The Noodle Journey

For the love of noodle, ramen, bi-hoon, ramyoun, mie ayam, etc. For noodles only.

[noodlesjourney]

The Hidden Delicacy in South Kemang

The Finest Fettucine Carbonara

Heartwarming Place I know about this place from my friend, she said there’s a cake store in Kemang who served the best Italian pasta, at first I doubt it because c’mon is cake shop for God sake, of course the specialty is in the cake not the pasta. one day, I fell so bored to eat in my regular diner in Kemang, then I remember with my friend's suggestion, I think ok why not give her a shot?

But first if you have been wondering why I put Italian pasta in this page? Then let me explain this to you. Fettuccine, spaghetti, and angel hair pasta are Italian varieties of noodle, according to history which I quote from wikipedia:

"According to historians like Charles Perry, the Arabs adapted noodles for long journeys in the 5th century, the first written record of dry pasta.The dried pasta introduced was being produced in great quantities in Palermo at that time"

So I think since some pasta are classified as noodle, then it's fine to write a review about these traditional Italian cuisine. Back to the restaurant, it’s located in South Kemang and the place is quite small so you have to look carefully for the signboard or you might be miss it.

When I arrived, I order the menu that my fried had suggested to me “Fettuccine with Carbonara Sauce”, when my fettuccine is served, I barely not believe what I saw, with a much cheaper price of pasta compare to those splurge Italian restaurants in Jakarta, I just had the best appearance of fettuccine carbonara in town. The mushroom sauce is thick and there’s a egg yolk melted on the top of the fettuccine, the smoked beef enrich the flavor, all is beautiful, perfecto!. But I haven’t taste the pasta yet, so I think it's too early to give a highly complement right?

I pour the egg yolk immediately before the sauce getting cold, and then I take one bite to taste it, yes I know at that time I just ate the meal from heaven, everything just damn good, the pasta cooked well, the sauce taste is great, all just too good to be true, and it’s all happening in this small cake shop.

Rate: ***** (Excellent) Price: IDR 45.000 Address: Hensel and Gretel Jl. Benda Raya No. 2, Kemang Jakarta

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Marutama Ramen, a Bowl of Happiness

Marutama Ramen in Plaza Senayan

Tamago Ramen Chicken or Pork

The soup color after I mixed with additional seasonings It's rainy season, just like other people, in this kind of weather I always craving for something hot like soup, so I went to my favorite ramen restaurant in Sentral Senayan. It's located in connecting tunnel between Plaza Senayan and Sentral Senayan I, many Japanese people come to this restaurant everyday, for your information Marutama Ra-men is originally came from Japan, they're have 11 overseas branches outside Japan and still expanding, including 4 branches in Indonesia. I know what I want every time I get here, the signature "Tamago Ramen". I always choose thick broth soup ramen, but sometimes is not easy to find ramen with that kind of soup besides tonkonsu ramen (the broth that came from pork bone), but here in Marutama Ram-en you can have a chicken broth as an option with the same level of thickness. Tamago ramen at Marutama is heaven, in one bowl of ramen soup with price of IDR 69.000, you will have a medium portion of ramen, ajitsuke tamago, nori, green onions, and 2 slices of chicken or pork according to your preference. I have my own style to eat my favorite ramen, number one, slices the ajitsuke tamago into half pieces with chopstick, then took out the egg yolk and pour it with the soup, and voila you will have the most delicious ramen you ever tasted, that's the secret. To strengthen the taste, I usually add fried garlic, chili oil, and chili flakes. Ittadakimasu mina-san, I just had a bowl of happiness and the most heavenly comforting food in rainy days. Rate: ***** (excellent) Price of Ramen: IDR 55.000 - IDR 79.000 Address: Marutama Ra-men Sentral Senayan 1, Basement Floor Jakarta Pusat

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An Appetizing Getaway in Chinatown

Look for the Sign, Bakmi Medan "Athek"

A Bowl of Bakmi Medan A few months a go, I went to my client's office at Gajah Mada street, Jakarta. At lunch, one of my friend from Sumatera Utara introduce me to Bakmi Medan and take me to Bakmi Cong Sim at Mangga Besar street near to my client's office. I believe I have had eating Mie Medan before in "Kedai Kak Ani" Kemang, but turns out this one is different, here in Bakmi Cong Sim you will find a Chinese Bakmi Medan style, so I order a bowl of signature noodle in that restaurant. For your information, bakmi is another name to call noodle in Indonesia. A place is little bit crowded at lunch, many people chit-chat while enjoying the noodles. When my bakmi arrived in my table, I quite shocked with the portion, it was a huge amount of noodles, with very generous amount of pork carsiew. In here you can choose a type of noodle, whether you like thin or big size of noodles, I love thin noodles better. The taste is almost similar to Mie Ayam, but drier, here you can add the deep-fried pork fat for free that tease your tastebud. Overall, the taste was good, although the noodle is little bit undercooked, but I think for Chinese people in Medan this is the best way to serve Bakmi Medan. Rate: ***1/2 (Good) Price: IDR 18.000 Address: Bakmi Cong Sim "Athek" Jl. Mangga Besar Raya no.2 J Jakarta Pusat

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Dancing Tongue in the Heart of Lot 10 Hutong

Hokkien Mee

LOT 10 Shopping Center This is my first time experience to eat the famous Hokkien Mee, this dish is served in many Southeast Asia country, especially in Singapore and Malaysia, so when I went to Kuala Lumpur, I decided to find a place who serves Hokkien Mee in town. It's almost 7 pm in Bukit Bintang district and my tummy is hunger for food, I step to the lower ground floor of Lot 10 Shopping Center, there's a lot of local delicacies in this place, it's like a foodcourt, but still decent for dinner. There's a line of people queuing in one particular stall, yes that's my target operation area, Malaysian Hokkien Mee. Many people say that there are some differences in Malaysian and Singaporean Hokkien Mee style of cooking and serving, the most visible one is in the color, Singaporean has a lighter color compare with Malaysian Hokkien Mee. With my lack of experience about this food, I know I have no comparison to other similar food, but I'm sure from the very beginning this is one of the best stall food in KL. From the first look I thought this is going to be sweet because the color is so dark, close to black like using too much sweet soy sauce, but turns out I was wrong, the taste is savory, a little bit bitter but in a good way, I think the taste is almost similar to Jajangmyun (Korean Black Bean Noodle) but I like Hokkien Mee better because I think is more tasteful. This is not halal food. the main key to make a perfect delicious Hokkien Mee is in the deep-fried pork fat or Chinese people called it chu yau cha, it's cruncy, salty, and at first I thought it was salted deep-fried chicken. But I have to admit this one is the best noodle experience I ever had. Rate: ***** (excellent) Price: RM 15 Location: Lot 10 Shopping Center LG Floor Sultan Ismail Street no. 50 Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia

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A Legend of Shibitsu

Mie Godhog

Magelangan I can't sleep tonight, so I decide to write more in my new blog (hooray!). Last year I went to Yogyakarta, a few days before my trip I've made a list of destinations to go when I arrived in Yogya and Bakmi Shibitsu is defenitely on a list. I've planned to visit this place so many times but I failed because the location is far from downtown. Ok so in my last day in Yogya, I decided to go to the famous or maybe I supposed to say one of the legend for Javanese noodle. It's located in Bantul, it takes 1 hours to go there from my hotel in Colombo street. Actually you have to be pattience in this haunting process, because there's no spesific signage or local people in that area who knows about this place. I found myself lost a couple times in "Operation of Shibitsu" journey. Anyway when I arrived, the place quite crowded with people, the stall is in the front of some shop, but it already close at that time. Bakmi Shibitsu only open at night, starts at 7 pm. I order Bakmi Godhog which had many review, my partner order Magelangan. Ok let's rate the taste. Bakmi Godhog. Hmm maybe I had a lot of expectation before, the main rules to eat local food is let the authenticity lead the game, not your expectation, because once you missed, you ruin the appetite, and it happened to me. The taste is ok, but I wish my soup a bit thicker, the pepper taste is quite dominant, and the egg add some savory flavor to the soup. Noodle in Shibitsu is mixed from yellow noodle and bi-hoon, if you order Mie Godhog, for you who loves some spiciness don't forget to ask the cooker to cook it spicy. Then Magelangan, if you Javanese people you may familiar enough with this dish. Magelangan is rice, noodle, and bi-hoon that mixed together and fried like nasi goreng. I love this one, there's a charcoal aroma in the dish that add some delicacy to the food. A special fact about Shibitsu is in the name, it sounds like Japanese thingy, but turns out the reason behind the name is because the Bakmi Shibitsu's owner is deaf couple, Shibitsu is refers to "Si Bisu", Indonesian way to call a mute person because of deaf condition. Overall, the taste is average, but again is about a different preference, because I heard many people felt in love with the taste, and don't bother to comeback everytime they visit Yogya. So it's all up to you, there's no wrong or right in culinary journey, right? Rate: ** (Average) Price: IDR 11.000 - IDR 13.000 Location: Jl. Raya Bantul no. 106, Yogyakarta

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A trip to the first Ramen 38 Sanpachi in town

Ramen 38 Sanpachi Kamome

Mabo-men

Curry Ramen Hello, welcome to the first page of my blog. The reason behind I created this blog is special, as Asian girl, I'm familiar with noodle since I was a kid, when I grow up I've become obsessed with this food, the texture, variety, and taste. So here's my noodle journey experience page one. In Jakarta, a few years a go there are not many ramen restaurants in town, one of most popular ramen back then is Ramen 38 Sanpachi in level 2 Kamome, Blok M. But now they had a lot of branches and they relocated their first store in Kamome to level 1, now they have a nice and bigger store, but somehow I still love the old store ambience though is small. My favorite ramen is Curry Ramen, the taste is like Japanese curry, a little spicy but not excessive, different from Indian curry. The curry itself was thick and mixed with shredded chicken and sprinkled with green onions, I normally add ajitsuke tamago (Japanese half-boiled egg) on it. My second favorite ramen in Sanpachi is Mabo-men, if you familiar with mabo tofu (Chinese people called it mabo-doufu/ mapo tofu) this is ramen that mixed with mabo-tofu soup. Mabo tofu are tofu, ground chicken, chili bean sauce, chicken stock, green onions, and some other ingredients. The taste kinda sour, sweet, and savory at the same time. For me, if you're looking for affordable ramen in Jakarta, but still quite authentic, why not coming to Sanpachi? They give you lots of option of ramen, the famous one is Jigoku ramen because you can choose the level of spiciness, it can burn your tongue right from the first bite. And in here you can choose your type of ramen noodle according to your preferences. The taste is good but not special, I don't know is it only me or maybe some people agree that the taste of Sanpachi is not that delicious anymore, it's change a bit, as I said not too special anymore but still yeah ok. Rate: *** (average) Price for ramen: IDR 30.000 - IDR 65.000 Location: Kamome Building, 1st floor. Jl. Melawai Raya No.189 B, South Jakarta.