Showing posts with label Gyoza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gyoza. Show all posts

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Taruna in Frame

As pilot cadets who enroll in Sekolah Tinggi Penerbangan Indonesia, we rarely get long weekends due to our tight schedule in the institution. Last Thursday was Chinese New Year, and we were lucky enough to be able to have a day off from the day before. We thought campus would immediately start on Friday, but then we received a news about how our headmistress was kind enough to extend our days off until Sunday. I was overwhelmed by the fact that we actually get a five days off from the institution. A chance like this is as rare as finding Waldo in Katy Perry's Candyfornia! 





To make a good use of our long weekend, the gang and I decided to do a rendezvous at Pantai Indah Kapuk to have culinary adventure. Ambar, my dorm mate at Sekolah Tinggi Penerbangan Indonesia, slept over at my house on Thursday night. We ganged up with Gavin and Aryo in the morning and headed to PIK approximately at 10. Gita, who is also my dorm mate, caught up with us just before shalat Jumat with her boyfriend/myclassmate, Ramdhan. 

Our first stop was Hakata Ikkousha.


It was an hour before mid noon when we arrived at the ramen house. The restaurant was still unoccupied by hungry citizen, getting us a table was as easy as going in an amusement at Disneyland with a fast track ticket.

#handsinframe

Condiments

Gavin's cold ocha

Aryo's milk drink with tapioca bubbles

Crepe tester from Fold Crepe Annie - love the Oreo Crepe so much!

Happy Hour was at 11AM - 2PM. For every purchase of ramen, we get a discount for chicken karage, fried gyoza, or grilled gyoza by only paying Rp9.800,00 for each portion. Being a sane person, that I am, I quickly ordered myself a bowl of Ramen Babi Spesial and a plate of grilled pork gyoza. If it wasn't for the Happy Hour, I would get charge more or less Rp30.000,00 for a plate of gyoza. Crazy, right? 

Loving the lovely and appealing presentation of my noodke. My Special Pork Ramen was served with a dash of sesame seed, soft boiled egg, chopped leek, and sliced pork. Two thumbs up for the runny egg yolk! 

Compared to Ramen 38 - Sanpachi, my ramen broth was rich in flavor, yet slightly salty to my taste, and less thick. The noodle was cooked well done, making it tender and less chewy. If only the waitresses were concern enough to ask how we wanted our noodle, like they do at Ramen 38, I would definitely have my noodle curled up in a medium well goodness. I'm not satisfied with the super thin pork slices. Even though it tasted deliciously fatty and savory, they could definitely thicken the cut. It's a good thing the dish was big in size and they soft boiled their egg, or else I would rate the ramen house a 6 out of 10 instead of a 7.4. 

Ramen Babi Spesial - 55K

Grilled Pork Gyoza

I ordered a plate of Grilled Pork Gyoza as a side dish, while Aryo had the deep-fried ones and Gavin had Chicken Karage. We shared our side dishes and even tasted each other's ramen broth - in which I conclude that Gavin's Chicken Curry Ramen's broth was very typical with Indomie's Mie Kari Ayam, while Ambar's ramen broth is the spicier and chicken version of my Special Pork Ramen, and Aryo's Pork Shoyu Ramen was savory with a hint of sourness here and there. 

The gyoza shared the same size with my thumb and the filling was not that generous. My grilled gyoza tasted excellently savory, even when it was rather oily for a dumpling skin with very few minced-pork filling, and the edges were deliciously chewy and crunchy. Aryo's gyoza was crispier than mine and shared the same taste. I'm not fond of Gavin's Chicken Karage because they were super oily and they were over coated with batter. The chicken itself was spicy and sweet at the same time, which tasted a bit off for me.

Aryo's Pork Shoyu Ramen - 58K

Aryo prefers to have Fried Pork Gyoza to accompany his ramen with

Ambar's Ramen Ayam Tamtam - 58K

Gavin's Chicken Curry Ramen - 58K

A plate of Chicken Karage that belonged to Gavin

Boy, were we stuffed! The portion of the dishes at Hakata Ikkousha was big enough to make cadets like us feel full. We had to wait for around an hour to let the food go down to our digestion system before we could make it to our next stop, Shirokuma.


Yup, Shirokuma. I clearly stated on my previous post about Shirokuma that the dessert place was simply overrated. So, what made me go back to the soft cream palace and decided to give it another chance? Simply, the adorable limited edition dessert: Delicutesh Cream!

My Delicutesh Cream, woohoo!

Delicutesh Cream consists of panda-shaped mixed soft cream on a cone. The dessert is only available during the month of love and it has a limited serving per day. I fell in love with the adorable looking panda ice cream, so I decided to give it a go. 

As I told you before, despite the creamy texture of the soft cream, I am not satisfied with the matcha soft cream. The green tea flavor was not strong enough to be called "green tea" and it was dominated by the bitterness instead of the sweetness. I had a hard time devouring the awful bitterness of the green tea, but I made it eventually. In the end, I can still conclude that Shirokuma is simply overrated, and that the Delicutesh Cream would definitely gain love from its' lovely appearance but not from its' sweet deliciousness. 

The adorable Female Panda Cone

Gavin ordered a glass of Green Tea Latte that tasted none like latte but more like water with green tea powder. It was clearly a BIG NO for me. On the other hand, Aryo seemed to enjoyed his Twist Soft Cream. The soft cream melted very quickly, making him had to lick the vanilla and green tea soft cream that dripped all over his hand. 

Green Tea Latte - 25K

Twist Soft Cream - 15K

Sharing your ice cream is good, people!

Not satisfied with my ice cream, we decided to visit another ice cream cafe, the Northpole Cafe. I've been curious with this particular dessert house, simply because of its' various choices of ice cream flavor. I surfed the web about its' whereabout and explored Instagram just to find beautiful pictures of its' ice cream that made me go fidgety. Luckily, Northpole is only three restaurants away from Shirokuma, so we only had to walk a bit instead of driving ourselves. 

The new dessert join specializes in ice cream. They have four choices of ice cream cone, with 16 different flavors of ice cream that costed you Rp25.000,00 each. Three of the flavors are exclusive flavors that will costed you another Rp10.000,00, which are Baileys, Diablo Beer, and Choco Ferrero. 

Same like Baskin Robbins, they have this policy that allows the consumer to taste the ice cream before they can decided which flavor to get. Curious about the beer flavored ice cream, I asked the ice cream lady for a tiny spoon of it. The moment the ice cream made contact with my taste buds, it became clear to me why they sell it for Rp35.000,00. The beer flavor is strong in this one, very bitter like how a beer should taste, yet there was a hint of vanilla sweetness here and there. I'm not a big fan of beer, so tasting is enough for me. But for those who fancy the bubbly and fizzy sensation of Diablo beer, you should definitely get the ice cream!

I went for the Salted Caramel ice cream with Oreo cone. Even when the cone was super small, on the edge of it was a generous amount of melted marshmallow and Oreo crumbs that tasted superb! I didn't know Oreo and marshmallow worked well with each other, especially with a scoop of the salty and sweet Salted Caramel ice cream. 

Salted Caramel Ice Cream with Oreo cone - 40K

Gavin's share of ice cream with plain cone - 25K

We tasted each other's ice cream and they all tasted sooooo good! Ambar's Choco Lemon Ice Cream was very chocolaty with a strong lemon flavor, yet Gita's Choco Ferrero was way more chocolaty than Ambar's - even when it was hard for me to distinguish the Ferrero chocolate inside. Aryo decided to get creative with his dessert combination, so he went for the Hazelnut Ice Cream with Fruity Loops cone. 

I know, the dessert at this cafe can be pretty pricey, but I don't see why you can't enjoy good quality ice cream once in a while.

Ambar's Choco Lemon Ice Cream - 25K

Again, sharing is good!

Aryo's Hazelnut Ice Cream with Fruity Loops cone - 40K

Gita's Choco Ferrero with Milo cone - 50K

After we screamed for ice cream, we move on to our last pit stop, which was LOCALE24 Diner & Bar. We only had drinks at this restaurant/bar, while we wait for a couple of friends to join in the fun. I had a glass of Pina Colada that was overflowing with coconut. It was rather challenging for me to finish my drink because I didn't enjoy it at all. Same thing with Gavin and his Mojito that definitely used green food coloring and syrup in the making. Unfortunately, the battery in my Mom's Leica died just as I was about to take picture of the drinks, so, no pictures in this one. 

It was fun having culinary adventure with my fellow heavy eaters. True, we only visited four restaurants that day, but we also shopped for street snacks on our way to Pantai Indah Kapuk - such as the sensational Hot Jeletot, boiled quail eggs, and cheap cheese sticks. Not to mention, I bought a portion of Nasi Bungkus with grilled fish, tempe, and salted duck egg on my way home. Can you imagine how much weight I can gain in just one day? 


"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."


Hakata Ikkousha
Ruko Garden House, Blok B
Bukit Gold Mediterania
Jalan Raya Pantai Indah Kapuk
Pantai Indah Kapuk, Jakarta

Opening Hours:
Monday - Sunday: 11AM - 10PM

Contact:



SHIROKUMA

Ruko Crown Golf, Blok A No. 23
Bukit Golf Mediterania, Jalan Pantai Indah Kapuk
Pantai Indah Kapuk, Jakarta

Opening Hours
Monday - Sunday: 12PM - 10PM


Northpole Cafe
Ruko Crown Golf, Blok A No. 57
Bukit Gold Mediterania
Jalan Marina Indah Raya
Pantai Indah Kapuk, Jakarta

Opening Hours: 
Monday - Sunday: 12PM - 10PM

Contact:



LOCALE24 Diner & Bar

Ruko Gardon House, Blok B10-11 
Bukit Golf Mediterania
Jalan Raya Pantai Indah Kapuk
Pantai Indah Kapuk, Jakarta

Opening Hours: 24 Hours

Contact:

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Ramen 38 Sanpachi

My Mom has found the best restaurant to indulge on authentic Japanese ramen. Believe me when I say "authentic", because the ramen that they sell at this particular restaurant share the exact same taste like the one they sell at Japan. Ramen 38 Sanpachi, is the name of the restaurant, a place where you can enjoy ramen like never before!



This restaurant is famous for its ramen, despite the fact that they have other non-noodle dishes in their menu. Those who come to this restaurant are mostly Japanese and Chinese-Indonesian. Ramen 38 Sanpachi is located at the second story of Kamome Swalayan, a building in which is filled with Japanese restaurants and shopping spots where the products are mostly imported from Japan. It is like heaven on earth for Japan enthusiast!

When you enter the restaurant, the staff will welcome you with, "Irashaimase!" which means "Welcome to our shop!". The waitress will literary shout the phrase, then followed by the other staff, which makes the restaurant echoes. Might as well act surprise and excited. 

There are tables for those who come in group of four, tables for couples, and bar table for those who come all by himself. What caught my attention the moment when my Mom and I entered the restaurant are the televisions, one at the back, and one near the bar table, showing episodes of Sailor Moon. It feels like my childhood is being splashed down at my face. "Moon Prism Make Up," said Usagi the Sailor Moon. I jumped with joy as the waitress lead us to our seats.




A moment after we found a place to rest our bottoms, another waitress came up to us, giving a glass of cold water. Guess what? It is free. This restaurant is doing the same custom that those ramen restaurants in Japan do. They give us free water, and we can refill after we have finished it and it is still free. How cool is that? She also gave us some menu to choose, which made me ended up ordering a bowl of Tonkatsu Chasu Ramen. Curly noodles, cooked medium, topped with four slices of pork, and some vegetables. I also ordered a plate of Shoyu Tamago, eggs in which was dipped in a pan of broth, to go along with the ramen. My Mom ordered some Gyoza, grilled pork-filled dumplings that can make you snap random Japanese phrases the moment it enters your mouth. Let's just say that lunch just got real.


As a person who can leisurely consume pork, Tonkatsu Chasu Ramen flew me to the moon. It tasted ridiculously delicious! I bet the chef is a kind and generous person because he gave us a generous amount of pork inside the ramen bowl. The broth was amazing, it is as if you are devouring Mount Fuji. It is best if you eat the ramen with some chilly oil and pepper. Trust me on this, you would probably dumped any instant noodle that you have at your house after you tasted this particularly delicious ramen. 



The Gyoza, or should I say the pork-filled dumplings, sent me to a bed of roses. They were crispy on the outside, and chewy and soft on the inside. I recommend you to eat this nectar of God the moment it is served on your table. You will find yourself wiping your face with tissues because the oil from this dish would just squirts out. Careful not to stain your new dress there. 



As a person who fancies eggs, I have to say that this eggs scored 9.8 out of 10. It was three and a quarter cooked. You can see in the picture that the egg yolk looks gooey and heavenly. Shoyu Tamago, the name of this egg, is an egg which was dipped in a pan of broth. The egg absorbed the savory liquid, which makes is savory and a bit salty unlike any other boiled egg. Totally recommended for those who self-proclaimed themselves as egg lovers.


After we finished our meal, the waitress will immediately took the bowls to be washed. Then, another waitress will appear, holding her tray in which was filled with some beautiful shot glasses. Oh look what we have here, it turned out to be jellies. A couple of cube shaped jellies, one is Lychee flavored and the other one is Orange flavored. Guess what? It is free. I repeat, free! They do this kind of service where they would just give us free drinks and free desserts. I was overwhelmed. First they gave us free water, and now they gave us free jellies for dessert? My perfect kind of restaurant.


People, get in to your vehicle and drive yourself to Ramen 38 Sanpachi. Order yourself a bowl of ramen, but don't order any drinks. Enjoy yourself enjoying the ramen while watching on numerous episodes of Sailor Moon. Take your time. Enjoy the Japanese atmosphere surrounding the restaurant. Be a Japanese for a day! Oh, and did I mentioned that they have this book shelf at the restaurant, filled with numerous manga and Japanese magazines for you to read? Yeah, they have a book shelf filled with numerous manga and Japanese magazines for you to read. Guess what? It is free!


For further information, you can check out Ramen 38's Twitter here, or at its website http://www.ramensanpachi.com/

Ramen 38 Sanpachi
Kamome Swalayan
Jl. Melawai Raya 189B, Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta Selatan 12160

Phone: (021) 7280 0268

Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday: 11 AM - 1 AM
Saturday - Sunday: 11 AM - 10 PM
Holidays: 11 AM - 12AM