Tokyo Belly

Another subsidiary restaurant branch by Ismaya Group. Just to let you know, Ismaya is a holding company of a handful successful restaurants & lounges such as ; Social House, Kitchenette, Ismaya Catering, D'Journal, Pizza e'birra, Fook Yew, Skye, Sushi Groove, Pasta de Waraku, Blowfish, and a couple more of others. So anyways, this fusion Japanese eatery is an exchange of the previous place called 'Mr. Curry'. I'm not sure what happen to Mr. Curry but I guess business wasn't doing well and thus they refurbished and changed the concept to this 'Tokyo Belly'. Will it be doing well, or follow the declined footsteps of Mr. Curry? Hmm....let the food do the talking. After all, the taste buds never lies.

Menu : Blossom Belly

Price : RP 55,000 ++

Score : 3.0 / 10

>> I don't like the food. The waitress recommended on this but not my taste! The salmon in the middle was a mush, and the cheese in the middle only became an additional mush. The crunchy bit on the outer layer was okay but hey come on, for Rp 55,000?? The sauce drizzled over wasn't great either. To add on it's overpriced but the only positive note is the fact; it didn't contain any rice. So maybe those who are doing Atkin's diet can have this hahaha. And lastly just for your info, there was 6 slices to this dish and not just 3 (only in the picture).

Menu : Beef Kimchi Ramen

Price : RP 58,000 ++
Score : 6.0 / 10

>> This was better than the appetizer and thank God for that. The soup was slightly too thick but it became less viscous as the temperature cools off. The ramen was still al dente and the seasoning was well balanced. I got the kimchi kick and the chili punch (I ordered extra spicy), thus a much welcome change after the above ' Blossom Belly '. But to talk about the toppings inside?! It's pretty much empty! There's two half sliced egg, a single piece of seaweed, a few strands of kimchi cabbage and maybe two very very thinly sliced beef. Bottom line for sixty thousand, you're getting plain noodle in a fairly good broth. 

Menu : Beef Steak Rice

Price : RP 68,000 ++
Score : 5.0 / 10

>> Issues with a couple of thing. Number one the salad. Very much over dressed in a mango flavored mayonnaise. How hard is it to proper dress a salad? Light dressing equally spread is not that difficult I suppose? Number two, when you read 'Beef Steak', I was hoping for a decent piece of meat, yet what came out was a very very very over cooked chunks of beef. It was like chewing a rubber tire. Utter disappointment. What give this a mere pass is only the curry sauce. I like the taste, slightly sweet but could still settle well on the taste buds. 

Over all, faced with the ultimate question of 'Will I come back'? Hmm...sadly the answer is a 'No'. Don't get wrong, Ismaya cooks great food at Kitchenette and Social House, I go there regularly but this branch over here was a surprise for me, definitely needs additional help in the cooking department. Nevertheless, do visit and tell me your thoughts. I might be seriously wrong. Cheers !!

Tokyo Belly

Grand Indonesia Shopping Mall

West Mall, Level 3 A.

Angke

There's no single Chinese Indonesian that I know that hasn't ate at Angke. A complete nobody, everyone of my acquaintance knows Angke and nearly everyone likes it. What is there not to like? Well I love it, I might be biased because I'm a Hakka and Angke serves Hakka traditional food which reminds me of all the food that my grandmother used to cook back when she was healthier. So every time when I missed a good Chinese meal, Angke pops up into my head and luckily I got to visit there 2 weekends ago with a bunch of friends. It was a crowd of 10 and that equates to many dishes...nyummmm!!

Menu : Lindung Cah Fumak
Price : Rp 155,000 ++ (Large)
Score : 8.0 / 10

>> Damn ! What to say about Lindung Cah Fumak. It's probably my favorite Hakka dish, a must have on the table. I'm not a big fan of eel to be honest but when it's deep fried and sauteed together with Chinese red dates and Fumak veges...geeezzz... goodness is all painted all over my smiling chewing face. As a matter of fact, Angke cooks one of the best dish, perfect crunchy texture, together with the sweetness and the saltiness of the veges. A must have !

Menu : Udang Rebus Yamha
Price : Rp 160,000 ++ (Large)
Score : 8.0 / 10

>> A plate full of fresh steamed prawns with a generous amount of ginger, garlic and a touch of soy sauce just to balance everything. Loveee this one! Beware of the cholesterol though, might be troublesome for some of you guys but a hand full of these beauties on rare occasion shouldn't be a problem. This taste reminds me with the dish below; " Ayam Rebus ".

Menu : Ayam Rebus
Price : Rp 140,000 ++ (Large)
Score : 8.5 / 10

>> For the taste, I'll give a 8.0 over 10 but an extra half point goes to the small amount of bones in it. There wasn't much bones around the chicken meat and thus better value and more importantly easier to eat. You just need to pick it and chew it whole. The condiments poured all over is pretty much the same with Udang Yamha (Above) which are : lots of ginger, lots of garlic and a good drizzle of oil to glisten and moist everything up. Another must have dish in the heart of Hakka tradition !! *Note : There is another dish on the menu called "Ayam Garam", don't get mixed up.

Menu : Angsio Bakut
Price : Rp 180,000 ++ (Large)
Score : 7.0 / 10

>> This is basically pork ribs deep fried and sauteed with sweet and sour sauce. The size of each cut might look huge but bearing in mind the thick bones that are inside....not so big after all. The sauce was balanced, not as sweet as I thought or compared to "Babi Kuluyuk" (below). A better dish than Babi Kuluyuk I suppose.

Menu : Babi Kuluyuk
Price : Rp 100,000 ++ (Medium)
Score : 6.75 / 10

>> No bones in comparison to Angsio Bakut. But on general, the taste is pretty much similar. A good hit of sweetness coming from the tomato condiment and a kick of sour coming presumably from lemon or pineapple juice. I'm not a big fan of Babi kuluyuk but a lot of people are in fact.

Menu : Cingkong Kepiting Goreng
Price : Rp 108,000 ++ (Small)
Score : 6.0 / 10

>> Some of my friends looove this dish (you know who you are haha) but isn't the same case for me. It's just a seafood ball deep fried with a sweet and sour sauce on the side for dipping. Well it taste pretty much like a decent fish cake, but with a good amount of crab added to it. It's well made and definitely a good appetizer but when compared to the other dishes Angke got in store, I'll pass on this and leave more stomach room for the other dishes !

Menu : Bakmi Goreng Ulang Tahun
Price : RP 90,000 ++ (Medium)
Score : 6.0 / 10

>> Well...I like their 'bihun' much much more. But in the first place, I'm not a huge fan of fried noodles therefore I might be biased. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people love this dish and as a matter of fact I finished my bowl but just felt that their fried bihun is much tastier. I'd probably won't order this if it wasn't for my buddies' choice. But in general a good solid noodle dish.




Angke Restaurant
Jl. Zaenal Arifin (Ketapang Raya)
Komplek Ketapang Indah Jakarta Barat 14440
Phone : 021 - 634 3030