Jani Journey Journal

Marugame Udon is a restaurant chains that started a self-service hype all over Jakarta. Well, I know there are a couple of other restaurant that has the same concept, but as far as I remember, Marugame Udon is the one who make it big. I can say that I am a regular customer in Marugame Udon. I’ve been a fan of them since it was easy, quick and pretty much affordable to me. I always come to eat here whenever I need a quick meal and a bowl of comforting udon.

A couple of days ago, I was strolling around Gandaria City with my friend, and saw their advertisement for a new menu. Needless to say, I instantly rush myself to their store and order their new menu.

Abura Udon is a bowl of dry udon (obviously) topped with minced chicken meat, some vegetables, beansprouts, seaweed flakes and tanuki (that crispy bits thingy). They also have a spicy one, where they add chopped chili on top of it. As soon as the bowl served in front of me, I cannot wait to try it. Oh by the way, this bowl of goodness cost around IDR 45.000 per portion.

I really suggest you to stir all of it thoroughly before start eating. I tried eating it separately, the taste becomes a bit confusing. But after you stir it, the udon taste so good! The minced chicken was very juicy, rich in flavor and delicious. The udon was springy and nice. The seaweed flakes bring an unique flavor and interesting taste to the dish. The tanuki complete the whole meal and bring it to another level of goodness. I never thought a dry udon could be this good.

I have to congratulate Marugame Udon for creating a new amazing menu. I love how they can incorporate the current hype of abura in town to their signature udon dish. Even though probably their Abura Udon is not the best in town (yet), I really love how unique their dish was.

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Marugame Udon

Gandaria City

Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda

Gandaria, Jakarta Selatan

DKI Jakarta, Indonesia

Opening hours: 10 AM – 10 PM

Food: 4/5

Ambiance: 3,5/5

Price: 3,5/5

Service: 4/5

As far as I know, Mu Gung Hwa is a Korean supermarket. It is a place where you can find Korean food products that you can’t find anywhere else. Until a couple weeks ago, my friend told me that they also have a little restaurant that sells authentic Korean food. Since I’ve been really into Korean food lately, I decided to check it out.

We ordered quite a lot of food that night. One of them was the Ra-Boki which was IDR 50.000. Ra-Boki is a combination of ramyeon (noodles) and tteok-boki. Tteok-boki is a Korean snack that made out of rice cakes covered in spicy sauce. It usually cooked with some vegetables and can be mixed with other stuff such as noodles (like the one that we ate). I’m not a big fan of this one because the sauce was too thick and heavy for me. Although I quite like the teokboki itself because it was chewy and crispy at the same time.

We also ordered the Ramyeon itself for IDR 30.000. For me, there is nothing special about this dish. It was more like a bowl of instant noodle cooked and served in a pot. However the noodles taste different than the usual instant noodle that we have here. This one was not as salty as the other instant noodle.

We also tried their Sundubu-jjigae (IDR 55.000) which is a soft tofu stew. The dish usually made out of tofu, vegetables, onion, eggs and optional meat (seafood, chicken, beef, etc). I like their sundubu-jjigae! It has this really smooth tofu, lots of meat inside and most importantly the soup was delicious. It was fragrant, spicy and refreshing at the same time.

My personal favorite of them all was Oden that cost us about IDR 15.000 per stick. From what I know, this food is actually came from Japan. It is a name of a one pot dish consisting of several ingredients. But here in Mu Gung Hwa, oden is more like a steamed fish caked served with a bowl of fish based soup. I super love the oden! Especially the soup. The soup was very fragrant and tasty, I even finish it to the very last drop. The fish cake was nice too. It was very chewy and also tasty.

My snacking that night was considered great. The food was nice and the restaurant was quiet. I think not many people knew about this place, since it was a located at the 2^nd floor and way back of the store (behind the bakery). Since the restaurant was empty, I can talk with my friends for hours without worrying the people who wait for our seat. Will I come back? Definitely! Especially for the oden!

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Mu Gung Hwa

Jl. Senayan, Blok S No 43

Senopati, Jakarta Selatan

DKI Jakarta, Indonesia

(+62) 21 722 2214

Opening hours: 10 AM – 10 PM

Food: 3,5/5

Ambiance: 4/5

Price: 3/5

Service: 3/5

I just had a meeting in f(X) Sudirman for my clothing line a few days ago. Since it was my first time to f(X) Sudirman, I just let my friend decided where we should break our fast. Then she decided to eat at Tjap Toean, which located not far from the main lobby. As soon as I sit down, the waitress gave me the menu. I was confused because turns out they got a long list of menu in their book. The waitress was kind enough to help us by explaining the recommended dish.

We end up ordering Roti Ngai (IDR 50.000) for both of us. It was a grilled thick bread with cheese and condensed milk. I wasn’t a big fan of this since I’m not a cheese eater. But the grilled bread itself was quite fluffy even though it was already grilled. However I expect the bread to be grilled longer to make it crispier.

I ordered Nasi Babah (IDR 53.500) for dinner. The description said it was a plate of nasi lemak, fried chicken, tempeh, egg and some vegetables. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of nasi lemak. I was tempted to order this one because of the blue colored rice. I order it just for the sake of my instagram. LOL! Silly I know but in the end, I quite love the meal. The fried chicken was tender, the fried tempeh was crispy and the best part of this meal was the sambal. It was so spicy yet so addictive.

I had Green Tea Cincau (IDR 32.000) for drinks. This drink was more like a green tea latte with a grass jelly as a topping. Nothing really special with this one, I prefer my green tea a little bit more bitter than the usual. However I love how this drinks has the perfect level of sweetness.

My visit to Tjap Toean at f(X) Sudirman was just okay. The food mostly good, the waitress was helpful and the ambiance was nice. The Nasi Babah was definitely the star of the night. However price wise, I personally Tjap Toean is a little bit pricey for me. Will I be back again? Maybe sometimes. After all, there still many things to try before I can conclude everything.

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Tjap Toean

f(X) Sudirman

Jl. Jenderal Sudirman

Sudirman, Jakarta Selatan

DKI Jakarta, Indonesia

(+62) 21 255 54 158

Opening hours: 7 AM – 11 PM

Food: 3/5

Ambiance: 3/5

Price: 2,5/5

Service: 3/5

For the past few months, Jakarta’s Little Tokyo has been one of my favorite place to hang out with my friends. Why does people called it Little Tokyo? Because the streets is filled with tons of Japanese restaurants that bring the authenticity of Japan to their restaurants. Starting from the interior to the foods. I have seen so many Japanese people eat there, that should be some kind of approval from them right?

Echigoya Ramen is located in the same row with Boutique Hotel in Blok M Square area. Just walk down the road, look for their sign with a red lantern hanging in a front of Japanese sliding door. As soon as you get in, you’ll be greeted by an open kitchen with the chefs inside, busy making the noodle from scratch. To be honest, the first time I came here, I expect nothing since the restaurant did not have the Japanese ambiance that you usually find in the typical Japanese restaurants. But looking at how many Japanese people eating here, I cannot wait to try their food.

Tori Karaage (IDR 29.000) is one of must order food every time I hang out with my friends. We love how crunchy the outside yet the meat was fluffy and very tender. However since the Tori Karaage is served with mayonnaise, I didn’t really like the outcome of the taste. The mayonnaise is too thick for my liking and kinda ruined the crunchiness if you dip it too much.

We also ordered a plate of Chicken Gyoza for our appetizers. Now let me tell you something, this is literally the best gyoza I have ever tried in my life. I still remember how the juice from the filling oozing out the second I bite it. The skin was crispy and yet fluffy and definitely addicting because somehow it has this gooey texture. It was so damn good, we even order some more. For a plate of IDR 29.800, you’ll get 5 beautiful pieces of gyoza. Trust me, one is really really not enough.

Our main course was their signature dish the Echigoya Ramen (IDR 54.800) and Chicken Mabo Ramen (IDR 65.000). The Echigoya Ramen must be their signature dish (judging by the name, obviously, duh!). This ramen is filled with lots of veggies, which I really like. You can find corns, carrots, sliced mushrooms, wakame, beansprouts and leeks, completed with a few slices of chicken. I love how the noodle was thick and chewy in a good way. The soup was tasty without leaving you feeling bloated afterwards. The chicken was good too, even though it was just about 3 slices.

The Chicken Mabo Ramen was ramen in a whole different level. The ramen filled with tons of tofu, some leeks, sliced mushrooms and much more. I love how smooth and a little bit chewy the tofu was. The soup was very thick and really rich in flavor. I personally prefer this one than the Echigoya Ramen, because it was already full of taste and perfect goodness in every spoonful.

Oh by the way, at first we thought the ramen was expensive than the usual ramen on the market. But when it came out, we were surprised by how big the portion was. The bowl diameter is probably about 25cm, yeah it was huge! With a portion that big, I think the price is pretty decent.

Since I have never been to Japan before, I cannot say that Echigoya Ramen has the best authentic ramen in town. But I can tell that they do have a decent ramen and amazing gyoza. Overall, I will definitely come back to Echigoya Ramen soon. As I write this post, I imagine the goodness of their gyoza and ramen. And I can’t wait to have another round of it.

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Echigoya Ramen

Jl. Melawai VIII No 2A

Melawai, Jakarta Selatan

DKI Jakarta, Indonesia

(+62) 21 739 5962

Opening hours:

11.30 AM to 2 PM & 6 PM to 1 AM (Mon – Fri)

11.30 AM to 2.30 PM & 5 PM to 12 AM (Sat)

11.30 AM to 2.30 PM & 5 PM to 11 PM (Sun)

Food: 4/5

Ambiance: 3/5

Price: 4/5

Service: 3/5

I’m a frequent traveler to Bandung, since my grandmother from my father side live there. But I never really visit any tourist attraction in there. There is something about Bandung that made me just want to curl up in my bed all day. Seriously!

For the past few years, Alun-alun Bandung (Bandung city square) has been a huge hit among everyone. It is the first thing you have to see when you are in Bandung. I don’t really get the hype at first, I was hesitating when my aunt took me to the Alun-alun Bandung. I was like ‘is just another city square! What could be special?’. Turns out I was wrong.

Alun-alun Bandung is very different than other city square. They have this huge mosque and also public soon-to-be library. The grass was artificial but somehow inviting you to sit for hours and relax. The garden around the square was very beautiful and in a very good shape. And I noticed, there were no garbage laying around. I was impressed with this one. It’s not a usual sight to see a government public place look as good and clean as this one.

The only thing I hate is the basement that filled with street food vendors that made the basement looks dirty and a little bit smelly. Other than that, I would really recommend you guys to come and enjoy a good relaxing time at the Alun-alun Bandung. In fact, I was thinking to come back here soon!

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Alun-Alun Bandung

Jl. Asia Afrika

Balonggede, Bandung

West Java, Indonesia

Opening hours: 24 hours

Is it June already??? Oh my GOD! Where does the time goes? It feels like it was just yesterday I spent new year with my friends, and now it’s the sixth month of the year already! Anyway, this is my current playlist. Some of the songs on the list is a bit different than what I used to listen, but their lyrics made me fall in love with them. So here it goes!

1. Mercusuar – Kunto Aji

“Yang aku lihat terang, yang ku lihat masa depan

Hangat dalam dekapan, aku merasa sedang pulang”

2. Malibu – Miley Cyrus

“I’d spend the rest of my life just standing here talking,

You would explain the current as I just smile,

Hoping that you’ll stay the same and nothing will change”

3. Run to You – Lea Michele

“I would run to you, if you want me to, just give me some kind of reason

I’ll take the pain, take it all away, just give it some kind of meaning”

4. I Know Something’s That Gonna Break Your Heart – Sondre Lerche

“Who am I to tell you? Love’s a dangerous disguise, for a pair of starving eyes

I hate to tell you but I’m gonna fail you, tonight can never let us down,

Tomorrow will break your heart”

5. Sign of The Times – Harry Styles

“We don’t talk enough, we should open up, before it’s all too much

Will we ever learn? We’ve been here before, it’s just what we know”