Continuing my previous post, let’s move on to June 6.
Initially, I really wanted to bring my senior to give two Japanese restaurants a try. One is Echigoya Ramen—I haven’t tried this one but I’ve seen many recommend this place (plus I don’t like the ramen from Yoiko) and the other is Kashiwa—I’ve visited it once with Djoeng and holy moly, all the food I’ve had before taste delicious! We really wanted to have ramen for lunch, visit a coffee shop, and visit the izakaya in the evening.
That was the plan.
But yeah, you really shouldn’t visit Blok M area on the Ied Mubarak lol. I was stupid for not checking on the restaurants first. Almost all of the restaurants are closed. Like literally, the area became dead quiet. I saw a few people came there just to end up getting disappointed like us. Nevertheless, because the area was so quiet, some people use the chance to take instragammable pictures or filming. The announcement both the ramen shop and the izakaya put on the door said they’ll be back to business on June 7.
Oh right! So just recently, Jakarta has MRT as a new option for public transportation. I was pretty late, but finally, I got a chance to ride the current hype of the city (and the country lol). We thought since it was the holiday season, the MRT will be less crowded. But shoot! Again, we were mistaken. I mean, look at this crowd!
Because everything was new for us, we stupidly queued for about 15 minutes just to realize that the goddamn long queue was a queue to buy tickets. We already had e-money cards so we were not supposed to join the queue lol.
Here’s a sneak peek inside the MRT. Thanks to the government for the MRT, it clearly saved us a lot of time. The MRT departs and arrives as scheduled. The inside was clean and the air conditioner worked just fine. I hope citizens will cooperate to keep it clean.
Back to my ramen and izakaya plan, because those two were closed, we decided to get our ramen fix at Gandaria City. Where’s the best place to eat ramen there if it isn’t Menya Sakura? Mmm actually, here’s my confession. I haven’t tried this ramen chain before lol. I usually go to either Ippudo or Bari-Uma for my ramen fix. And I regretted that I haven’t tried this ramen sooner.
Verdict: 9/10
Yummy! The broth was so flavorful. I can’t decide whether I prefer Ippudo or Menya (perhaps I should go eat there again to decide lol) although I can say that this one tasted better than Bari-Uma. We ordered the chicken karaage as well and I think it was the softest karaage I’ve ever had—soft in a good way. If you haven’t, definitely give Menya's ramen a try.
We stopped by Kitchenette later. Still kinda full of ramen so we only ordered garlic fries and apple crumbles pie. And iced latte for me of course.
Verdict: 8/10
On the next day, we were going to Museum Macan. I bought the tickets online and surprisingly, there were so many who don’t know that such a simple way exists to save us from lining on a queue.
By the time we visited the museum, the on-going exhibitions were “Matter and Place”, “Dunia dalam Berita”, “Days in Cicadas”, “Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room”, and “Rubberscape”. We skipped Yayoi Kusama because we’ve seen it before (plus we don’t want to get involved with the long queue) and “Rubberscape“ because we somehow didn’t notice the exhibition was also there ugh.
Not that I blessed with an artistic soul to begin with but sometimes it’s a good thing to spoil your mind by appreciating arts and get knowledge from their backstories. It’s also a good way to de-stress and be present.
My own rule for museum visit is to make sure I’ve seen and learned from everything displayed before I take some photos. If I’m going with a friend, it’s a good chance to exchange interpretations. Some thoughts could be silly and we benefit good laughs from them. Some thoughts could be deep, philosophical, and moving. We might even feel inspired after a fun yet intellectual discussion about arts. That’s an awesome thing about the art museum.
Nothing beats caffeine after an eventful day at the museum. On the same floor as Museum Macan, there’s a coffee shop named 1/15.
The last spot we visited was Kashiwa. This time, it was open, yay!
We arrived at 5 p.m and we’ve seen so many already queueing in front of the door. The izakaya opens at 6.30 p.m but it’s advised to come early just to make sure you’ll be seated. Or you can call the place beforehand to reserve the table.
Verdict: 10/10
I could only put this yummy okonomiyaki on this post thanks to the dimmed lightning that wasn’t really made for photography (
So far, nothing I’ve ever ordered tastes bad. Everything was delicious, perfectly seasoned, and perfectly cooked. If you want to eat authentic Japanese food with a lot of variants, I highly recommend this place. The foods are very affordable as well, with almost all food priced around IDR 29k. The izakaya serves no pork no lard but they have alcoholic beverages. If you order ocha for a drink, kindly note that this place does not provide free refills. The atmosphere and interior were so Japanese. The television showed Japanese broadcast and there were some Japanese books you can find around. The only minus points are the cramped place and the fact that they don’t have a separate area for smokers.
And that’s it!
I spent the rest two days left to laze around (again) lol hence my blog post will stop here.
So how was your Eid week, readers? Any of you spent your week as lowkey as I was?
See y’all on my next post.
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