WakuWaku Japan Cafe at Kaffein

 

New place to hangout in Jakarta, it's WAKUWAKU CAFE! If the name WakuWaku reminds you of the popular Japanese TV channel you watch on your cable TV at home, then you're guessing it right. WakuWaku Cafe is presented by WakuWaku Japan, an entertainment channel which brings you popular Japanese programs, such as Japanese dramas, movies, animations, culture programs, etc. Not only bringing Japanese culture on the screen, now WakuWaku Japan is also letting people to taste the real Japanese food here at WakuWaku Cafe.

Taking place at Kaffein Cafe at Gandaria City, WakuWaku did an amazing job transforming the place so you can feel the traditional Japanese ambiance inside the Cafe. The dining area is separated into the indoor and outdoor area. The indoor area is beautifully decorated as a sakura garden with a small tatami area. Having your meal here feels like having the real hanami (sakura party) in Japan.

 

The interior at their outside dining area is lighter and brighter than the inside. It's simply designed with light wooden colour combined with paste pink and green colors with Japanese texture. And there's also a wall mounted cabinet which displays lots of cute Japanese ornaments at one side of the outdoor area. So simple yet comfortable!

 

The food they serve here are the authentic Ochazuke series. Ochazuke is the type of Japanese dish which is made by pouring Ocha (Japanese green tea ) and Dashi (fish stock) over rice and some savoury toppings.

Tempura Chazuke (IDR 120.000)
 The first Ochazuke series comes with assorted tempura as the savoury toppings. It has Ebi Tempuras, Fish Tempura, Squid Tempura, Mushroom Tempura, and Spinach Tempura as the toppings. After the ochazuke soup poured into the bowl, the taste of the tempura became crispy and soggy at the same time, yet so good. And of course I love the rich and unique taste of the ochazuke soup, the combination of ocha and dashi is not something you could easily found in Jakarta. Must try!

Tai Chazuke (IDR 120.000)
 If you love to have your fish raw, this might be the right dish for you. Tai Chazuke is one of their best sellers, using only the freshest snapper fish as their topping. Well for me, I'm not a big fan of raw fish, usually I would avoid eating any dish which contains raw fish such as nigiri sushi or sashimi, but I tried this dish and I must say that it was pretty good. It has that chewy texture, but it's not smelly at all. Combined with the ochazuke soup, well, ochazuke soup makes everything better! Lol.

Sake Chazuke (IDR 120.000)

The last dish of the ochazuke series, it comes with shredded grilled salmon as the topping. Well now this is something I love! The combination of the salmon, rice, and soup was so warm and comforting. The kind of comfort food that I would love to have over and over again.

Chirashi Sushi (IDR 150.000)

The last dish was not a part of the ochazuke series, but don't worry, it's just as good as the others -- if not better. Colorful seafood and vegetables over vinegar rice, it feels like you're eating sushi, in a bowl! It's pretty and tasty, highly recommended.

Last month on November 28-30th, WakuWaku Japan was also holding a grand opening event for WakuWaku Cafe. The event was held at the Piazza at Gandaria City, and you can enjoy Japanese games and culture there. You can also take picture with Ultraman Mebius (it's one of my childhood superhero!) or wear your own yukata. It was so much fun! Here are some pictures.

FYI, WakuWaku Japan Cafe will only be here for a very short time, only until January 28th 2015, so you better be on your way now before it's too late! Thanks BBlog and WakuWaku Cafe for the authentic Japanese experience :D

WAKUWAKU JAPAN CAFE

Gandaria City

Mainstreet Dining UG

Unit #MUC33

Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda No, 8
Jakarta Selatan 12240

WAKUWAKU CAFE

Marugame Udon

Marugame Udon is expanding their business, opening their second branch in Gandaria City. Just a few days after the opening, I got an invitation to a blogger meet up and break fasting here at Marugame Udon Gandaria City. The place is occupying quite a large area. Still using the same system as the Taman Anggrek outlet, they have a big counter where you can choose your dish, as well as seeing it freshly made in the open kitchen. After that you pay at the cashier at the end of the counter, and eat your meal at the dining area.

 

As the name said, Marugame Udon's specialty is their Udon, which comes in eight different choices to try. Other than that, they also have assorted tempura and also rice dish.

Kake Udon (IDR 33.000)

Kake Udon is served with kake dashi soup (Japanese stock with soy sauce and mirin), which taste very simple and light. The udon itself already has the perfect thickness and chewiness, that it is yummy enough just to eat the udon with the light kake dashi soup.

Niku Udon (IDR 45.000)

Niku Udon is served with Kake Dashi Soup and Sukiyaki Beef. I personally like this more than the Kake Udon, since the beef was very tender, and it also gave a hint of sweetness to the soup. Just look at that gorgeous shiny soup, isn't it tempting?

Mentai Kamatama Udon (IDR 50.000)

It's another way to eat udon, it is served with no soup, but you'll got soft boiled egg, mentai (chilli cod roe), and shredded nori instead. Not my favourite way to have my udon, but it's worth trying though.

Tori Baitang Udon (IDR 45.000)

If you're looking for richer broth, here you go. Tori Baitang Udon is served with white soup and tori balls. The broth is definitely the richest amongst all, and I just love their homemade tori balls. 

Beef Curry Udon (IDR 50.000)

Udon served with sukiyaki beef and Japanese curry. I've always loved any kind of curry, so I will definitely say that this is delicious. It was said that the curry here was made not too heavy to adjust with Indonesian taste.

Tempura is also something you shouldn't miss here at Marugame Udon. They had various kind of Tempura ready to pick on the counter. Their tempura is refreshed every fifteen minutes to keep the freshness and quality.

Beef Croquette (IDR 10.000) and Egg Tempura (IDR 8.000)

Kisu Fish Tempura (IDR 10.000) and Broccoli Tempura (IDR 10.000)

Ebi Tempura (IDR 14.000) and Chicken Chilli Tempura (IDR 7.000)

All of them were served hot freshly cooked, so no wonder they're all good. My personal favorite would be the Ebi Tempura and Chicken Chilli Tempura. The egg tempura is also one of a kind, I think it's the only place in Indonesia where you could find a half boiled egg covered with crunchy tempura. 

So, will I be back? The question is not necessary, since I've been their regular customer since the opening of their first branch in Mall Taman Anggrek. And I've been back there twice since this event held about two weeks ago. So, I'll see you there? :)

Marugame Udon

Gandaria City 

Mainstreet Lv. UG

Jakarta Barat

Basilico

In the mid 2011, me and David were having an architecture internship at 1Park Residences, an apartment built by Intiland Development near Gandaria City. Back at that time, we almost always looking for lunch in Gandaria City, and this fancy Italian restaurant located right at the main lobby has always attracted me to come and try. But that time, being an unpaid intern employee, we always ended up eating something more budget-friendly.

Almost two years passed by, and last week we finally give it a try. The venue was packed with customers that lunch time (later I realized that most of them are expatriates), only a few table were empty. The interior was basically dominated by the warm wood texture combined with black color. At the center is the bar area,   with attractive hanging wine display at the ceiling, then surrounded by the sofa seats.

Upon arrival we were greeted by the welcome bread, the deep fried bread served with fresh tomato sauce. The bread's still warm and soft, and the tomato sauce was freshly made from real tomato puree. 

To company our lunch in such a hot day, I ordered Lychee Ice Tea (IDR 23.000), and David went with Lemon Juice (IDR 25.000). Both of them were very refreshing.

Basilico offers a wide variation of Pizza and Pasta, so we decided to share one pizza and one pasta dish. The problem about me and David sharing dish in Italian restaurant is, our taste don't match at all. David has always loved sour tomato-based sauce, while I preferred rich and creamy sauce. After long discussion (which almost ended up as a quarrel), David chose the pasta, Chicken Parmigiana (IDR 85.000), and I chose the Pizza, Ghiottona Pizza (IDR 75.000). 

The Chicken Parmigiana -- breadcrumbs-coated chicken breast baked with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, served with spaghetti -- was quite good, but I barely touched it because I was too busy with the pizza. Two layers of thin crusted pizza filled with chicken, spinach, mushroom, and mozzarella cheese, I am currently still drooling while writing this post. 

The pizza didn't really meet David's liking (too creamy he said), so I ended up finishing most of it (with no regret), and David finished the pasta. One little drawback for the pizza is the amount of filling. It was concentrated in the center, but when you reach the outer side, it's almost empty. 

Being satisfied with my lunch that day, I kinda regretted why I didn't try it earlier when I got everyday to spent there. But I'm glad we did try it.

Basilico

Gandaria City Mall

Ground Floor Unit #m-g01 

Jl. KH Syafii Hadzami No.8 

Kebayoran Lama Jakarta Selatan, 

Jakarta, Indonesia 12240

ph. (021) 29053333

f. Basilico

Fook Yew

Seeing the Fook Yew stand at JCF weeks ago got me really curious to try it at the place, so last week I asked David (read: I force him) to go to Gandaria City to try the food. Fook Yew is the newest restaurant from Ismaya Group, and I always love to try their restaurants. 

The place was not hard to find. Located in the ground floor near the entrance, the place was really catchy with a huge waving fortune cat at the front, very shanghai-looking colorful interior, and the Fook Yew wallpaper to convince you. It was crowded that night but luckily they still got one table for two, so we got seated immediately. 

Fook Yew was turned out to be a Chicken Siew Mai (IDR. 19.000) in the menu, so we ordered it. It comes in a cute rectangle bamboo plate, but it tasted just ordinary.

For the main course, David ordered a Macau Fried Seafood Noodle with Egg Sauce (IDR. 49.000). For me the egg sauce was kinda tasteless, and the portion of the noodle was too small for David.

This was my main course, Beef Hor Fun with XO Sauce (IDR 49.000). This one was not a disappointment, I really like it. Perfect chewiness and seasoning. The bottom part was a little bit too oily, but still, love the XO sauce seasoning so much! :)

By the way, Fook Yew was having a twitter promo. If you follow and mention them, you'll get a free item! That night we got an Avocado Pudding with Chocolate Ice Cream. I usually don't like avocado, but I love this one. The pudding texture was soft, and it melts perfectly with the chocolate ice cream. Satisfying dessert for the night :)

By the way, the also sell bubble tea, but I didn't try them last week, so I'm looking forward for my next visit to try their bubble tea!

Fook Yew
Gandaria City, Main street Ground Flr
Jl. KH. M. Syafii Hadzami No.8
Kebayoran Lama
Jakarta
Ph. +6221 29007897