I'm (just) Udoned: Marugame Udon and Tempura, Mall Taman Anggrek

So today I got invited for a food tasting session by this new Udon house in town, yes, as you can obvioulsy see above, the name of the restaurant is "Marugame Udon and Tempura", this restaurant is located on the third floor of Mall Taman Anggrek and the outlet is so eye catching, literally when you step off the escalator and turn around, you'll see a huge Marugame Udon sign and that means you're just steps away from the restaurant. I kinda love the Japanese touch they're giving to this restaurant, and by the way, as what Mr. Edwin (Digital PR Executive) told me, this restaurant management and ethic is also japanese oriented, why is that? I'm going to tell you more, but first let's surf the venue and how they process the beautiful udon, and you'll be amazed.

This is the huge lightbox that I talked about, the logo itself is very simple, but there's something special about simplicity and I love it, the red color talks the most.

To order in this restaurant is basically to queue and the preparation and serving is super fresh, the udon is made directly after order and since the kitchen concept is open kitchen, you'll see for yourself how your udon is made and to keep everything super hygiene, all the staff won't be allowed to get into the kitchen by the supervisor if they don't have the complete uniform on: the hat, the glove, etc.

Just by looking at the process and how the udon looks like when it's cooked, I even start wondering about the taste and texture of the udon, I know upront that I won't be disappointed (LOL).

Another story about the udon, so here, everything is limited, as what I mean here, the udon and the tempura, if no costumer passes and purchases the udon and tempura for equals or more than 20 minutes (well mostly it's made directly but for some occasions, it can be reheated without leaving the freshness of it), the udon and tempura will be all thrown out to the garbage bin, it actually reminds me of Burger King that also does the same thing to their fries, for around 10-15 minutes, if no one purchases, the fries are CUT-OFF from servings.

The japanese concept that I mentioned earlier is connected to the chef, I asked Mr. Edwin if the chef is originally from Japanese and he said "Yes!", there are two chefs that are working here but currently they are going back to Japan for a few weeks, too bad because I wanted to have a picture with them.

What you need to know about this restaurant is that the concept of having the meal here is SELF-SERVICE! You waited for your food and you also need to take it back to the cleaning section yourself. So do pay attention, and be responsible we can't always be too bossy.

Beef Croquette!
So the tempuras have two sections: the red and the black tempura as they refer to, the black tempuras are ones created with meat and the red tempuras are ones mixed or originally made by vegetables. We got the honor of having one main course (udon and rice) + red tempura + black tempura and one complimentary drink. Perks of being invited for a food tasting, don't lie to me about not enjoying the free complimentaries given to you. YAAAY!

This picture leads you to what I was having today.

NIKU UDON

IDR 45.000 nett

Udon with Kake Dashi soup and sliced sukiyaki beef.

Can I just topped this meal and tell you upfront that this might be THE BEST udon I've ever had in my life. PERIOD! I'm not joking and I'm not saying this just because I got sponsored, it's just true and I brought my sister for the food tasting and that's the first thing that got out of her mouth, she also loved it!

I've never been a fan of udon compared to ramen, I am not a big fan of their thick physique and sometimes not very pleasing clear soup but for the record, this is different, I love the udon, it's so fluffy and yummy and jelly but in a very good way, I can't find a single proper word to summarize the udon, you need to try it for yourself since I'm going to be lost for words to describe this. The soup is so yummy, it has great flavor, and the sukiyaki beef is working very well with the soup, I love how they manage to give the crumbles as the garnish of this dish and it works so well together.

A great thing about culinary in Indonesia and what people should really take care of is to NEVER NOT MIXING INDONESIAN TASTE TO THE FOOD. No matter how much (little or a lot), it's essential that you take care of your market, it doesn't mean that when you open a french restaurant, Indonesian people will directly like it, well only if you realize that you will make tons of benefits just with a little consideration. As a costumer, I feel so happy whenever they open up and told me (just like Mr. Edwin did) that this restaurant won't ever forget that Indonesian people are the costumers here, they are the king and that's why we added little details like the chilis, the tempuras, the taste without leaving the japanese background.

This dish is being companied by one gorgeous Ebi Tempura (IDR 14.000) and one tempura egg (IDR 8.000). I honestly think that the egg tempura is the most genius.

Just look at how beautiful the egg tempura is, I love it that they don't coolk the egg tempura super well and leave the middle part to be half-boiled, it's just awesome, and FYI the eggs don't stink, Mr. Edwin told us that the eggs used here are the Omega-9 which happens to be one of the best and the yummiest tasting. Well I agree on that.

Second meal that I'm having is this...

Tendon Tori Rice

IDR 50.000

Japanese rice with vegetable tempura topping, egg tempura and tori tempura.

So this meal basically contains all tempuras and I thought I didn't pick the wrong meal for this one! I wanted to the try the best and this is one of the best menu for you who happened to not be a big fan of udon and chicken lovers. Another genius creation of this is the vegetable tempura. I've had some vegetable tempuras before and most of them tastes like oily fried vegetables but nothing ever beats this period, even the tempura flour and vetegable sticks! Dear God, finally! and trust me it won't leave you the feeling of eating a cheap bakwan, even though sometimes bakwan tastes so good, but let's just get...lifted for the moment.

Giving you the close up shots of the egg tempura doesn't bore me at all. You need to be mouthwatering right now and get your own order of this...and oh beware, the business is going so well that you might have the possibilites of not getting it and return, it usualy takes 10-15 minutes of cooking and if you're lucky enough to get it back.

Beef Croquette
IDR 10.000
Another delicious treat in this restaurant, you'll have a nice beef croquette for only 10.000 each, this croquette is obviously mixed with potatoes, but you can definitely feel the beef, just noticed that potato puree  and beef works so well. Another worth to try menu here.

Additional photo (non-related to the meal) - I took a photo with my new friend/talented blogger, say hi to CiYen, her name is Yenny Widjaja but she loves when people call her CiYen instead. She is a super nice person and I lover how she tell stories on her blog, you can visit her blog HERE!

That's it for the post, I'm just going to leave you guys with one touching message:

TRY THIS! YOU'LL DIE OF JOY!

Thanks for reading guys!

Marugame Udon and Tempura

The 1st Authentic Japanese Udon Restaurant

Mall Taman Anggrek, 3rd fl. (across SkyRink)

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