Category: Japanese

Japanese combines the best of raw and cooked food. Its Sushi and Sashimi are known worldwide for its distinct way to present food.

Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat

Review:

This week, we review a restaurant that has been generating quite a buzz in my hometown, Surabaya – Indonesia. I think most people just refer it to as ‘Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat’. It is a new-ish concept that they introduce by combining two restaurants into one gigantic all you can eat eatery. I am actually tempted to just say ‘Don’t read this and just go to the place’. You’ll know why…

We actually arrived at the Japanese wing of the restaurant. It used to be known as Kizahashi restaurant. There are three big stalls in this restaurant: Tempura, Teppanyaki, and assorted Japanese stalls. The tempura stall also serves udon, whilst you can get Japanese fried rice and okonomiyaki from the Teppanyaki stall. The other stall is the most exciting. You can get sushi, sashimi, sorbet, Japanese salad and some desserts. When we were there, they ran out of salmon sashimi and there was only a white fish sashimi and crab stick.

Japanese Tempura

Japanese Teppanyaki

Sushi, Sashimi and Salad

We now move to the Indonesian wing of the restaurant. I think officially they still use the restaurant name, Arumanis. The stall I was interested in the most was rujak cingur. It’s a traditional dish from Surabaya that use cow’s nose as one of the ingredients with vegetables and peanut-and-shrimp-based sauce. In addition to that they also have other Indonesian and Chinese-Indonesian dishes.

Rujak Cingur

Assorted Indonesian

The fun actually starts outside of these restaurants. They have more than a dozen of small stalls. The two things that I love to try when going to a new Indonesian restaurant (if available) are chicken satay and sop kaki. I am sure you should know about Indonesian chicken satay. Sop kaki is a bit more exotic. They are predominantly a soup made of cow’s leg and other innards (or you can always have the meat part).

Chicken Satay

Sop Kaki

Another dish that I always try to find when in Indonesia is Tahu Tek. It is a traditional fried tofu with egg and peanut-based sauce. It is usually enjoyed with rice cake and crackers. You can also find Shawarma in one of the stalls. However, it didn’t look to exciting for me. You could also find Kikil (a different version of cow’s leg soup) and martabak.

Tahu Tek

Shawarma

Kikil, Martabak and Nasi Bakar

Last but not least, we also tried a few nice desserts. The lightest of all is crepes with sprinkled cheese and chocolate. My favourite, although it doesn’t look apetising in the picture below is sweet martabak. They are very lovely! You can also have an assortment of drinks like Malaysian’s Teh Tarik and Indonesian ginger-based drink called Angsle.

Crepes

Martabak Manis

Teh Tarik and Angsle

There are also some stalls that I did not go to (just because I already felt really full!). Some of the food that I did not get to try: Soba, BBQ chicken, dumplings, steamed stuff, traditional drinks, ice cream, es teler, Javanese fried rice and noodles, and soto.

I have also included pictures of all of the stalls that you can try in Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat.

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The final verdict for Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat

Overall, it might not be the best restaurant in Surabaya. However, the vast number of dishes you can try at Hotel Bumi all you can eat was overwhelming, to put it mildly.

Did you know?

This all you can eat package is actually done by two different restaurants merged together.

Hotel Bumi was formerly owned by the Hyatt group.

Rating for Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $20 all you can eat

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

Jalan Jend. Basuki Rakhmat 106 – 128, Surabaya, Indonesia

+62 31 531 1234

http://www.bumisurabaya.com/

Jan 12, 2016
Akane Tokyo Cuisine

Review:

We came to this restaurant for dinner shortly after landing in Jakarta. It was ‘only’ 12-hour journey. Our trusted friends recommended the restaurant and guaranteed it was one of the better ones in Jakarta… So we went along with it!

The restaurant is called Akane Tokyo Cuisine and located in Crowne Plaza. The menu reminds me more of an Izakaya establishment (with a pretty limited number of drinks) than a restaurant. You can obviously nibble through the night with the likes of Edamame, onigiri or shisamo. However, if you want to eat something more substantial, read on…

Yakitori Omakase Mori – Rp 99k – 8-kind charcoal grilled chicken skewers

According to my friend, Akane is famous for its yakitori. They have either the salt or sweet soy sauce version of yakitori. There are quite a few chicken parts you can choose from or you can order the omakase where they showcased eight skewers of chicken parts.

If you are not into chicken, they also have beef and seafood yaki.

Nigiri Sushi Moriawase – Rp 198k – 12-kind hand-formed sushi

The biggest test for any Japanese restaurants in Indonesia is its Sushi and Sashimi. We actually dared to take the risk and ordered the biggest one: nigiri sushi moriawase. They are noticeably more expensive than the rest of the dishes (possibly due to the cost involved in acquiring that level of freshness). However, I think it showcased the ‘standard’ sushi fishes.

We also ordered a couple of other sushi platters below:

Saba Bozushi – Rp 64k – Mackerel Sushi cake

Maguro Zukushi – Rp 113k – Tuna sushi, fatty tuna sushi, tuna roll

Okonomiyaki – Rp 63k – Japanese pan cake

There were generous servings of bonito flakes and mayo on the okonomiyaki. It was actually a pretty good one!

Maguro Misodare Salad – Rp 68k – Semi-roasted tuna salad

Any salad that I want to eat deserved a mention in my blog!

Kiniko Donabe Yaki – Rp 68k – Butter fried mix mushroom in hot pot

It might not look much and pretty expensive for a mixture of mushrooms. However, this dish was pretty delicious and probably one of the good options for vegetarians.

Ika Butter Shoyu – Rp 68k – Butter fried squid

I must say that they give out too much veggies to my liking but it worked well for other dinner guests.

Big Hamburg – Rp 118k – Beef hamburger steak 300g

It was not designed to be ordered on the day. However, I was extremely curious about it – I think it’s the word ‘big’ that got me! When I finally ordered it, I was glad that I made the right decision to order!

Yuzu Iced Tea – Rp 28k and Almond pudding – free

I usually don’t talk about drinks unless they are worth mentioning. I am a big fan of Yuzu fruit and it’s a rarity even in Japanese restaurants. We definitely can taste the strong Yuzu flavour in the iced tea!

The final verdict for Akane Tokyo Cuisine

Akane Tokyo Cuisine served very nice dishes. Their Sushi was also pretty fresh – by Indonesian standard. There was only one big issue…

Did you know?

Akane allows people to smoke in the restaurant and they do not have any non-smoking sections. They would have rated better if they had one.

Rating for Akane Tokyo Cuisine:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $4 – $20 per dish

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

Crowne Plaza, Jalan Jenderal Gatot Subroto, Jakarta

+62 21 5268833

Jan 8, 2016
Ryo’s Noodles Bondi Junction

Review:

I have heard about the reputation of Ryo’s Noodles in Crows Nest for quite a while. However, travelling across the bridge just to enjoy a bowl of ramen isn’t exactly at the top of my list.

Fortunately, they open an outlet a lot closer to home. Ryo’s Noodles just (literally) opened yesterday, 8 October 2015, in Bondi Junction! There were no big fanfares that accompanied the opening. Just a simple, business as usual with a few flyers being handed out.

Most of the stuff on their menu is ramen. They have a choice of pork soup, chicken soup, cold noodles and vegetarian noodles. Other dishes include a couple of curry rice and rice balls. But, you should be coming in for Ryo’s Ramen.

Ramen in spicy hot flavoured soup with roast pork, egg and shallots – $13.50

The ramen’s portion was quite big and they use the wriggly noodles instead of the straight ones. As the name stated, the ramen was actually quite hot! There were decent amount of toppings with quite generous serving of soup.

Ramen noodles in pork and fish stock with eggs, roast pork, fried shallots – $15.00

There were more elements in this ramen than the last one. The layers of fish stock was very visible (and possibly quite fattening! ^_^). The soup was also a bit thicker than the previous ramen. I quite liked the extra fried shallots that gave a crunchier taste to the ramen.

Cod roe rice ball – $5.00

I decided to order the cod roe rice ball because I am actually quite a big fan of rice balls. It looked a bit pricey, but the rice ball was actually pretty big!

The final verdict for Ryo’s Noodles Bondi Junction

I can understand why people lined up in Crows Nest. The ramen at Ryo’s Noodles Bondi Junction was very nice!

Did you know?

This address is the most reviewed in my blog. Three restaurants have occupied this spot for the last five years. The previous two restaurants have all been great-tasting Japanese restaurants that disappeared quite mysteriously.

Rating for Ryo’s Noodles Bondi Junction:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $12 – $16 per ramen or main

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

106 Ebley Street, Bondi Junction NSW 2022

02 9387 8858

Ryo’s Noodles’ facebook page

Oct 9, 2015
Akiba

Review:

This week’s review is our first ever review of a restaurant in Canberra. Our choice went to Akiba, a restaurant located just outside Canberra Centre. Despite the Japanese name, the restaurant is a mashup of Asian dishes. It also seemed to be one of the more popular destinations in Canberra.

Our dishes for the night comprised of Thai, Korean and Japanese cuisines.

Kingfish, coconut, nam jim, coriander – $14

This is a carpaccio-style kingfish with Nam jim. Nam jim is a Thai-based dipping sauce that is a combination of spicy, salty, sweet and sour.

Smoky potato, dill, black garlic, mayo – $9

This side dish was recommended by our table attendant. It was humongous for a side dish. In addition to the smoky flavour, the potatoes were pretty slimy (possibly because of the cooked mayo).

In addition to the smoky potato, we also ordered steamed rice. I know $7 is quite steep but you actually got a large bowl of it and they were nice.

Charcoal roasted T-bone, garlic soy butter, gochutgaru (800gr) – $38

800 gr worth of T-bone for $38 is actually a pretty good value for money. The T-bone was already sliced to a ‘bite size’ (although the middle bits were a bit bigger than what we could chew). Gochutgaru is a Korean red chilli pepper powder that was made into a dipping sauce for the steak. I am quite fussy about steak and I quite liked theirs!

Japanese fried chicken, lemon braised onions, parmesan – $16

This was the only Japanese cuisine on the night. They are usually known as chicken karaage. The fusion bit came from the lemon braised onions with parmesan sprinkled on the karaage. Each element was pretty good on their own, but I don’t think the fusion works on this occasion.

Supercharged – $2

This is actually just an extension of the Japanese fried chicken. It is only a little bottle of Japanese ‘kewpie’ mayonnaise and Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. The absence of mayonnaise in the original dish has made this a mandatory. However, if you don’t like mayo and chili sauce, you can skip this altogether!

The final verdict for Akiba

Having an Asian fusion restaurant is pretty risky, especially when there are a diverse range of cuisines in the region. Akiba generally served pretty good dishes.

Did you know?

Akiba has a ‘just feed me’, an 8-course banquet, for $45 pp.

Rating for Akiba:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $14 – $38 per main dish

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

40 Bunda Street, Canberra ACT 2601

02 6162 0602

http://www.akiba.com.au/

Sep 14, 2015
Sakae Japanese Kitchen

Review:

One evening, we cannot decide which restaurant to go for dinner. So, we have to ask for a help to our friends, collectively known as Zomato. I saw one restaurant in Marrickville that pretty stood out. It was a Japanese restaurant, named Sakae Japanese Kitchen, which had a rating of 4.3. Marrickville is universally known for its Vietnamese restaurants. So, we were pretty curious about this Japanese restaurant.

The restaurant looked unassuming from the outside and the décor was quite minimalist. The staff was very friendly and we were happy to see that none of the mains cost more than $20 on the menu.

Salmon Nigiri Sushi – $4 and Salmon thin roll – $4.50

Obviously these two are the indicators of a truly great Japanese restaurant. Our little one finished it and we were pretty pleased about their size and taste.

Beef Tataki with Sakae special sauce – $9.80 – Thinly sliced rare beef

$10 for this beauty? We’ll take it anytime! Seriously tho… portion was big and taste was great!

Natto thin roll (6 pcs) – $4.00 – Japanese traditional fermented sticky soy beans

I ordered this out of curiosity. Natto is one of those things that need an acquired taste to enjoy. This was my first exposure to natto and I could understand why a lot of people hate it. Personally, I don’t mind the taste and managed to adjust my palate to accommodate the ‘natto’ taste.

Agedashi Eggplant & Prawn Wonton – $7.50 – Deepfried eggplant and prawn wonton in Agedashi sauce

This dish was on the ‘special’ section. It is the lesser known sibling of Agedashi Tofu and another ‘first try’ for me. I actually liked how they combined the eggplant and prawn wonton. You just need to add rice for the dish to be a ‘complete dish’.

Yakizakana Entrees – $9.80 – Grilled half mackerel lightly salted

We ordered this because of the picture on the menu was pretty inviting! Despite being pretty interesting, the mackerel lost out in the battle to become our favourite dish.

Sakae Special Sashimi – Scampi – $5.80

Scampi sashimi at special price? who wouldn’t want that! What’s the catch? You have to order it with a main meal.

Spider Roll – $7.80 – Soft shell crab and vegetables with mayonnaise

The spider roll was pretty big. They were generously sprinkled with fish roe.

Mixed Katsu Don – $12.80 – Specially cooked fish, prawn and pork cutlet with onion and egg on top of rice

Katsu don is generally the dish that I use to fill up my tummy in a Japanese restaurant, considering that the sushi and sashimi are generally enjoyed in small pieces.
In Sakae Japanese Kitchen, the katsu don was pretty big and the mixed katsu don was even better with a variety of cuts on a plate!

Note: You can swap the tonkatsu with chicken katsu.

Tempura Udon / Soba – $14.80 – Noodle with tempura prawns and veggies.

I did not order the dish and had no capacity to try it either. It looked pretty good tho!

The final verdict for Sakae Japanese Kitchen

Sakae Japanese Kitchen was a pretty small restaurant with incredibly friendly staff! The food was cheap, the portion was pretty big and ,most importantly, the taste was surprisingly good.

Did you know?

Sakae has two other restaurants in Eastwood with a slightly different concept: as a Yakiniku House and Japanese Dining Bar.

Rating for Sakae Japanese Kitchen:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $10 – $18 per main dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

303 Illawarra Road, Marrickville 2204

02 9559 7873

http://www.sakae.com.au/

Aug 25, 2015
Manpuku Sydney

Review:

Unlike in the city, ramen restaurants are pretty rare in the Eastern Suburb. Manpuku Sydney is a small restaurant in Kingsford that sells ramen, almost exclusively! You can also get a small bowl of rice but it’s hardly a main course and more like an add-on if you are still hungry or need to finish the soup.

There are not a lot of varieties in the ramen, but here are a few that you need to know:

“Kono Deaini Kanshashite Aijyou to Jyounetsu Komete Issyoukenmei Tsukutta Uchirano Icchan Sukina Manpuku Shiawase” Ramen or Long Name Ramen – $12.90

I kid you not, that’s actually the name written in the menu. I usually refer to it as ‘long name’ ramen… it is easier to remember!

It is a ramen with soy-based pork soup, pork belly, egg, shallots, bamboo shoot, beansprout, and seaweed sheet.

Manpuku Red – $13.90

It is a ramen with soy-based pork soup, pork belly, sliced mushroom, beansprout, shallots, seaweed sheet, egg, dried shrimp powder… and hot chili flavour!

A word of advice: The ‘normal’ spicy level is already pretty hot.

Shio Gara – $11.90

It is a ramen with salt-based chicken soup, pork belly, beansprout, bamboo shoot, shallots, seaweed sheet, and egg.

Shio Gara is quite different when compared to the rest of the ramen. Instead of a thick soup, it is a clear soup with the usual ramen stuff. It is a lot lighter than the rest of the menu.

The next two ramen dishes are part of limited time menu. Although it seems to always be available, you might not be able to order it when you were there as they sell out quite quickly.

Double Impact – $15.90 – Heaps of shredded cha-shu, 2 eggs, beansprouts, shallots, mushrooms, 2 seaweed sheets.

This is the ramen that you must order when you have the chance! Instead of getting a sorry-looking piece of cha-shu, you are actually getting heaps of it. You also get double the eggs and seaweed sheets… and all of those are only $3 more expensive than the long name ramen.

Shinku-Hado Buta – $14.90 – Heaps of shredded cha-shu & 2 eggs

Shinku-Hado Buta is pretty similar to double impact. They just have a different soup and slightly less stuff in it.

The name is pretty similar to the big ball of energy from Street Fighter, isn’t it?

Manpuku Bowl – $2.90 – Cha shu, rice, egg, bean sprout, cabbage

Manpuku bowl is actually pretty small. It is the perfect addition when you are still famished after devouring the ramen and still have some soup left.

The final verdict for Manpuku

Double impact or shinku-hado buta are the two ramen you should be aiming for when eating at Manpuku Sydney!

Did you know?

This is the English translation for the long name ramen: Thanking to this wonderful encounter, this is our most favorite Ramen we make with our whole heart with lots of love and passion into it, so happy with being full.

Rating for Manpuku:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $12 – $16 for a bowl of ramen

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

482 Anzac Parade, Kingsford 2032

+61 2 9662 1236

Manpuku on Facebook

Jul 13, 2015