Ramen 38 Sanpachi - Melawai Raya
By: Dot, Jun 2010

    Ramen 38 Sanpachi has few outlets throughout Jakarta: Melawai Raya - South Jakarta, Hoka Wisma - Central Jakarta, Metro Pondok Indah - South Jakarta, FX mall 5th Floor, Artha Gading Mall - North Jakarta, Pacific Place Mall, and PX Pavilion - West Jakarta.

    This restaurant decor is like those eating place in Japan, where the store is small, with some tables and chair, and one long table for people who wish to grab a quick lunch eating their ramen while standing (the difference is that they provide seat on those long table).

    Ramen 38 Sanpachi put 3 symbols on their menu (the food containing pork, the food that supposedly used pork but can be substitute to the non pork on, and the non pork food). So for those of you who are Muslims, pay special attention to the menu, or just ask the waiter for more information on which food is halal or not.

    When we visited the outlet in Pacific Place Mall, we ordered Tori Karage (deep fried boneless chicken), Tonkotsu Ramen (ramen with pork chasiu), Shoyu Ramen, Jigoku Ramen, and Fried Rice. The ramen came in a super big bowl, with a lot of soup in it. When you order Jigoku Ramen, you can order the spiciness with the level of 1-10. The numbers represent the amount of chili they put in, so for example, level one will have one spoon of dried chilly and one piece of fresh cut chilly in it.

    For me, who like my food not that spicy, number 1 is good enough. The soup was milky in color, with a bit of reddish oil on the surface, topped with sliced mushroom and 2 slices of pork chasiu (Chasiu is a thinly sliced marinated pork meat). The flavor was fuller and stronger than the regular Japanese ramen. Perhaps it has already been adjusted to Indonesian tongue. Nevertheless, the taste was really good. The soup was tasty, salty and spicy. And once you have finished the ramen, the spiciness will leave a tingling sensation in your mouth. But it won’t stop you from wanting to just drink up the whole soup! Yes, it is that good.

    However for those of you who prefer a milder taste of ramen soup, you should order Tonkotsu Ramen (ramen with pork chasiu) or Shoyu Ramen (ramen with soy sauce soup base). The Tonkotsu Ramen was milky in color, and has a rather sweet taste, while the Shoyu Ramen is brownish color with a salty taste. Both are a much milder taste than the Jigoku Ramen, but they are equally good. The Tori Karage was surprisingly good as well. When we ordered it, we thought it was going to be just fried boneless chicken. The chicken was tender and not overcooked, the seasoned flour covering the chicken was crispy, and the seasoned salt on the side which wasn’t too salty was the perfect combination for the fried chicken.

    Good food and great ambiance. These make this restaurant is almost always crowded with customers.

Hanei - Grand Indonesia East Mall
By: Dot, Jun 2010

    Hanei is a Japanese restaurant located in Grand Indonesia East Mall. This restaurant serves many kind of Japanese food such as shabu-shabu, sushi, udon, kamemashi, and teriyaki. On our visit, we ordered New Zealand shabu-shabu, dragon roll, beef teriyaki and tori kamemashi.

    The New Zealand shabu-shabu set consists of: slices of NZ beef (9 slices for the large portion, and 6 slices for the regular portion), a set of vegetables, and steam rice. It comes with 2 kinds of sauces. Usually, when the customer order the shabu-shabu, the chef then took out the frozen beef and sliced it using the meat slicer, then serve it to the customer, so that the customer can get a freshly sliced meat that aren’t stick together. However, seemed like this restaurant already pre cut the beef then put it in the refrigerator. The thickness of the beef is also thicker than the usual, that it doesn’t really melt in the mouth, but that might be because we did not order the wagyu one. The sauce however, wasn’t that strong. It doesn’t really do what the sauce should do, to enhance the taste of the beef.

The food

 

 

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