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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Marche, Grand Indonesia

I and one friend went hunting for dinner at Grand Indonesia, but I wanna try different things, something where I can eat my gorgeous meal, and in the same time having great atmosphere to feel good. Marche was the name that popped out! and yeah, I went there to have my sweet comfortable dinner and I like it when it's not that crowded.

Thank God I went to Marche during the weekdays because on weekend, this restaurant is kinda busy and crowded.

If you're not familiar with this restaurant, Marche has been there in Grand Indonesia for almost three years and its first restaurant is at Plaza Senayan. As far as I know, Marche is the switzerland/france word for 'market', the open market is the concept of this restaurant and I love how the managed to design the restaurant so beautifully without looking messy and dirty. Probably one of the best interior design of restaurant I've ever seen.

So, what's for dinner?

I had a nice portion of roasted chicken leg with baked potato as the additional.

I have always been a fan of food with a nice looking presentation, they always became a great point to my judgement of the food, well but still the taste says everything. If you're looking for something with the medium portion, this is what I recommend to you, FYI the chicken leg and the baked potato is sold differently, I need to add another IDR 15k for the baked potato, and you can also have this chicken leg with mashed potato, too! but no worries for the extra charge, I wanted to have a beautiful meal that night, and a piece of chicken leg just looks boring to me. For the sauce, they gave me the mushroom sauce.

Beef pizza!

This is super yum, I just want you guys to try it. Enough said.

Garlic bread
How do you like your bread? Crunchy? or medium crunchy? Both are nice.
I tried for the crunchy one because I've never eaten a crunchy garlic bread, I'm usual to the fluffier one. (Is the word 'fluffier' exists?) hahaha!

Pan seared vegetables, you are allowed to choose what vegetables you're going to have, and the cook will cook and serve it right to you. I love the ingedients they're using here, this is absolutely not disappointing. I also had this with risotto.

 Soup of the day! Marche mushroom soup.

 Two glasses of ice lemon tea. Nice.

and ass for dessert, I'm having this super duper yum slice of Vanilla Almond cake, add a little maple syrup and you'll die.

We both spent around IDR 600k, frankly speaking, you need to prepare for extra cash, everything is super tempting here, you almost can't stand not purchasing the meal. If it's your first visit, I will recommend you their famous roasted chicken leg, just like what I had that night, the mushroom soup and one drink. That's a generous amount and you're going to feel full enough, the system of payment is using the card, whatever you purchase, they will input the transaction into your card and never try to lose it because you'll be fined IDR 1 million. Even much more expensive than your own food.

Will definitely revisiting this Switzerland restaurant over and over again. I'm in love.

Marche Switzerland Restaurant

Grand Indonesia 5th floor (beside Yoshinoya and the fountain show lobby)

Jakarta Pusat

Ichidaigen Ramen & Ichipan-Ya Bakery

So as what I've promised you, this post will be about Ichidaigen, and I feel so thankful for the food testing invitation, well I would even call it PRE-FOOD PUBLISH TESTING. I got to taste the food even before it's published and I got the chance to give my comments about the food, so maybe the food you'll be tasting at Ichidaigen when you drive by and eat there is somehow mixed with my comments and they improved it, but I gotta tell you, the ramens are VERY GOOD!

What I love about Ichidaigen is the concept of the restaurant, when I arrived there like a month ago, the building was not even ready, it's just a soft opening for some medias and close relatives and to be honest I'm proud to be a part of the soft opening, I feel honored and special (LOL). The owner told me that the first floor will be used for the bakery outlet while the rest of the floors are going to be used as the restaurants area. I love the open kitchen concept and oh yeah, the owner even showed me the interior design straight from his laptop and even the menu design and everything, well I've given my comments, I haven't seen the final results after its grand opening on 12-12-12.


and also...ICHIDAIGEN is the first to ever declare 100% HALAL! Everyone can finally experiences the beautiful taste of ramen. NOMNOM!

During the food testing session, we got like EVERYTHING. We got to taste most of the ramens (of course the chef recommendations), the cakes (like each and everyone of it) and the drinks. The chef is japanese, so I think you wouldn't have to be afraid of the taste, well I've tried it and I wasn't even REGRETTING ANY OF IT.

So are you ready to experience the foodgasm? Here are the pictures!

DISCLAIMER: just for your info that the ramen and cake photos in this blog are not the final presentation, it's the food testing serving presentation.

Kobushi Tsukemen
Let's start with the beautiful ramens! This one is called Kobushi Tsukemen and the serving is unique because the chef recommends the serving to be 'dip and eat', so you don't eat this like the common ramen servings,  another great thing I love about Ichidaigen is the soup itself! it's made of eggs and beef, the meat they're using is also prime beef  :). This one is best for you who love spicy flavor.

and remember! Ichidaigen is HALAL. 100%.

I asked the owner about the noodle, this one is slightly unique because later you'll see other variants and this one is served with different noodles, the bigger one, it's Ichidaigen custom made and it's yummy and elastic in a good way.

Yoichi Ramen

If you love ramens with minced beef, spicy flavor and full of delights from the whole serving and the soup, then this is the righteous choice! I love this one :).

Shoyu Ramen

This ramen variant is another way to say I love the good old yummy ramen with a touch of excellence and halal! I love this one, I think this is my order because I always come to be surprised with the originals, it's like knowing that there are a lot of restaurants but they always have something to stand out and that's why I love to judge from the most common and this one passes my standard! LOVE THIS. I think I'm going to put this on my recommendation list :).

LOVE THE EGGS! I love the fact that the eggs are not greasy, they're just soft and tender.

CAKES
Not only the ramens, but we're given the chance to have the taste of the delicious cakes and breads. As you can see from the picture below, those are the amount of cakes, almost infinity to the stomach but of course I'm not that crazy to eat them all, some is more than enough but at the same time, too much is not enough! The owner Peter, seems to know us very well (lol), the owner also gave us some take away goodies of these beautiful cakes. I finished them all when I got home.

Choco Caramel Cake
Peter claimed that most of the cakes are his grandmother original recipes and personally I think his grandmother is a genious, the cakes are just great, I have always been a fan of a well-balanced food, well I think everybody does, this one is just it. I recommend this to you my lovely readers for dine-in or a sweet takeaway for your loved ones at home.

Peanut Roll Cake
I can't criticize anything because everything served is basically super nice, and this one is included. Well, I think if you eat this peanut roll cake with choco caramel cake (above), you'll find that the flavor is not that much different, that's because two of the great cakes use nuts as the ingredients or either garnish.

Blueberry Buttercream Cake

I am so not a big fan of buttercream cakes, but I don't know how they managed to make a butter cream cake but ended up tasting like whipped-cream cakes. I love cakes with whipped cream, they taste lighter and yummier. This is obviously yummy and I really recommend this blueberry cake! You got the sweet and sour, it's so creamy and fluffy.

I zoomed in to capture the sugar icing that they're using. So pretty!

BREADS
Left to right:
- Blueberry Vanilla cupcake
- (mid) Coffee almond cupcake
- Coffee bun

LOVE LOVE LOVE! My personal favorite is the coffee bun, it's the good old coffee bun and it's just perfect that you serve it with a cup of hot cappucinno or a cup of hot chocolate.

I'm having this moment when I'm writing this blogpost and I can't believe that I've been eating all those, I'm growing happy fats in me, you can always work hard and stay skinny, but when you decide to be happy, that's all your choice! Get as much happiness as you can in your life. Leave whatever makes you sad.

To conclude this post, I just want to say that The existence of Ichidaigen is a serious thread to the others (hahaha).

Ichidaigen Ramen twitter -> @IchidaigenRamen

Food photography and editing taken by me.

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Ichidaigen Ramen

Jalan Radio Dalam Raya No. 20

Jakarta Selatan