Dotonbori, Osaka

Kebetulan hotel/apartment tempat kita tinggal di Osaka itu cuman 5 menit walking distance ke Dotonbori, jadi hampir setiap malam kita pasti lewat Dotonbori on the way ke hotel. Nah, ibaratnya Time Square di NYC, Dotonbori itu Time Squarenya di Osaka. Seperti yang terkenal di Osaka adalah kulinernya, di Dotonbori inilah surganya makanan street food. Segala makanan Jepang ada disitu dan disana restoran dan toko-tokonya tutup lumayan malem. Puas deh pokoknya.

Untuk Osaka sendiri, mereka memang terkenal atau identik dengan makanan yang di goreng “deep-fried” dan juga dengan okonomiyaki dan takoyakinya. Nah di sepanjang jalan di Dotonbori, banyak banget street foodnya jualan disana. Seru dan rame banget.

Ini dia nih gerobak takoyaki yang antriannya mayan panjang!

Di hari pertama di Osaka, kita kan pergi jalan-jalan liat Sakura di Sakuranomiya, nah malamnya on the way pulang ke hotel kita cari makan di daerah Dotonbori. Sahabat gue yang ke Jepang sebelumnya pernah bilang di Dotonbori ada satu restoran yakiniku yang sangat recommended namanya Matsusakagyu Yakiniku yang konon katanya rasanya kaya “sapi dari surga”.  Karena penasaran, gue dan hubs coba cari itu restoran, gak lama ketemu kita naik ke lantai 2 ke restoran itu. Taunya semua tablenya sudah fully booked the whole night padahal kita datang kurang dari jam 7 malam. Nah di website gue cek ada cabang restoran satu lagi gak jauh dari situ, lalu gue minta tolong waiternya untuk telfonin ke cabang yang satunya apa masih ada table atau gak. Ternyata merekapun fully booked. OKE DEH! Super kecewa!

Tapi namanya gue juga sotoy dan “ndablek” gue tetep aja tuh jalan ke restoran di cabang lain itu. Pas sampe sana kita tanya ada table gak? ternyata, rejeki anak sholeha ada loh 1 table yang available cuman hanya bisa dipakai sampai jam 9 malam karena sudah ada yang book jam segitu. Pas kita sampe disana itu jam 7.30, oke lah 1.5 jam buat makan. MANTAP!

Ini dia penampakan “sapi dari surga”. Perfectly marbled dan lumer di mulut. Ga boong! Harga sungguh tidak bisa menipu! Tutup mata saja dan pesan!

Desserts!! wah THIS IS MY WEAK SPOT! Rasanya kalau ngeliat kios-kios dessert begini gue kaya dipanggil gitu untuk beli dan nyobain. Kalau dihitung-hitung lumayan boncos juga dompet untuk jajan-jajan dessert begini selama di Jepang. Hati-hati!

Semua makanannya sangat menggoda sekali!!

Xoxo

S

Shakin’ and Shackin’

Ya’ know, sometimes (all the time) you just miss the things you can’t have. Not trying to be mellow-dramatic over here, but this was last Summer which was also the last time I tasted this glorious burger I’ve known in life. I know I know… I’m totally living in the PAST.

But I wish, I pray, I hope that one day… one day… they will open a Shake Shack joint somewhere in Asia (yes, I can settle with just Asia). Makes it a bit more reachable and manageable to suppressed my crave.

Xoxo, Sari Soepono

Sunset at Jimbaran

Last post on my Bali trip is not far off from the waterline. We need to see the sunset by the ocean one way or the other. What is a better way to do this with a feast of grilled fresh seafood? You’ll be the judge. We end our trip here and overall we had a fabulous 2 days. Balancing between party and serenity. Until next time!!

 

Xoxo, Sari Soepono

Motel Mexicola Seminyak

When I said, I was planning for my next getaway with my friend Di, it really was Bali that I meant on my earlier post. Obviously, Bali becomes rather a quick no-brainer for a short weekend trip.

We came across this cute and interesting Mexican place right next to our hotel in Seminyak – Motel Mexicola. It was quite a decor that urged us to dine in here for our arrival lunch before checking into our hotel. No disappointment but satisfying island-y mixed cocktails and mexican tapas style food. Totally recommending this place to anyone who’s in the area.

 

xoxo, Sari Soepono

SS Birthday at Canteen

It’s that time around again for birthdays. The month of July is a blessing where the 2 twin Soeponos celebrates their birthday. We had a small get together in Canteen by feasting on our iftaar that evening. The Soeponos girls are back in action!

In the past month, we have been so obsessed with this new cake shop called Colette and Lola. Their cakes are yummy and dreamy. So it’s the only right thing to do to order the birthday cake from there. It was divine.

Toodles!

xoxo, Sari Soepono

Birthday Din Din at Goods Diner

First of all, I want to wish everyone a happy new year. May this new year of 2013 be a better year for all of us. On any given year, the last week of December is usually a busy week for me. From holiday parties, Christmas, my birthday and new years all back to back on the same week. Recovery mode is much needed after this.

Today I wanted to share my birthday dinner with the family this past weekend at the Goods Diner in SCBD area. I had such a great time with the whole family the entire night was full of love and laughter.

 

 

More info: Goods Diner

 

xoxo Sari Soepono

 

Yellowfin

This isn’t my first visit to Yellowfin, in fact, i do visit quite often (once a week or at least twice a month). The reason why is my addiction to Japanese food which lift up my appetite whenever wherever, and Yellowfin is by far, the closest restaurant I could find near my office. Having them is really a privilege for me. But of course I wouldn’t come here so often if the food fails my expectation, which they don’t. Despite their little space, you can tell how they pay a lot of attention to details. Origami papers, sake bar filled with various sake bottles as their main catchy decorations, wooden lamps, the chopstick set, the wooden chalky menu list. I simply love it.

To order their menu, we’re not using the conservative way where we’d raise our hand to get noticed by the waitresses. We simply have to click one out of 4 buttons that says “service”. same thing goes when we wanted to refill our drinks, or to get our bill. The service is fast and you gonna love it when you’re on a starving mode.

Now the menu variations is not surprising. It has typical sections such as sashimi, grilled, noodles etc. However, they do have some recommended menus that me and my friends kept ordering such as the Tobiko Wakame Salad, Hot Shoyu Ramen, Soft Shell Crab Salsa, Tori Karaage Chicken, and  the Volcano Roll Sushi.

The Tobiko Wakame salad taste really fresh and has a strong flavor from the marinated seaweed, while the hot Shoyu Ramen has delicious taste of broth. the chicken in it is soft and tasty as well (I always order the level 1 cause its strong enough to burn my tongue). The soft shell crab is crunchy while the salsa flavor blends well with the rather salty taste of the crab and its moist texture (this one goes to my fave list without a doubt). As for the Tori Karage and the volcano roll, as mentioned, you find it easily on other Japanese restaurant, but I love Yellowfin more cause the chicken is not so oily and it’s soft.

Now on to the desserts. Typically we always end up our meal with a glass of Green Tea/Maccha Ice cream, but this time we would like to try something else so we got our self a Green Tea Dorayaki, and a Green Tea Sake Tiramisu.

While waiting for our orders, i took another shots of its interior

It’s cute how in the end they gave you this set of wood with white round-looking thing in it. You simply dig it, and it’ll expand into a wet tissue. Very well thought into details.

In the end.. as always. the awful part. Bills. I think the price is quite fair considering its location and the food quality, so it was all worth it.

Yellowfin – Jl. Senopati No. 42 – Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta – (021) 722-0394

xoxo

Santi Soepono