Naka Nakaya

Shame on me :( It's been quite a while since my last post. I was completely drowned in my work and personal life, too busy to write, too ignorant to make time. Apologies... But that doesn't mean I stopped eating. Well, I think I recently lost a little bit of weight due to those excuses I gave above but nevertheless my taste buds are still very much in tune.

Recently I went to Naka Nakaya and within the same week, I came back twice! Naka Nakaya is still under the same management with Sumiya and thus their standard is pretty much above there. The food served are more casual, with more variety of yakitori, a good selection of ramen & soba (which Sumiya doesn't offer) present in a more casual manner. The place is apparently popular among Japanese themselves and thus I assume the taste agrees with the origins.

I gotta love the front entrance. It has that hidden alley / entrance without a real door. Dark wooden fixings combined with dark cold panel slab gave a rather warm ambiance. It isn't as 'dark and dim' as Sumiya, but certainly a little more life and opened space.

Menu : Tan Tan Ramen
Price : Rp 55,000 ++
Score : 8.5 / 10

>> I love this upon the first sip. The broth has a strong resemblance to our local traditional food 'Soto Ayam' and thus it felt strangely familiar on the tongue. I was kind of confused, I don't know whether the cook over fusion the dish to adjust to the Indonesian people but however, the Japanese ordered this dish the most. This is one of the popular ramen dish in the restaurant. The noodles itself is on point, they didn't overcooked it nor raw tasting. Portion was good, the fillings inside were simple though; slices of chicken and beansprouts. But the star of the dish will have to be the broth! It's like a super good soto ayam that has additional magic ingredients inside. Definitely much stronger in the spice department. A superbly yummy bowl of goodness.

Menu : Chicken Negima
Price : Rp 26,000 ++
Score : 7.0 / 10

>> It's what I do all the time when I come for Japanese dining. I always order a few sticks of yakitori. It's pretty much like our local satay (but without the peanut sauce), you can have a choice of parts of the chicken; whether it's the meat, skin, gizzard, liver or even intestines -__-. Well, I don't eat organs so I always stick to the boring part; meat itself. 

I had 5 sticks of Chicken Negima for Rp 26,000 and I thought it was a super good deal because even 'Old Chang Kee' is selling at a higher price for one stick hahahaha. But price aside, I quite enjoyed it. It wasn't over the top good but chicken was cooked well, and the leek gave it a crunchy side to the bite. The teriyaki sauce smeared all over combined everything and sealed it together.

Menu : Gyoza
Price : Rp 38,000 ++
Score : 7.75 / 10

>> Dumplings! I lovee dumplings, who don't? It is easy to eat with no hassle; just pop them into your mouth. But what makes a good dumpling? Are you thinking the obvious answer...well what about besides the taste of the fillings inside? My thoughts would be 'the ratio of the skin to the filling'. I hateee those thick doughy tasteless plain skin with teeny meeny amount of fillings. And I don't like an 'ugly' dumpling, too much fillings that burst out of the skin. I had a lot of bad ones and of course a handful of good ones but Naka Nakaya would fall under the 'good ones' Hurrrayy !! The skin is neither too thick nor it's too thin, just the perfect thickness and the amount of fillings compliments it. A good sear on the bottom makes it a little bit crunchy but not dry and a vinegar sauce on the side makes it all better.

Menu : Chicken Namban

Price : Rp 53,000 ++
Score : 6.0 / 10

>> Sadly, I am not a fan of this dish. The portion is enough for 2 to 3 adults to share and I only took a small piece from the plate. The fried chicken itself is tasty, crisp and not overcooked. The mayonnaise with onion sauce is also tasty. But when they poured the entire sauce onto the fried chicken, I didn't quite agree with it. It turns the chicken a little bit soggy and there was too much mayonnaise all over. Basically, you can't control on how much mayo cream that you wanna have. If you guys are gonna order this dish, I recommend you all to get the kitchen to separate the chicken from the sauce. I bet it will be much better.

Menu : Fried Garlic Clove

Price : Rp 35,000 ++
Score : 7.0 / 10

>> Wondering what is this? The title of the menu explains it all. It is literally fried garlic clove. Even though I love garlic, I was a little hesitated to order this in the first place. The waitress assured me that it's pleasant without the over strong bitter taste. I did have it and I quite like it. It's healthy because it's garlic clove but at the same time it's fried. Hahahaha so it's a little bit of cheating. It wasn't bitter and wasn't pungent at all. And surprisingly, it didn't leave a nasty breath. A good simple, healthy and slightly oily appetizer (does it make sense?) hahahaha.

Menu : Black Sesame Mousse

Price : Complimentary

Score : 7.8 / 10

>> I like this thing!! Besides the obvious 'free of charge' reason, it's delish ! It is more lighter than your usual chocolate mousse. It is super airy and light. The black sesame as the main ingredient gave it a more authentic Japanese dessert kind of feeling. The airy mousse is not sweet but the little dollop of sweet cream on the top was perfect ! I liked this so much that I asked for a second serving. Beware : this free beauty comes in small portion.

Naka Nakaya

Senayan Trade Centre, Ground Floor.

Phone : +6221 - 57931751

Sumiya - Revisit

This review is actually a revisit to this place. I did a post on Sumiya on the 16th October 2012 and thus if you have the extra curiosity on this restaurant, scroll your arrow to the left margin and find it under 'Previous Burps'.

This hidden gem is situated at Senayan Trade Centre (exactly beside Plaza Senayan) contained pretty much the same crowd as my previous visit. Filled with Japanese ex-pats having bottles of sake and of course a minority of Indonesian families. I came at around 9.30 pm and the place was still hassling and bustling with chatters and laughter.  Both the essential factor of telling that they must be enjoying their food !!!

Menu : Momomi
Price : Rp 15,000 ++ / Per Stick
Score : 7.0 / 10

>> This is your usual chicken yakitori or better as known 'chicken skewers'. It has the right amount of char, yet still maintaining the juiciness of the meat. As for the sauce, they kept it fairly simple, light soy sauce and light drizzle of oil which made the real taste of the chicken meat to pop in your mouth. Easy to gobble down 10 sticks with a bottle of beer. Good stuff !

Menu : Kara Kara Nabe
Price : Rp 85,000 ++
Score : 8.5 / 10

>> I made a review on this same dish on my previous post. This soup is something that I wouldn't want to miss. Definitely in tune with my palate. This picture on the left is already been scoop and poured onto individual bowls. The real thing comes in hotpot, piping hot, and serves for 3 adults. I shared this only between 2 people, so yeaahh go figure my big tummy in addition to the other Ala-cartes. This is the closest super good tasting soup to the one I had over at 'Gyu Kaku'. Very good balance of spices and herbs, packed full of ingredients too. Multiple meatballs, tofu with a generous amount of vegetables, sums up to a fulfilling bowl of soup.

Menu : Shake Kaibashira Ishiyaki Meishi
Price : Rp 73,000 ++
Score : 8.0 / 10

>> This is a salmon and scallop rice placed in a hotpot. A very very yummy dish, the fact it sits on the sizzling hotpot gave the rice a slight burnt base which translate to YUMMY !!! That crunchy salty bit gave a different texture and adds a new dimension upon chewing the rice. It's difficult to explain and I guess you need to order one and see if we connects hahaha. As for the seasoning ... spot on !!!

Menu : Chicken Teriyaki
Price : Rp 48,000 ++
Score : 7.0 / 10

>> Not a disappointment at all but maybe slightly under perform in comparison to the other dishes. Nevertheless, a good balance of sauce; the saltiness and the sweetness kicks and love the viscosity of the teriyaki sauce. It's turning more like a sticky paste and that actually covers and hold on to every meat and vegetables instead of the plate.

Menu : Crab Cream Korokke
Price : To be advise
Score : 6.0 / 10

>> I'm sorry, I didn't took notice on the pricing, I slipped up. As for the taste, slightly disappointing for me. The rest of the dish was 'WOW' on top of 'OMG' and thus I expect too much on every dish that arrive on the table. This was fairly okay, the taste was alright but what bothers me was the cream inside, it was tooooo 'milky and eggy' as a filling.





Sumiya Japanese Restaurant
STC , Senayan IT Mall Ground Floor 128
Jl. Asia Afrika Pintu IX, Senayan
Phone : 021 - 5793 1826

Kira Ramen

Everyone wants a piece of the action at Pantai Indah Kapuk and now introducing 'Kira Ramen' as the new addition to the Japanese Ramen eatery at PIK. I often come to sit at PIK, have dinner, drink coffee, hang out, chit chat and play cards with my friends. But yesterday as I gave the stretch of cafes a good observation, I'm bewildered on the amount of 'Bubble Tea' (six place) and 'Japanese Ramen' (five place) joint. Restaurant is a cut throat business, you excel and survive (which means ka-ching!! high margin profit return) or you loose out to your competitor, within a year or so another person is going to take over your place. Therefore, I'm not sure about the fact whether 'competitors within a location' came in those owners' mind. Nevertheless, I'm here to comment on the food and not to judge ... hehehehehehe ...

Menu : Tonkatsu Shoyu Ramen

Price : RP 45,000 ++
Score : 5.0 / 10

>> The photo on the left was after I stirred my chopsticks into the bowl of soup, then I realized I had forgotten to snap a picture of it. So, as presentation wise, it's definitely better. Bottom line, the soup is lacking in taste. Definitely not enough seasoning and there is no depth in taste of the broth. It simply taste like luke warm slightly salty pork soup. After one sip, I said to FW 'this needs help'. I poured in cut red chilies, spoons of garlic, spring onion, sesame seeds, chili powder, chili oil and a good dash of shoyu. After all those aid, it eventually became better. But a good dish is simply having nothing needed to add into. In addition to the downside, I think the ramen is slightly overcooked for me. Maybe two minutes too long. They didn't offer any choice on how the customers would like their noodles to be cooked, nor on the 'heaviness' of the broth (which some of it's competitors do). But on the up side, their chasu has a much thicker cut, thus a better texture to bite into even after a good 10 minutes in the warm soup. And that pork chasu might have just saved the menu from a fail to the edge of 'just pass'.

Menu : Tori Teriyaki

Price : RP 25,000 ++
Score : 4.0 / 10

>> I'm sorry, I didn't fancy this too much either. This dish is a simple dish executed wrongly. The batter is too sweet for my palate. It feels like a fried battered pop corn chicken heavily dipped in sugar honey glaze and then served. The chicken were at a correct bite size and the batter were crispy, but the glaze on top has to be changed. I'm not a chef nor a good cook but my tongue says 'It definitely needs less sugar'.

Kira Ramen

Pantai Indah Kapuk, Crown Golf Ruko Blok D/30

(The same stretch with Ikkudo Ramen)

EN Japanese Dining Bar

EN Japanese Dining Bar is a Japanese Restaurant with specialty in "Okinawan" cuisine which are located in eX, Plaza Indonesia and the other branch at Crystal Lagoon, Senayan City. 

If in any case you had ever wonder what is the meaning of “En”; it is a Japanese word, meaning 'a circle of gathering for friends'.

12 of my friends and I decided to eat here on last Saturday because of 3 reasons. First, there was a soccer match between Indonesia & Laos, so we need ed a restaurant with a TV. Second, there was 12 of us, thus we need a place that was able to contain us. Third, we hate to wait for seats, we wanted a place with NO waiting lists. Gladly enough, EN Dining was there to cater us. The place was fairly comfortable, with homey VIP room and TATAMI room for you who want to do some gathering or banquet.

Menu : Beef Carpaccio
Price : Rp 68,000++
Score : 6.75 / 10

» The first time I had carpaccio was tuna fish meat. Instead this one was thin sliced raw beef with special sauce. I'm really a big fan of sour!! The surprising fact was that even though it is pure raw beef, it's not disgusting. The meat was fresh!!

Menu : Tsumire Nabe Pork
Price : Rp 58,000++
Score : 2.5 / 10

» This is a dish consist of pork meat balls and veges in kimchi soup. Sorry to say this is NOT good. I have to compare every kimchi soup with the one I ate in Gyu Kaku. This soup is lacking in a lot of aspect, not sour, not spicy, not enough kimchi, just not good. Disappointing :(

Menu : Grilled Chicken Teriyaki
Price : Rp 58,000++
Score : 6.2 / 10

» The chicken was grilled but I wished they would had grilled them longer. The skin would have been more crispy. But apart from that, the Teriyaki sauce was pretty nice; sweet and salty with all that typical Teriyaki flavors.

Menu : Tako Rice

Price : Rp 75,000++

Score : 6.5 / 10

>> This is a dish consisting of minced beef and cheese on top with house specialty sauce on top of rice. This was very yummy at the first bite, but when getting 3/4 of the way, you'll want to stop because of the portion and also the cheese that gives an unpleasant effect.

Menu : Honeytsuki Ribs

Price : Rp 105,000++

Score : 6.0 / 10

>> The beef was tender and well cooked. But I felt the sauce was 'dangling and incomplete'. In Bahasa Indonesia, I'd say "'Rasa nya nanggung, setengah2 kurang nendang". Do you understand what I'm saying? It is lacking a little bit of salt, a little bit of sweet and spice. Just a little bit of everything. Last but not least, it would have been much much better if there were less bones too.

Menu : Honeybread
Price : Rp 48,000++
Score : 6.75 / 10

» BIG portion, and very filling if you ate the entire 'castle' by yourself. The outer skin of the bread was crispy and that I reckon was the best part. 3 scoops of vanilla and a good splash of honey resting on top of the center of the bread is reasonably yummy! I wouldn't say this was to die for but not bad at all. Btw, I apologize for not paying attention to the price.

EN JAPANESE DINING BAR

Address : eX Plaza Indonesia 2nd Floor. Jl MH Thamrin Kav 28 - 30, Jakarta 10350
Phone: 021 - 3199 0203