Who
doesn’t love Japan & Ramen? I bet everybody does! In this Open Rice
Indonesia gathering session, all the food bloggers/instagramers/lovers are all
excited to go to Ippudo Indonesia at Pacific Place. It’s really easy to be
found! Just go to the 4th floor via escalator, turn to your right,
and there you are! Just in front of Ippudo ;)
THE BEGINNING
An
attentive waiter will greet you, ask how many persons, and escort you smoothly
into the seat. Don’t be surprise, even though the place is big, sometimes you
might catch a queue – yes, it’s super crowded! –, especially in lunch / dinner
time! Relax; even if you need to wait, there are comfortable seats next to the
reception.
When
I arrived, Ippudo Indonesia, Open Rice and the others greet me. They are super
friendly and I feel like I’ve been their best friend for a long time! I put
down all my stuffs, and take out my gear – a camera! –
THE
AMBIANCE
The
first time after you step into Ippudo Indonesia’s restaurant, you will
immediately feel like you are in Japan! The super loud greeting from Ippudo
Indonesia’s team "いらっしゃいませ!!" (Irasshaimase!!) is going to drag your mind
over from Pacific Place to Japan. In addition, the ornaments, the furnitures,
the kitchen sets, the employee uniforms, the arrangement of the kitchen area,
everything is representing Japan as their main theme – and food!
As I
look around, I realize how smart they arrange the seating position. They have
the super big round table if you’re more than 6 people, a regular table that
fit for family up to 4 people, table for couple even a kinda private / exclusive room. Super smart, right?
You don’t need to get confused with the seating arrangement at all.
Ah,
not to forget, for you who’s SINGLE a.k.a Jomblo (Maklum ya, jomblo terkadang
terlupakan #eh) there’s a seating arrangement special for one person, like the
one in a bar, in front of their kitchen. At least, you won’t feel alone because
you can face the kitchen member, together with other single person around you.
That
single seating arrangement truly reminds me of Japan. FYI, in Japan the land is
limited so they need to build a building, restaurants included, as minimum as
they can. That’s why you can found a lot of Japanese restaurants in Japan with
single seating arrangement like this one, to save place. Plus, a lot of
Japanese people eat alone, especially employee and businessmen/woman.
THE
APPETIZER
Yep,
let’s get back into our gathering session! To stretch out, Ippudo Indonesia and
Open Rice serve the appetizers for us to shoot. Relax, of course we are not
here only to take pictures, but taste it afterwards! How nice of Ippudo
Indonesia and Open Rice, because we don’t have to share those tempting
appetizer. Yes, we get a personal platter for each appetizer! *Horray!!*
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| The personal platter ;) |
Deep-Fried Squid with Nori
To eat this appetizer, don’t forget to squeeze the Lemon all over the squid to give more enchanting taste, and dip it into mayonnaise sauce. As the name implies, deep fried, its crunchy, a bit oily, and super yummy! A perfect finger food to share while gossiping!
Hot
Potato Salad
This one is like a baked potato and full of vegetables. Well, as I’m a true carnivore and doesn’t fancy vegetables, this one is not my favorite. Plus, they have a lot of onion inside. I can’t eat a lot of onion because it has a very strong taste and its like explode in my mouth. If you follow my blogposts, I can’t stand herbs / ingredients with strong taste. However, I must say that the baked potato itself is very smooth and tasty. I love the baked potato, apart from all the vegetables and onion. It might be nice if we can request a pure baked potato without the salad.
Kushi Katsu
Well,
who said only chicken that can be made as a delicious Katsu? You’re totally
wrong bro! Contains half pork meat and half pork fat, this deep fried katsu has
a very crunchy texture outside. In your very first bite, you’ll be surprised to
taste how crunchy it is. In contrast, the pork meat is super tender – the pork
fat is kinda chewy, though – . So you got two different sensations in one bite.
! I think this one has become my number 1 favorite Katsu! Don’t forget to dip
it into the sauce!
HOW TO EAT RAMEN – WELL, YOU EAT IT WRONG, ALL THIS TIME!
After
socializing and eating our scrumptious appetizer, ci Amanda – from Ippudo –
give each of us a leaflet about how to eat ramen. You know what? All this time,
we eat Ramen in a wrong way! This is the three steps on how to eat your Ramen –
“Zuzutto!” –
1. Sip
First,
sip the warm, rich soup. So you can taste the well prepared broth from the
chef.
2. Slurp
After
you got the rich sensation, with the chopsticks, pick up few strands, and
“sluurrpppp” or “zuzutto!” (Japanese language for slurp)
3. Top
Don’t
forget to enjoy your ramen toppings!
Congratulations,
you’ve got a complete ramen-eating experienced!
If I
can correct it, I think Indonesian – especially us, bloggers – have four steps,
even more, in eating Ramen. Nice guess guys! The first step is taking pictures
of the ramen! Not to forget, check – in, upload photo in socmed, show off the
ramen to other friends, and so on, and so on. LOL!
THE KAKUNI
As I told
you seconds ago, when the Kakuni was served by the Ippudo Indonesia’s crew, all
of us start to take picture of it. Even Miyazaki Hideki, the Japanese R&D Manager of
Ippudo’s Asia got surprise with our “tradition” and said to us that we should
eat the Ramen real fast before the soup gets cold. Ci Amanda told him that’s
what we do regularly, and we all laugh. Well, I think Miyazaki Hideki–san still
couldn’t get it, hahaha!
Surprise
surprise, Miyazaki Hideki-san voluntarily pose the hands in frame style so that
we can take picture of the beautifully cook, thick-cut pork belly! Thank you
& it was a very nice of you!
Basically,
all the Kakuni’s has the same portion and topping (pork belly). The only
difference between all of them is the broth.
Shiromaru Kakuni
I
pick the lightest broth, which is Shiromaru Kakuni, with well-done (normal)
cook noodle. For you who can’t stand strong ingredients (i.e onion, ginger,
others) like me, this is absolutely the best choice! It’s served in a huge
white bowl. I love the overall combination! The rich soup, the thin slurpy
noodle, even the mushroom! And WOW…look at this pork belly!! Perfectly cut in square, with a big &
thick portion, along with the combination of the yummy fat, and easy to chew
meat, oh my, I could enjoy this pork belly all day long. Even when I’m writing
this review, I still could taste it in my throat!
Kamaru
Kakuni
I also tried the broth of Kamaru Kakuni. For me, it has a super strong, especially garlic, taste. So yes, thank God I don’t order this one, hahaha! Other foodies that order this Kakuni feel really satisfied with the taste! Well, everyone does have a different taste, and it’s really important for you to pick the ones that match with yours!
This Kakuni has the strongest, thickest broth and the hottest chilli among all. When I take a sip of the thick soup, yes, this one is super strong and super rich. Maybe I could recommend this one to my dad, since he loves eating a strong-taste dish.
In
addition, if you feel that all of the broth is still not strong enough to match
your taste, Ippudo also provides a separate easy – to – press garlic. Just
request for it!
 |
| Can you spot the additional garlic on the top ? |
When
you’re reading this, a question might come to your mind.
“How come I never knew about the Kakuni Menus in Ippudo Indonesia?”
Well,
get your tummy ready, because this Kakuni Menus will be available in April 2015!
Another pork & ramen dish to die for!
HEY, THEY ALSO HAVE BEEF ! ;)
Beef Teppanyaki
Spoiler alert!
 |
| Ippudo's team truly have fun and enjoying their work!! |
THE
CLOSING
With
our fully satisfied tummy, the Open Rice x Ippudo Indonesia gathering comes to
its end. Ippudo Indonesia gives each of us a goody bag as souvenir. Thank you
again!! I love that you also aware of Global Warming and support Go Green
movement!
Thank
you and I hope to see you all again real soon, Ippudo Indonesia, Open Rice, and
all foodies!
 |
| Can you spot me guys? :p |
IPPUDO INDONESIA
Pacific Place, 5th Floor
Jl. Jenderal Sudirman SCBD, Jakarta
Phone : +6221-57973339
Pacific Place, 5th Floor
Jl. Jenderal Sudirman SCBD, Jakarta
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