle, parking lot become something very crucial. It seemed more vacant, even always be full every weekend, but still acceptable. Big YAY. :)

"How is Hawaiian food look like?", you might ask. According to the chef (who is a native Hawaiian), most of native people in Hawaii is Asian. That's why the food is much influenced by Asian. So don't be surprised if many rice ingredient in the Hawaiian recipe.

It was a sunny day. I wanted something simple and yet refreshing at the same time. My choice was perfect; Lychee Ice Tea. Based from some information I learnt lately, I could say they used black tea as the base, with lychee syrup as additional flavor. Love the presentation. Simple yet sweet. 

Lychee Ice Tea

Hot sun had burnt my energy. I needed food immediately. Hah! I got the answer to my prayer. Lolo Shrimp Wrap looked interesting. Remind me of my childhood favorite appetizer; deep fried sausage rolled with noodle. But this time is prawn; bigger and (look) more mature. :p

Lolo Shrimp Wrap - IDR 38K

Getting bored with sushi roll with salmon? They have Spam Musubi (sushi rolled with spam). If you don't eat spam, don't you worry, they also have other choice: BBQ chicken and chicken katsu. 

Spam Musubi - IDR 22K

 I believe you already familiar with popcorn chicken. If you love it, then you'll love this even more. Mahaka Mochiko Chicken is basically BBQ seasoned popcorn chicken. 

Mahaka Mochiko Chicken (IDR 32K)

 Bistro Bento is my favorite of all, because it contained almost all the best dishes here. Spam, fried dory, BBQ fried chicken (this is sooo goood), and BBQ grill. Happy tummy, happy day. ;)

Bistro Bento (IDR 72K)

 Loco Moco was one of the top dish. Rice woth hamburg beef and sunny side egg, plus brown gravy. Well-seasoned, perfect portion. My mom's fave. :) 

Loco Moco - IDR 65K

Another star brought by Hawaiian Bistro: BBQ Mix. Thin sliced beef, pork, and chicken. Love the flavor and texture. I could lick the the plate until nothing left. If you don't eat pork, just tell the waiter and they will happily change the pork into chicken or beef.  

BBQ Mix (IDR 69K)

Coffee Jelly was a nice closing of the lunch. Coffee jelly with vanilla ice cream and kahlua. I wasn't a big fan of coffee and vanilla. But this one was an exception. Fresh and sweet vanilla ice cream bumped along to bitter coffee jelly. Suprisingly, i loved it.  

Coffee Jelly (IDR 25K)

Who doesn't love shaved ice? Me not. Hot sunny day was a perfect reason to have a glassful shaved ice with ice cream and tutti frutti syrup. 

Overall, I loved the food and ambiance. Price was definitely worth it. In fact, I've been coming back for some times. ;)

Hawaiian Bistro
Rukan Garden House A25
Pantai Indah Kapuk
Jakarta, Indonesia 10620
Opening Hour (Jam Buka): Senin-Minggu 11:00 am – 11:00 pm
Phone: (021) 29033185
www.hawaiianbistro.com

Sukhothai: Eat Till You Drop Authentic Thai

This is my first experience if All You Can Eat (AYCE) Thai Food. To be honest, when I heard AYCE, I didn't expect something outstanding. I was just hoping for many good food, not superb food. But wise people once said, "Put your hope higher, and your expectation lowest". And my hope was not a waste. I was impressed with the incredible dishes of the dinner.
I went home with a big smile on my face, forget about all dietary thingy. :p

Oops. Let me rewind my memories for you.

Our dinner started with a bowl of Thom Yam Thalay. Hot and sour soup with seafood, that's how they wrote it on the menu. Who doesn't know TomYam? Famous thai soup which always available at any Thai restaurant. A strong flavor of spiciness did surprise me at first. "Ah, ini sudah diadaptasikan dengan lidah Indonesia loh. Kalau di Thailand asli mah harus lebih pedas dari ini. (Ah, this flavor has been adapted to Indonesian taste. In Thailand, the level of spiciness must be way above this one.", Mr. Iqbal (Marketing Manager of The Media) said. 

After some bribes, I was getting used to and started to enjoy the dish. And finally, it successfully kicked my appetite. 

The next starter was with Pla Takrai. It's fried marinated fish with lemongrass and fresh herb. In Indonesian, we usually call it as "sate lilit". Actually I didn't know what kind of fish the use, but it tasted so goooood. *big grin*
Perfect seasoning in this dish succeeded to make me ask for more. Tender and delicate texture did indulge my taste buds. Both hands od Pla Takrai weren't enough.

Khao Pad Sapparot was pineapple fried rice. I found some uniqueness in a good way in this dish. Recording to Chef Sidik, the unique fragrance and taste came from the soy sauce he used. They imported it from Thai. IMHO, I loooove the dish. It was perfectly seasoned. Tasted savory with a little hint of sweet and sour from pineapple. 

Phad Pho Taek (squid, fish and prawn stirred in Thai herb chilli). So bad it also contained crab, so I couldn't eat it due to my aleregic. But my friends said all the components were well-cooked. The prawn was fresh, even the squid wasn't too hard to chew.  Pad Kana Kratiam was stir fried baby kailan.

Pla Sam Rod was deep fried fish with three flavors sauce. The deep fried fish was chrunchy outside but very soft inside, and wasn't smell fishy.  Love the tangy sauce, nice balance of salty, spicy, and a hint of sour.

Kapraw Gai was stir fried minced chicken with thai basil. The dish wasn't the best of all, but it suceeded to hit top three. There was beef version of this dish, named Phad Kapraw Nuea. Similar taste, just different meat.

Anyway, due to bad lighting and  not qualified camera of mine, so, all the photos credit in this post goes to AnakJajan. Thanks to Mrs. Jajan who gave me permission to use their photos.

Recording to Mr. Iqbal (Marketing Manager of The Media), name "Sukhothai" is taken from an ancient kingdom in Northern Thailand. "Sukhothai" means dawn of happiness.
Chef Sidik, the executive chef in charge, is a humble and creative chef. I could say it just by tasting his dishes and ask him few questions. He's not a Thai, but he successfully cooks authentic Thai food. He also gave us some quick cooking trick. How generous he was.

I found a jaw-dropping fact during my visit. They had their cutlery brought directly from Thai. Made from copper. And yes, it's traditional Thai cutlery. How cool is that?

Tell me what you think! Do comment below. ;)



Sukhothai Thai Restaurant
The Media Hotel & Towers 6th floor
Jl. Gunung Sahari 3
Jakarta 10720
Phone: (021) 6263001 ext. 4605
Opening Hours: Daily – Lunch 12.00 pm – 2.30 pm, Dinner 6 pm – 10.30 pm
Price: 149K IDR nett (excl. drinks)
Twitter: @SukhothaiResto

Taiyo Sushi: Another Fusion (Rock 'n) Roll - Openrice Gathering / Food Tasting

If you happened to Pluit Putra Raya, you might notice a big sign written "Taiyo Sushi" on the left side. Once closed for a period, now it's re-open with new look. Even the changes weren't not far from the former, to be honest I prefer the old one. Well, who cares about it anyway. Let's go to the dishes. It's more important. :p

 I got the invitation from Openrice. So there were some of their staffs greeted me when I came in. 
First dish was Chawan Mushi (12K), which was a very appropriate appetizer, just exactly what I expected. The chawan mushi has nice texture and perfect seasoning. Loved it!

Chawan Mushi (12K IDR)

Taiyo Sushi Roll (52K). Half baked salmon with cucumber and crunchy inside. I forgot how they called the crunchy for sushi. Whatever it was, it definitely win my heart. Mayo and cheese on top went really well. Pssstt.. this one was my favorite.  

Taiyo Special Roll (52K IDR)

Tempura Maki Floss (22K) was a simpler roll. From the name, you might know what's in it. Yup, prawn tempura and floss. The prawn was perfectly cooked. I loved it too. Light and tasty. Let's call it as easy bites. 

Tempura Maki Floss (22K IDR)

Aburi Mozarella Roll (56K). As I googled it, aburi sushi means sushi whose fish on top that is torched by flame in a glimpse, so the fish is partly grilled and partly raw. I don't eat raw food, but aburi sushi was an exception. I loved the grilled-smell sensation. Aburi Mozarella Roll had kani inside, and chicken floss and tobiko as topping. The mayo was only for decoration; had no impact.

Aburi Mozarella Roll (56K IDR)

Unagi Salmon Special (54K). Tasted similar with Aburi Mozarella Roll and Taiyo Sushi Roll. Perhaps because they had similar ingredients. But the ingredients were too strong that the unagi was almost undetectable. 

Unagi Salmon Special (54K IDR)

Kare Pasta was their new menu. This dish contained fettucini and kare. The fettucini was overcooked for me. White sauce was a bit tasteless, but it's okay since kare was the hero of the dish. The Kare had pretty strong spices but still not sharp enough. 

Kare Pasta (45K IDR)

interior

Overall I loved the dishes. They had lovely unique taste that you'll only find in here. They kept the uniqueness so hard that almost all the sushi taste the same. That's so bad. 
I'll come back someday, anyway. :)


Taiyo Sushi
Jl. Pluit Putera Raya No.17, Jakarta
(021) 669-3675

Food Tasting: Umaku Alam Sutra

Heyho, Readers!

Even my owner was a bit busy with her life, thanks God she never forgets to fullfil me. :p

Well, this time we got invitation from Umaku Alam Sutra. 

Umaku is a Japanese restaurant which serves authentic Japanese cuisine with reasonable price. First opened at Duren Tiga, now they spread their wings into Alam Sutra. Yay! 

We had so much fun. A little chit chat and games that they'd prepared really widen my knowledge about Japanese cuisine. For example, I never knew that Tempura brought by Portuguese soldier to Japan, only Southern Japan people eats rice, etc. 

Hot Ocha (5K) will never go wrong. 

 Karai Ramen (35K). Thick hot and spicy broth with slices of beef and noris completed a big bowl of ramen. I could say it was very very spicy. I didn't dare to eat them too much. :p
They said, this ramen is origin from Hokkaido. Because the temperature is quiet cold there, so people love to eat something spicy to warm their body. 

Salmon Yakimeshi (33K). The rice was a bit sticky, just fit well with my likely. The seasoning was perfect. They put small pieces of salmon into the fried rice. I could say Japaneses fried rice is more likely into Hongkong fried rice ( not Indonesian), so it tasted salty and savory, without any hint of sweet. 

Sashimi Mariowase Jyo (44K). Hmm.. as I told you in previous posts, I don't eat raw food, include sashimi. :D
Some of my fellows said it wasn't fresh, but the other said it was fine. So I can't say anything, I didn't even try.

Spider Roll (37K). Not much I could say about this dish. The unagi didn't smell fishy,

Tempura Moriawase (35K). It was still hot when it came up. The sauce was nice, went well with the fries.

Sake Kabutoyaki (26K). This was Salmon's head, smeared with sake and other seasonings. First I heard, I didn't expect much from this dish. But surprisingly, it tasted so good! A little bit sweet, salty and savory, combined well in bite. I have to say, this really kicked my buds. :)

Some Robatayaki, which consisted of 1 piece each. 

I forgot its name, but I do believe it tasted so good that I wouldn't erase this part from my post. The fire-sprayed salmon was super great. It felt like melted when it touch my tongue. Whoah! Can I call this as mouthgasm? :p

Volcano Roll (35K)

Inari Sushi. Yup, different from usual. They put seaweed and roe fish, and mix them with the rice. What a lovely! :))

Salmon Grilled Cheese (27K). Grated cheese on the top of sushi? Challenge accepted. Lol
Tasted very fusion, as it also had mayo between the rice and cheese. So, with the dominan of mayo and cheese, I guess you now the taste already.

The very generous owners gave us these cute souvenirs. Thank you. :))

Overall, I loved it. Small, neat, unique, and decent place. Good food with affordable price. What else can I ask? :)


Umaku Alam Sutera
Ruko ASTC (Alam Sutera Town Center) Blok 10E No 9
(ruko seberang flavor bliss)
Alam Sutera, Tangerang
Phone: (021) 943811633
http://twitter.com/umaku_alsut