Calling all ice cream and matcha lovers!! There’s a new Japanese Dessert Cafe literally just opened last week in Pantai Indah Kapuk North Jakarta, Shirokuma.

In Japanese, Shiro means white while Kuma means bear, that’s why Shirokuma Cafe use a cute white bear as their mascot. Shirokuma Cafe specialized in Japanese Matcha dessert like Shiratama Parfaits (Soft Cream, Red Beans, Matcha Kanten Jelly, Mochi and Shiratama Balls), Mochi Waffles, Matcha Molten Lava Cakes, etc. They claim to use imported Japanese matcha green tea powder from Japan.

Shirokuma is located in Pantai Indah Kapuk right beside Hanok Korean restaurant, across Warung Tekko or Lekko. The interior was simple yet lovely with wooden furniture with pastel color. On the first floor, smoking and non smoking area are separared and on the second floor there are private room.

To compliment the desserts, Shirokuma has savory menu such as Japadogs, Shakafries IDR 21k, and homemade Popcorn Chicken IDR 29k. For Shakafries and Popcorn chicken you can order additional seasoning such as Nori, Chili Salt, Shio Butter and BBQ Chicken with additional price IDR 2k. AnakJajan really love the presentation of the food, they use specially design paper with Japanese newspaper look a like pattern, it was super kawaii (cute).

Japadog aka Japanese Hot Dog basically is a hotdog with Japanese seasoning, for the bun you can have original bun or black bun made with bamboo charcoal. AnakJajan tried Terimayo Dog IDR 42k (+Black Bun IDR 3k) and Tonkatsu Dog IDR 45k, both bun was really soft with juicy sausage inside, the difference between both two was Terimayo uses teriyaki sauce while Tonkatsu uses tonkatsu sauce and they battered fried the sausage. AnakJajan love Terimayo Japadog more because the teriyaki seasoning was stonger and more addicting.

Soft cream texture was different with ordinary ice cream you usually have, it was lighter and softer that’s why it melts faster. For the soft cream there are three options: original (milk), matcha and twist (milk + matcha). AnakJajan tried Matcha Animitsu IDR 29k consist of soft cream, mochi, shiratama balls, red bean, matcha jelly and brown sugar syrup, and Shiratama Parfait IDR 35k consist of soft cream layered with cornflakes, mochi, shiratama balls, chunky red bean and matcha jelly. The matcha softcream was good, in terms of matcha it was more like matcha milk for me, the red bean was also really nice and tender. Both dessert was served with Wagashi traditional Japanese confectionary such as mochi, sweetened red bean, jelly and also rice ball.
Shirokuma also served coffee hot or iced coffee, you can request your coffee to go with Bonsoy the famous and delicious soy milk from Australia.

AnakJajan honestly getting sick of the same taste of green tea ice cream from different dessert cafes because basically they all use the same ice cream vendor (D*amond ice cream), they all taste the same no matter where we go (especially those Taiwanese Dessert cafes) soooo Shirokuma Cafe definitely is a new and different choice when it comes to matcha green tea dessert. Let’s Jajan!!

Info: they are currently having 50% OFF all dessert menu promo until 6th July 2014, so hurry up! :)

Address:
SHIROKUMA Japanese Dessert Cafe
Ruko Crown Golf Blok A No.32
Pantai Indah Kapuk, Jakarta 14460
Phone: (+6221) 29237523
www.cafeshirokuma.com

Map:

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La Hoya is a new restaurant by Arena Corp that has been famous with other restaurants such as Seribu Rasa, Hong Kong Cafe, Delika, Tatsuya, Penang Bistro. There is one little thing that I love the most from them, is the special relaxing Jasmine aromatherapy that you will always smell every time you stepped in those restaurant.

La Hoya serves Mexican food Tex-Mex style from salad, chicken wings, nachos, taco, soup, steak, burrito, churros, etc from IDR 33k to IDR 235k. They also have many drink selection from alcohol to non alcohol such as margaritas, cocktails, beers, mocktails, juice, tea, coffee, tequila, wine (per glass or per bottle) from IDR 12k to IDR 125k per glass.

Ensalada La Hoya IDR 55k
Salad was served with roasted bell pepper, mushroom, crunchy cheddar cheese crouton, crunchy beef bacon and creamy yellow corn dressing. The vegetables was crunchy and fresh, those yellow cubes are literally fried cheddar cheese crunchy outside while creamy cheesy inside, all of the ingredients blend really well. AnakJajan really love the dressing, it was really light and refreshing, this is a kind of salad that will totally awaken your appetite.

Los Nachos IDR 56k
Homemade crispy tortilla chips served with homemade beef chorizo, jalapeno pickles, sour cream and three types of dipping sauce guacamole, tomato salsa, cheddar cheese sauce. Ingredients were really fresh, the guacamole and tomato salsa was really good and well seasoned.
No wonder this menu is one of their best seller, because it was simply addicting! Once you start you will find yourself not being able to stop just like us.

Taco de Barbacoa IDR 73k
Taco was filled with pulled beef, beef chorizo, pico de gallo, cabbage and lettuce dressing with mango chipotle sauce served with guacamole, sour cream, and tomato salsa. This beef taco was quite filling.

Chicken Enchiladas Gringas IDR 69k

Deep fried burrito wrap filled with juicy grilled chicken, savory mexican red rice, sauteed bell peppers and then topped with salsa roya sauce. The burrito was good and comes with huge portion.

Salsa roya sauce is a roasted tomato and onion sauce with a hint of chipotle chili. The acidity from this sauce goes really well with the burrito.

El Delicado IDR 37k
Never crossed in my mind that basil ice cream with balsamic sauce will taste delicious.
El Delicado was basically frozen basil parfait served with pistachio cranberry crumble, strawberry, and balsamic reduction sauce, it was surprising when we were told about this dessert thinking that it will taste odd, but amazingly it was tasteful and addicting. Creamy parfait with a hint of basil aroma goes really well with the crunchiness from the crumble and the acidity from balsamic sauce.

Pastel de Tres Leches IDR 35k
Fluffy sponge cake topped with mocha butter frosting and dry toasted coconut. Love it to the max, the sponge cake was served cold and super duper moist because it has been soaked with three kinds of milks, it was not too milky and has the right amount of sweetness. Recommended!

Overall the food at La Hoya was very satisfying not to mention their portion was really huge. Totally will be back for more. Let’s Jajan!!

Address:
LA HOYA Comida Mexicana
Gandaria City Mall
Mainstreet Dining, Level G, Unit MG 31 – 32
Jl. KH. M. Syafii Hadzani No.8, Kebayoran Lama, Jakarta 12240
Phone: (+6221) 29236458

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Unlike Bali, finding a perfect place with a chill and relax environment in Jakarta can be quite difficult, but this is no longer a problem since Intercontinental Jakarta Midplaza launched JimBARan Outdoor Lounge.

Entering JimBARan Outdoor Lounge is just like entering an oasis for AnakJajan. The open air terrace with a sound of water and chill lounge music was just perfect to escape from stressful and hectic Jakarta.
AnakJajan almost forgot that we are still in Jakarta. Landscape design here is really interesting with lovely pond below and contemporary seating arrangement.

JimBARan has a wide range of drinks selection from alcohol to non alcohol drink with a lot of interesting creation by their mixologist. AnakJajan tried several cocktails and mocktails, all of it was really refreshing and perfect to quench your thirst on a hot day, my favorite would be After glow IDR 75k and Sunset in the city IDR 120k, refreshing fruity mix with appealing color.

JimBARan also provide light bites tapas to complement the cocktails and mocktails.

Crab Salad on baguette IDR 65k
Crunchy baguette bread topped with fresh crab salad mix on top, the topping was really generous.

Seafood bruschetta IDR 65k
I really like this one, crunchy baguette slice with perfectly cooked & seasoned squid and prawn on top. The seafood was fresh and crunchy.

Red pepper stuffed mushroom IDR 45k
I always love stuffed mushroom. Grilled to perfection mushroom topped with red pepper stuffing with a lit hint of spiciness. Be careful when you bite it because the juice from mushroom will definitely burst out in your mouth, addicting!

Veal and red chili sausage IDR 80k
Everybody’s favorite that day!! Super juicy and succulent bite size cut sausage topped with caramelized onion. The sausage was a bit spicy, combination between savory taste from the sausage and sweetness from caramelized onion were just right, we cannot stop ourselves from munching it. Super recommended!

Atmosphere during and after sunset is also something that you must not miss, whole lounge is decorated with glittering lights, how can you not fall in love with this place?

JimBARan opens from 5pm till midnight everyday, AnakJajan suggest you to go there around 4-5pm so you can enjoy the ambiance and or course take a lot of picture or selfie while the sun still shining bright. Also one thing, dress code is smart casual but no slippers allowed okay. Let’s Jajan!!

Address:
JimBARan Outdoor Lounge
Intercontinental Jakarta Midplaza
Jl. Jenderal Sudirman Kav.10-11
Jakarta 10220
Phone: (+6221) 2510888
http://www.jakarta.intercontinental.com/
Opening hours: 05.00 pm – 12.00 pm
Dress Code: Smart Casual (no slippers allowed)

Map:

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All of us must be super busy with daily activities, work or school rite? And holiday might be one of the thing that we have been look forward the most. It has become our tradition that every year we share with you calendar for next year. Our calendar is specially made with Indonesian holiday.

We do hope with this calendar, it will help you and of course ourselves to arrange comprehensive holiday schedule next year. And also it might help you to hunt for the best airplane ticket promo with the best timing. Just click the calendar picture above to enlarge or click this link to DOWNLOAD 2015 Calendar. Let’s Jajan!!

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How do you usually celebrate “Hari Raya” or Ramadhan?? These kind of special days of course need special dishes to be celebrated together don’t you think?

Everyone usually always prepare special dishes for special days, during Ramadhan you should totally check www.kejumooo.com for Special Ramadhan Dishes Recipe from ‘Sahur’, ‘Buka Puasa’ (breakfasting) to Cookies and Snacks recipe. All of the recipes are really fun, appetizing, easy to make and of course are perfect for special day.

If you are new in the kitchen or you seldom cook, don’t worry because there are some recipe options by Chef Marinka at www.kejumooo.com that are really easy to make and require minimum and easy to find ingredients.
Such as this Bread Cheese Stick recipe www.kejumooo.com/aneka-resepmooo/resep-kejumooo/506. You gotta try it yourself at home, it consist of only 6 ingredients and require only less than 20 minutes to cook, easy, healthy yet tasty homemade snack, of course there are a lot more easy cook recipe too just check out Kejumooo’s website.

AnakJajan tried making cheese pineapple tart aka Cheese Nastar using Chef Marinka’s recipe from www.kejumooo.com/aneka-resepmooo/resep-kejumooo/492 it was really easy and taste so good so addicting we almost finish whole jar in one day, oopsie :)

In my opinion almost everything taste better and more special with KRAFT Cheese. Besides the taste, I really love KRAFT Cheese for its nutrition and its flexibility, KRAFT Cheese contain a lot of calcium and vitamin D, you can use it to cook anything you want from main course, snacks, cake, cookies, etc, for your breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack time or even for ‘sahur’ and ‘buka puasa’ during Ramadhan month.

And of course you can have so much fun making a lot of cheese dishes creation just like us, we made this super cute Kraft Cheese Instagram Toast using whole wheat bread, chocolate jam, dark choco cookies, gummy bear and of course KRAFT Cheese, so cute isn’t it?? Even Mr. and Mrs. Lego Jajan love it so much :)

KRAFT has become important part of Indonesian household and has been used to make delicious and special dishes for the last 30 years, just like this video -> www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTfE2fuuFTc
So what’s you favorite dishes made by using KRAFT Cheese?? Have you try making your own? Just visit www.kejumooo.com for a lot of yummy and easy cook recipes.

AnakJajan sure that many of you might be already familiar with Doraemon character rite?? Being a 90′s kids, we always spend our sunday morning watching cartoons, some of our favorite cartoons were created by Mr. Fujiko F. Fujio such as Doraemon, P-Man, etc

Fujiko F. Fujio Museum also known as Doraemon Museum is located in the suburb area of Kawasaki. The museum was built in order to preserve Mr. Fujiko F. Fujio’s manuscripts of mangas he drew.
We’ve been wanting to visit this place since they open it 3rd September 2011 and our dreams finally come true. We finally are able to visit it on our trip last May 2014.

We went to Fujiko F. Fujio Museum on early May 2014, the weather was really nice that day (lucky us) around 18C, but it was quite windy so if you are going to visit on early May, I recommend you to wear thin jacket or cardigan.

WHERE IS IT?? HOW TO GO THERE??
Fujiko F. Fujio Museum is located in Kawasaki area near Yokohama. The reason they chose this location is because Mr. Fujiko F. Fujio used to live around there for years where he created countless characters for children to fall in love with.

The location is not that far from Tokyo, just like Japan version of ‘Tangerang’ or ‘Bekasi’ from ‘Jakarta’. It took us around 54 minutes 460yen/person subway ride from Asakusa (2 times transfer from Asakusa Tobu/Subway – Tokyo Metro Ginza Line // Omote-Sando – Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line // Yoyogi-Uehara – Odakyu Odawara Line Express, Noborito Station)

The easiest way to get there is from Noborito Station because Kawasaki City provides shuttle bus between Fujiko F. Fujio Museum and Noborito Station (10minutes ride for 210yen adult or 110yen children).

After you reach Noborito Station, just exit the station and you will find a cute bus station with Nobita and Doraemon’s footsteps. The shuttle bus operates every 10-15 minutes between the station and the museum, just wait for while and a cute blue bus with Doraemon or P-Man drawing will come. You can pay using cash or IC cards (Pasmo/ Suica/ etc), using IC Cards is slightly cheaper 4yen adult or 7yen children.

TICKET??
Admission fee 1.000yen for Adults and University Students, 700yen for High School and Junior High School Students or 500yen for Children (4 years or older).
THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT INFO YOU HAVE TO READ! Reservation is 100% REQUIRED!
You have buy the tickets first from Lawson convenience stores using LOPPI automatic ticket machines. The tickets are on sale two month in advance starting on the 30th of each month.

We were planning to take picture and make a step by step guide about how to buy the ticket by yourself using LOPPI machine, but apparently all of the menus are full in Japanese only so we gave up and ask for the staff there to help us buy. Just say “Fujiko Doraemon Museum Ticket” to the Lawson’s staff and he/she will help you immediately.

Specific entry date and time slot must be selected when you purchase the ticket, there are 4 time slots 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00. You can buy it at any Lawson stores within Japan, AnakJajan recommend you to buy the ticket as soon as you reach Japan because the tickets are often sold out during peak/holiday season.

You can stay as long as you want, but remember you must enter the museum no later than half an hour within the reservation time schedule so don’t be late okay??

WHAT TO DO?
As soon as we reach the museum, the staff will give you a gadget that will be used inside exhibition area, it’s an audio guide where you can play and listen story at every section of exhibition area.

There are two exhibition area displaying Mr. Fujiko F. Fujio’s original art work and collection also a lot of info about how comic book was drawn back then, how Mr. Fujiko F. Fujio start to draw comic books, what kind of character he made, etc.
Two things I love the most are being able to see the original comic drawing from him and the reproduction of Mr. Fujiko F. Fujio’s work studio. But unfortunately visitors are not allowed to take picture inside exhibition area so I can only show you the Audio Guide gadget.

Right beside the exhibition area, you can find handsome version of Giant from the hilarious Woodcutter’s Spring episode.

On the People’s Plaza area there are reading area with extensive comic collection, children playing area, gachapon machine and also photo box.

There are two choice of gachapon machine with different items inside and each cost 200yen. Luckily AnakJajan manage to get the items we wanted, Doraemon and Handsome Giant :)

Each visitor also can watch Doraemon’s short movie in the theater.

Don’t forget to play at the outdoor garden area too where you can find a magic pink door a.k.a ‘Pintu Kemana Saja’ from Doraemon where he always use it to go anywhere he wants. I wish I have this magic door I can travel to Japan everyday!! Make sure you take picture as much as you can too!!

You also will find a playground area with three huge concrete pipes where Nobita and his friends always play at.

EATING??
You can order more filling meal or some snacks/dessert at Museum Cafe inside the Museum. Their food are more expensive than usual cafe meal we had at Tokyo, but it’s worth it, all of the menu are really appealing with kawaii cute and creative decoration, it’s definitely feast for the eyes and tummy.

You will find a lot of character in their dish such as a bowl of Ramen topped with nori that looks like Suneo, Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl with huge Giant face on top, etc.

Service there was also really good (I think this whole Japan trip we never experience any bad service at all), don’t hesitate to ask the staff to help you taking picture okay??
Their menu book already came with english description in it so you don’t need to ask for english version menu anymore.

Because we were planning to visit Ramen Museum (review coming soon) later, we need to save some space in our tummy by not over eating here, so we only ordered two dishes Doraemon’s Rice Casserole with Tomato Soup 1.230yen and Doraemon Tiramisu inspired by “Great Demon” 720yen and both dish were surprisingly taste delicious.

Doraemon’s Rice Casserole with Tomato Soup 1.230yen
Baked rice with generous cheese on top and served with tomato soup. AnakJajan really like the combination between creamy cheese from the rice and the acidity from tomato soup, both were complimenting and balancing each other. We do hope there are more meat inside the rice though, but other than that this dish was so good and comforting.

Doraemon Tiramisu inspired by “Great Demon” 720yen
This dessert is MUST ORDER!! It was super pretty and delicious at the same time. Mr. Jajan also enjoyed it very much.
A cup of light tiramisu served with thick matcha sauce and a scoop of coffee ice cream. It was soooo good especially when you pair the matcha sauce, tiramisu and ice cream in one bite.

Besides Museum Cafe, there is one stall in the garden area with several chair and table selling breads and drinks.

SHOPPING??
Souvenir shopping is a must thing to do don’t you agree?? There are two places where you can buy souvenirs.

First is a small shop located at garden area literally beside the cafe, you can buy cute snacks as souvenir here such as Doraemon’s Ankipan (Memory Bread) that Nobita used for exam, or Doraemon’s favorite food that is Dorayaki, Dorami cookies, etc.

And second is a huge souvenir shop on the bottom floor where you can buy a lot of types of souvenirs, such as ‘Baling-baling Bambu’ aka Bamboo Propeller hair tie, t-shirt, snacks, keychain, DVD, etc.

Overall, visiting Doraemon / Fujiko F. Fujio Museum is really memorable and nostalgic. We are so happy that our dreams finally came true. Btw, Stand By Me Doraemon the new movie of Doraemon will be released on 8 August 2014, based on Doraemon manga series the movie is made with 3D computer animated film technology, we saw the trailer at museum theater and we are super excited about it. Hopefully they will play this movie in Indonesia too. Let’s travel!!

FYI: there are a lot of things that we want to share with you about Japan, all of the post will be listed in ‘Japan Series‘ post, you can read our last post about Japan there too.

Address:
Fujiko F. Fujio Museum
10:00-18:00
2-chome 8-1 Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki-city, Kanagawa Prefecture, 214-0023

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Cold Pressed Juice is made with special juicer machine that will not heat up at all, it’s simply the best way to retain and preserve all of the vitamins and nutrients. And another thing you might need to know is in order to produces a glass of juice, they need to use one big bowl of fruits and vegetables that’s why Cold Pressed Juice contains a whole lot of produce (and of course a whole lot of vitamins and nutrients) more than standard juices we always have.

Rejuve specialized in healthy beverage provides Cold Pressed Juice, Hydrating Elixir using fruits and coconut water, Nourishing Smoothies, Milk Smoothies, Blended Juice and Cold Filtered Latte with price range from IDR 30k to 48k.

Their cold pressed juice does not contain sugar, sweetener, preservative or any concentrate, that’s why it’s full with tons of benefits such as live enzyme, antioxidant, vitamins, fibers, hydration, detoxifier, etc

AnakJajan lately have become a fan of cold pressed juice and after trying several vendors, we might say that Rejuve’s juice is one of the best because besides the health benefit, their juice actually taste really delicious. One of their Rejuve’s team told me that they took around a year of research to come up with wonderful flavor of juice. Our favorite would be the i.Glow, it was so refreshing with the right amount of natural sweetness.

It’s never too late to start a healthier lifestyle, just start it with simple things like changing drink with natural ones such as natural juice. Let’s Jajan!!

Address:
REJUVE
2nd Floor, in front of Celebrity Fitness
Gandaria City Mall
Jl. KH. M. Syafii Hadzani No.8
Kebayoran Lama, Jakarta 12240

Coming Soon (end of june 2014) Mall Kota Kasablanka Food society Ground Floor, In front of Fashion Atrium/ Cotton On store

Map:

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Eating out at Market can be fun too!! Last week, me and Mr. Jajan decide to woke up earlier and had breakfast at Fresh Market Pantai Indah Kapuk like we used to do back then.

Unlike Mr. Jajan, being a spoiled child I never step my foot on traditional market at all, I usually still sleeping or waiting inside my car while my mom shop at the market. The reason behind it of course because there’s nothing interesting inside traditional market at all and we all know that this kind of market in Indonesia mostly are dirty and smelly.

But times have changed, there are a lot of new and modern markets with better and cleaner arrangement that are not only provide raw ingredients, but a lot of interesting snacks and food also available there. My first encounter with wet market would be BSD Pasar Modern with lot’s of interesting snacks I love so much such as Serabi Solo Notosuman, Golden Egg Tart, etc. But because we live kinda far from there, we are quite happy knowing modern market at Pantai Indah Kapuk North Jakarta is also quite interesting.

There are two main area of this market with different opening hours. First is Fresh Market that opens morning providing raw ingredients such as fruit, vegetables, fish, meat and a lot of breakfast choices. Second is Food Plaza PIK that opens at night filled with many dinner choices such as seafood, soto, chinese food, dimsum, etc. This time AnakJajan will talk about the Fresh Market.

On the first floor you can find a lot of fruits and vegetables, while on the basement floor is meat and fish area. Whole market is clean and neat with great ventilation you won’t experience unpleasant smells here.
AnakJajan always love the ambiance at Fresh Market’s Food Center on second floor, filled with a lot of breakfast choices such as noodle, lontong sayur, duck noodle, kwetiaw, fritters, coffee, etc.

The atmosphere here is just like those food centers we usually found at Singapore, don’t you think?? Let’s start our ‘Jajan’!!

Bacang Dinosaurus IDR 25k
This one actually located on the first floor right in front of the escalator to second floor. Their huge Rice Dumpling (Bacang) caught Mr.Jajan’s eyes he decided to take away one. It was quite good with pork belly, salted egg yolk, pork sausage and shitake mushroom filling.

Ayang Bihun Bebek PIK 1 IDR 30k
Buhun Bebek or Duck Noodle was served with rice noodle, lettuce, scallions, duck meat and soup. You have to pour the soup into noodle to enjoy it, the duck was super tender and juicy while the soup taste kinda sweet with hint of spices and unfortunately I cannot find any of duck broth inside the soup. It was okay for me, maybe because I have really high expectation because I’ve tried the famous and legendary Bihun Bebek Asie Kumango from Medan.

Besides heavy meal, here also available a lot of snacks such as soy milk, mendoan, toast, beancurd pudding, etc.

Mixed Rice with 5 side dishes IDR 15k – Pasar Ramai Medan Vegetarian Food
One of Mr.Jajan’s favorite here. Pasar Ramai Medan stall sells tasty vegetarian food mixed rice IDR 12k for 3 side dishes or IDR 15k for 5 side dishes, Mr. Jajan always choose his rice with 5 side dishes. All of the side dishes are vegetarian, so no meat at all.

Can you imagine this mixed rice above is only IDR 15k with 5 side dishes??

Nasi Kari Special Bagan IDR 27k – Masakan Bagan Nasi Kari Si Chuan

This stall might be our top reason to visit Fresh Market PIk :) because we love curry rice a la Baganese at ‘Masakan Bagan – Nasi Kari Si Chuan’ stall (block A No.096) so much.

Basically, curry rice ala Baganese consist of rice topped with thick curry sauce, duck egg, pork charsiu, pork belly, chili prawns and red chili sauce. Unlike any curry rice we had (Nyonya, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Indonesian), Baganese curry rice taste really different yet super addicting. Super recommended you have to give it a try!

Overall, eating at market can be super fun with difference experience than you usually had at the malls or restaurants, so give it a try! Let’s Jajan!! :)

Address:
Fresh Market PIK
Jl. Arteri Pantai Indah Kapuk
North Jakarta, 14460, Indonesia

Map:

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Wu Jang Gun, new authentic Korean restaurant recently has just opened this month. Located right beside Mastro meat market at Wolter Monginsidi area near Senopati – Gunawarman area, this restaurant is easy to find.

Consist of two floors, the restaurant is quite spacious with simple and homy decor. Because they specialized in Korean BBQ, each table is installed with special grill with exhaust attached inside the table, so the smoke from BBQ will be immediately vacuumed and you won’t leave the restaurant with BBQ smell all over your body/hair.

Wu Jang Gun offers authentic Korean BBQ and a la carte Korean dishes with price range from IDR 60k – IDR 290k made with best and natural ingredients. All of the dishes here are HALAL because they don’t serve pork at all, this might be a good news if you are Moslem, but for pork lover please don’t be upset because we guarantee you will forget pork for a while after you taste their beef.

First ‘problem’ you will face here at Wu Jang Gun is too many food served but to little table space, because they are super GENEROUS with their Banchan!! Normally they will serve you around 8-12 banchan depends on how many banchan available that day. All of the banchan are freshly homemade everyday, even their kimchi are homemade with 2 types of kimchi: the one with normal spiciness for us Indonesian and the other one with crazy spiciness level for Korean because basically Korean loves their food super spicy.

Please note that all of the food photos below (except Wujanggun Yangnyeom Galbi) are served half portion only because we want to try more dishes and write about it for you but we weren’t able to eat too much. Sooo, the real portion surely will be bigger than our photos.

Japchae IDR 90k
Japchae photo below is half portion only, but half portion is so much already. Basically Japchae is a stir fried glass noodle with a great springy texture a bit similar with our Sohun but comes with bigger size.

Ojingeo-Bokkem IDR 140k
Love it!! Stir-fried squid and vegetables dish was perfectly cooked and seasoned.  It has addicting spiciness level that will make you unable to stop eating it.

Sundubu-Jjigae IDR 65k
I personally love their soft tofu stew. The soup was warm, comfort and hearty with generous filling such as soft tofu, vegetables and meat.

Galbi-Jjim IDR 120k
This Braised Short Ribs dish is just like Korean version of Indonesian Semur with sweet base sauce.  Consist of super tender beef short ribs, potato, carrot, and mushroom.

Haemul Doenjang-Jjigae IDr 70k
Consist of generous amount of seafood, tofu and vegatables wih soybean paste soup. Seafood was fresh and perfectly cooked, seasoning or soup was also rich with soybean flavor, the soybean paste is a bit similar with Japanese miso.

BBQ time start!! Fresh vegetables are served as a companion for your BBQ so you can enjoy your BBQ like Korean does by putting your BBQ meat inside vegetables and add some samjang sauce, then wrap and eat it in one bite.

Wusul IDR 180k
All of the BBQ are grilled using charcoal resulting a really nice smoky flavor infused inside meat. Wusul is thinly sliced beef tounge, it was tender and tasty especially when you add a bit of samjang sauce.

Wujanggun Yangnyeom Galbi IDR 240k (200gr of meat exclude bone)
Beef ribs was marinated with all natural ingredients for days resulting a soft tender well seasoned beef.

Wujanggun Yangnyeom Galbi IDR 240k

The beef was well marinated and super tender, it was SO DAMN GOOD we don’t need to add any sauce anymore because it was perfect!! I think this is one of the best grilled beef we had in our lives. 100% recommended!! (I’m currently drooling while writing this post!)

Wujanggun Sutbul Gui (200gr) IDR 190k
Seasoning was similar with Yangnyeom Galbi but because it was thinly sliced, it literally MELTS in our mouth (no joke!!), super recommended also.

Overall, food at Wu Jang Gun was amazing especially their BBQ beef. Compared to other Korean restaurant, Wu Jang Gun is really affordable with a great quality and portion. Let’s Jajan!!

Address:
Wu Jang Gun
Jl. Wolter Monginsidi No.34
Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta
Phone: (+6221) 7256181
Opening Hours: 11.00-23.00

Map:

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NEW hangout spot at Senopati Area alert!! Sake+ just opened 2 days ago a new restaurant offering Japanese Cuisine with complete range of sake by VIN+ Group.

Sake+ is located not far from Yeyo Eatery in Senopati road South Jakarta, one of the most happening area in Jakarta filled with a lot of cozy and hip hangout cafe/restaurant. Consist of two floors, Sake+’s interior is simple yet modern a la Japanese, on the first floor you will find a huge storage area of Sake and Sochu.

Sake+ might be the first in Jakarta that offers the most extensive selection of Sake and Sochu with more than 100 varieties as for the food they are specialized in Izakaya-style menu such as Soba, Udon, Sashimi, Sushi Roll, Rice Bowl, Japanese Pasta, Teppan, Agemono, Teppan, Japanese Tapas, Robatayaki and Salad with price range from IDR 35k – IDR 280k for the food and IDR 25k – IDR 120k for the drink (Cocktail, Mocktail, Soft Drink, Water, Tea, Chocolate).

During the soft opening, food selection are kinda limited at this moment but they will add more as time goes by.

Ehire
Served while hot fresh from the grill this grilled ray fin is really good and addicting especially when you paired it with hot dry sake. Texture was a bit chewy it kinda reminds me of Indonesian grilled ‘Juhi’.

Kaisen Salad IDR 110k
Vegetables with octopus and salmon and special homemade mayo sauce. The mayo sauce was refreshing and light, it goes really well with the vegetables.

Ebi Shinjyo Age IDR 70k
This deep fried shrimp meatballs are scrumptious, super juicy and springy. Try dip it in the tangy ponzu sauce to make it taste even better.

Tori Karaage IDR 45k
Juicy and perfectly fried chicken thigh goes really well with cold sake.

Kanitama Udon IDR 120k (sample portion)
Udon photos below are just sample portion. Each bowl of udon consist of kani crab and egg, the broth was really light and comforting.

Gindara Shio
SO GOOD!! Silky smooth fish that will dance in your mouth with its fatty fish texture and crunchy skin. Seasoning was simple with salt only just like usual Japanese ‘Shio’ (salt) seasoning of robatayaki.

Hamachi Kama
Grilled yellow tail fish head, fish was fresh and tender.

Karubi Amiyaki IDR 280k
Their grilled short ribs are WINNER!! Soooo damn tender and juicy it will melts in your mouth, the teriyaki sauce was also really good.

Gyutan Amiyaki IDR 150k
Unlike the usual gyutan aka grilled beef tongue dish we had that is thinly sliced, the gyutan here are thicker but it was perfectly cooked, the texture was tender and springy.

Satsumaage IDR 35k
Fish cake comes with 3 types of selection plain, gobo (spring onion) and edamame. All of the flavors are good expecially edamame one.

Beef Teriyaki Roll
Red paprika and oba leaf sushi rolled with beef teriyaki on the outside. It was just okay, the beef was a bit chewy.

Ebi Tempura Roll IDR 60k
Sushi roll with ebi tempura, lettuce, kyuri and mayonnaise inside and tobbiko on the outside. The ebi tempura was huge while the sushi was perfectly seasoned.

Besides original Sake, Sake+ also offers interesting cocktail choices using Sake as one of the ingredients.

Red Eyes Dragon IDR 100k
Dry gin, pomegranate, strawberry, red dragon fruit
It smells really sweet, girly and fruity. One of our favorite.

Sakura Castle IDR 110k
Dry sake, light rum, baylies, yogurt and blueberry
This one is not too strong, it was sweet and creamy at the same time. Inside the ice cube, there’s sakura flower, super kawaii.

Fukiya IDR 100k
Dry sake, gin, strawberry fruit and lemon juice
Refreshing with a strong strawberry fruity flavor in it.

Night Jar IDR 100k
Dry sake, gin, edenflower, pomegranate and cassis syrup
Everybody’s favorite of the night. It smells sooooo good, yet so sweet but beware because it’s quite strong.

Sake+Jito IDR 100k
Dry sake, light rum, elder syrup
Refreshing minty lemony mojito drink with dry sake.

Kyuri+ IDR 120k
Dry sake, gin, cassis syrup, strawberry, lime juice

One of the signature drink here with the most unique presentation. It was super refreshing, just pour the drink inside cucumber ‘glass’ and drink from it.

Overall, Sake+ offers a great selection of Sake with Izakaya-syle menu. If you are new with Sake, don’t worry just ask the staff for recommendation, they surely will come up with a great suggestion of drink choices and food to be paired with for you. Let’s Jajan!!

Address:
SAKE+
Jl. Senopati No.54
South Jakarta
Phone: (+6221) 7250002
Opening hours:
Weekdays 11:00 – 24:00 (21:45 last order for food)
Weekend 11:00 – 02:00 (23:45 last order for food)

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Kawaii overload!! Beware of super kawaii photos on this post. In Japanese, ‘Kawaii’ means cute, actually AnakJajan had saw this kind of cute decorated donut at Japan but we didn’t manage to found the store and try it and we are super excited knowing that now in Indonesia (Dobudon at Serpong) also available this kind of cute donut. So after we are back from our Thailand trip (lot’s of super interesting places at Thailand that we will share with you later), I immediately ask Mr. Jajan to bring me there.

Dobudon specialized in donuts with cute animal design such as rabbit, owl, chicken, cat, etc. Each donut cost IDR 8.5k and currently they are having opening promo 25% donut discount until 25 August 2014.

At this moment they only have one outlet at Summarecon Mall Serpong, it’s located at the second floor of mall near food court or new XXI entrance, this shop is rather small with 3 tables available to dine in.

All of the donuts are covered with flavored chocolate such as vanilla, milk chocolate, strawberry, caramel, orange, melon, etc. The donut was quite soft and fluffy.

Overall, these kawaii donuts taste just okay, but on the other side it does look super cute, eye catching and totally instagenic (instagram photogenic). Let’s Jajan!!

Address:
Dobudon
Summarecon Mall Serpong 2nd floor 1C-11A
(newar new XXI entrance)
Gading Serpong Bulevar, Tangerang, Banten 15810

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After Fujiko F. Fujio / Doraemon Museum, before we head back to Tokyo we decided to visit Ramen Museum in Yokohama because it’s in the same direction on our way back to Tokyo.

WHERE IS IT?? HOW TO GO THERE??
Ramen Museum is located at Yokohama near Shin-Yokohama station. Basically it’s closer to Tokyo than Fujiko F. Fujio / Doraemon Museum at Kawasaki, it’s like

Japan version of ‘Tangerang’ from ‘Jakarta’.
From Haneda airport only require 45 minutes of bus ride (Haneda Airport // Shinyokohama Bus Terminal – Rinko or Keikyu Bus). Or if you came from Shinjuku, it will took you around 50 minutes (Shinjuku // Shibuya – JR Yamanote Line // Kikuna – Tokyu ToyokoLine // Shinyokohama – JR Yokohama Line)
Because AnakJajan went to Fujiko F. Fujio / Doraemon Museum earlier, we depart from Noborito station Kawasaki to Shin-Yokoyama station for 38 minutes 560 yen/ person (Noborito – Odakyu Odawara Line Exp // Machida- JR Yokohama Line Rapid // Shin-Yokohama).

After you reach Shin-Yokohama station, leave the station from EXIT 8, cross the street and walk for several minutes you will find a simple beige white building with lot’s of green ramen bowl and ‘Shinyokohama Raumen Museum’ name on top.

TICKET??
You can simply buy the ticket at the museum entrance, no reservation needed.
One day ticket:
- Adults (13 years old or older) 310yen
– Children (6 to 12 years old) and Senior (over 60 years old) 100yen
But if you came in a group of 15 or more, admission fee is cheaper:
– Adults 260yen
– Children (youger than 6 years old) and Senior (over 60 years old) 50 yen

WHAT TO DO??
Ramen museum consist of three floors, first floor is for entrance and Museum Shop, Basement 1 and Basement 2 are the museum.

It is the world’s first food-themed amusement park and was build on 1994. This is ultimately one-stop place to enjoy flavors of the famous ramens across Japan without stepping on a plane. There are 9 famous ramen shops inside the museum that are build with street-scape replication from year 1958 because instant ramen was invented that year.

From the outside of museum, people might think that the museum is not attractive at all (just like Mr. Jajan did), but once you entered the museum, you will completely go under ‘WOW’ moment.

Entering the museum was like entering time machine that brought us back to the Japan’s good old days in 1958. The decoration was really amazing and detailed, classic music was also played inside museum.

Just info, WIFI is available on B1 and B2 floors (ID: ramen // Password: 19940306) in case you need it :)

Of course don’t forget to a lots of picture inside museum :)

EATING?? HALAL?? VEGETARIAN??
Inside museum, you can try ramens from 9 ramen shops with different base, soup thickness and noodle types, some of the ramen shops also provide Rice, Non-Pork and Vegetarian menu selections:
A. Salt – Soy Sauce Base
– Nidai-me Genkotsu-ya (golden soup Genkotsu Ramen)
– Shina Soba-ya (shoyu ramen // non-pork and vegetarian menu available)
B. Dip Ramen
– Ganja (thick sauce dip-ramen)
– Ikemen Hollywood (US-born ramen shop // non-pork and vegetarian menu available)

C. Tonkotsu
– Men no Bo-Toride (Kyusu’s tonkotsu ramen // non-pork and vegetarian menu available)
– Komurasaki (Kumamoto tonkotsu ramen // non-pork and vegetarian menu available)
D. Miso
– Sumire (famous miso ramen shop in Japan)
– Ryu Shanghai (seafood based miso ramen // non-pork and vegetarian menu available)

Adult visitors are expected to order at least one bowl of ramen. Each ramen shop provides mini or small-sized portion ramen so you can try ramen from several restaurants.

HOW TO ORDER??
In from of each ramen shops, you will find a meal ticket vending machine. If you want to order you can just simply buy the meal ticket, show the ticket to the waiter and then voila food will be served to you.

1. Put bills/ coins in to vending machine.
2. Push button for the dish you select
3. Take the meal ticket and change, enter the shop and show your ticket to waiter.

All of the vending machines are mostly in Japanese writing, but you don’t need to worry because they provide a booklet of english menu for guidance.

By the way, each restaurant provides you with water to drink for free.

Small Johnny Dip 570 yen – Ikemen Hollywood
Ikemen Hollywood has their main shop in Hollywood, they are specialized in dip ramen (tsukemen). We ordered their Johnny Dip, the noodle was straight and thick with medium richness of soup. Way to enjoy this kind of dip ramen is by dipping some noodle in the soup and then slurp it.

Soup was really nice with strong umami and katsuobushi flavors in it, while the noodle has nice al dente texture, but unfortunately the charsiu was really thin maybe because we ordered mini portion.

Spicy Miso and Chashu Pork Ramen (Akayukaramiso Ramen)- Ryu Shanghai
This seafood-based richly concentrated miso ramen has a thick soup that comes with wrinkled thick noodle and topped with spicy-hot raw miso.

The broth was smooth and really rich you can clearly taste the seafood in it, it was really unique and one of a kind of ramen you cannot see anywhere else.

Half size of Chashu Pork Japanese Style Pork Bone Broth Dip Ramen 1.100 yen – Ganja
Ganja specialized in thick sauce dip-ramen with straight thick noodle. It’s the ramen shop that started dip-ramen craze in Japan.

The noodle was really thick and had a nice texture somewhere between the best qualities of al dente pasta and udon. Eventhough we ordered half size, the portion was generous and it comes with a huge and thick cut of charsiu and more meat inside the soup.

Ganja Ramen’s broth was undeniably amazing!! This kind of broth was new for me, it was sooooo rich and tasteful especially when you paired it with the noodle and thick tender well seasoned charsiu. So good almost makes me cried eating it! TOP RECOMMENDED!!

SHOPPING??
On the first floor, there’s Museum Shop where you can bring home various of ramen from all over the country, souvenirs or even ramen utensils such as chopstick, ramen bowls, etc.

On B2 floors, there’s an old fashioned sweet shops Yu-yake Shoten (an old school little shop a.k.a ‘warung’) that sells more than 300 old-fashioned sweets and toys. This shop totally bring back memories of my childhood where I usually shop (‘jajan’) with my pocket money.

Overall, interior and food at Ramen Museum are too wonderful and too lovely to be missed. Make sure you stop by when you travel to Japan. Let’s travel!!

FYI: there are a lot of things that we want to share with you about Japan, all of the post will be listed in ‘Japan Series‘ post.

Meanwhile this is the list of travel Japan blogposts that have been published:

• Shinjuku Gyoen National Park – My Cherry Blossom Diary
• 246 COMMON
• Aoyama Flower Market Tea House
• Fujiko F. Fujio Museum (Doraemon)
• Ichiran Ramen [NEW]

Address:
Shinyokohama Ramen Museum
2-14-21 Shinyokohama, Kohoku, Yokohama City, 222-0033
Japan
Phone: +81454710503
www.raumen.co.jp
Opening Hours:
11.00-22.00

Map:

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There is one question that I keep received from my friends after getting proposed, “how did he proposed?”. When it comes to my personal life, I don’t fancy talking about it to anyone, it’s not because I’m hiding it or it’s a secret, it’s just because I naturally never like sharing any details about my life.

Just like this particular wedding proposal story, at first I just want to keep it alone, but recently after we got married on 27 April 2014 and back from our Japan honeymoon (you can see our Japan honeymoon trip on our instagram @AnakJajan & @iamMarius with hashtag #AnakJajanJAPAN) I decided to pour it on this blog because I want to have a detailed record while I still have a clear and good memory about it. After all, the main reason I made this blog is to be me and Mr. Jajan’s diary, well mostly about food because we love to eat (together) :)

Wedding proposal was happened last year 28 April 2013. Mr. Jajan out of nowhere suddenly tell me that he’s tired of Jakarta’s hectic life and want to have a nice and relax weekend at Bandung so without having any suspicion I simply said yes.

And then, he told me to dress nicely because this is more like relax fancy kinda travel. I innocently followed his instruction, I wore dress, I even took some time to style my hair a bit and put on nice pastel color nail polish without having any suspicion at all, maybe because I was super busy with my online shop that time so I didn’t have any time to be suspicious.

Then he surprised me with his hotel selection, it was Padma Hotel Bandung. From the outside it might look like a simple small white building only, but once you entered, you will be amazed with their stunning valley view. The best part it, this great hotel with this kind of magnificent hillside view is located only minutes away from Bandung’s city centre.

Mr. Jajan proceed to receptionist for check-in procedure, he told me to wait at the lobby waiting room area (while he sneak to our room checking the room and preparing for proposal). I was super busy and focus replying my online shop order messages so I didn’t pay attention on him at all.

Later on, when we reach our room, before entering the room he told me to close my eyes, and by that seconds I realized he might do ‘something important’ (code: wedding proposal) especially when he played Marry Me song by Train and hold my hands. When I opened my eyes, I can see him holding a huge rose bouquet and starts asking me, I was a bit overwhelmed and touched I cried a bit :’) Of course I said yes to him (we’ve been together for almost 10 years).

The room itself was full with red rose petals everywhere with a perfect hill side view and our favorite romantic songs played, it was a sweet, intimate and perfect wedding proposal for me.

Mr. Jajan told me, everything was prepared around 1 month before our trip (ring, hotel, etc), as for the room decoration and flower bouquet he was assisted by this super helpful butler of Padma Hotel Bandung.

There are 6 types of rooms at Padma Hotel Bandung: Deluxe Room, Deluxe Balcony Room, Premier Room, Hillside studio, Gallery Suite and Premier Suite.

Our room is Premier Suite with a perfect hill side view. The room was really spacious (62 sqm) with wooden floor panel, comfy king size bed, 24 hours personal butler service, spacious bathroom and huge huge window opening facing the signature hill of Padma Bandung.

During afternoon, every guest can enjoy complimentary Afternoon Tea from 15.30 to 17.00 at hotel restaurant area surrounded by natures beauty. Food selection during afternoon tea and breakfast was plentiful and delicious. We didn’t take any picture during our afternoon tea or breakfast time because we want to enjoy it to the max.

Our weekend getaway last year was impeccable. A part of important moment of our lives will always stays in Padma Hotel Bandung.

Address:
Padma Hotel Bandung
Ranca Bentang No. 56-58
Ciumbuleuit, Bandung, West Java
Indonesia 40142
Phone: (+6222) 203033

Map:

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Do you like Japanese food and Italian food?? Then you should totally visit Popolamama, newly opened fresh pasta & Napoli pizza chain from Japan at Indofood Tower, Mall Taman Anggrek and Grand Indonesia.

Popolamama’s first store was opened in 1995 in Japan, at this moment they already have around 170 branch all around Japan.

Menu selection available here consist of salad, side dish, pasta, pizza and dessert with price range around IDR 15k to IDR 72k. They also offer set menu around IDR 70-80k with salad, pizza/pasta and beverage included.

Because it’s originally from Japan, most of the dishes at Popolamama are cooked with Japanese twist. Pasta and pizza are their signature menu where both are freshly made and prepared by order, they don’t use dry/packaged pasta or pizza.

SALAD & SIDE DISHES
For appetizer, Popolamama has 11 selection of appetizer including salad, fries, gratin, karaage, etc. My favorite would be their Bolognese Potato Gratin consist of thinly sliced potato layers with rich bolognese sauce an melting mozarella cheese on top.

Japanese Mushroom Salad IDR 30k
Mixed green, cherry tomatoes, bunashimeji and erigi mushroom served with Japanese dressing and kizami nori

Popolamama Salad IDR 26k
Mixed green, grana padano, cherry tomatoes, onion, sweetcorn served with thousand island dressing

Chicken Karaage IDR 20k
Fried chicken served with mizuna & lemon wedges

Spicy Beef Krakauer IDR 45k
Spicy sausage served with brocolli, potatoes and neopolitan sauce

Bolognese Potato Gratin IDR 30k
Potatoes, bolognese sauce baked with cheddar cheese and mozarella

PASTA
There is only one type of pasta which is spaghetti, it’s freshly made from scratch using durum semollina flour. As for the seasoning, there are quite plentiful choice of sauce base: soup, bolognese, tomato, wafu soy, aglio olio, genovese (pesto), cream & carbonara. All of the seasoning can be described as Italian – Japanese fusion, AnakJajan really love tomato based and wafu soy based sauce.

Classic Bolognese Pasta IDR 48k

Neapolitan with Chicken Sausage Pasta IDR 52k

Wafu Soy Sauce Based Pasta with Smoked Beef, Spinach and Rucola IDR 50k

Aglio Olio with Tuna Pasta IDR 48k

Yokubari Aglio Olio IDR 72k
With chicken sausage, smoked beef, Japanese mushroom, nasu (eggplant) and broccoli

Peperoncino Basil with Potato and Chicken Sausage IDR 55k

Cream Sauce Style with Smoked Beef, Spinach & Ruola IDR 50k

PIZZA
Pizza at Popolamama is really a new thing in Jakarta, because they adopt Napoli style that has thin pizza dough with simple toppings to compliment the pizza. The pizza dough was really unique, it has a soft yet chewy texture in it, taste the best when you eat it hot. Besides savory pizza, you can have you pizza sweet with sweet toppings and ice cream as dessert.

Pizza Margherita IDR 50k
With basil, mozarella cheese and tomato sauce

Apple Cinnamon Pizza IDR 55k

Three Japanese Mushroom IDR 65k
With shitake, eringi, bunashimeji mushroom, grana padano and white sauce

Beef Pepperoni Pizza IDR 60k
With beef pepperoni, mixed cheese, onion and tomato sauce

Apple Pie IDR 38k

Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Cake IDR 42k

Overall, freshly made pasta and Napoli pizza with Japanese twist concept at Popolamama is a new thing in Jakarta and worth to try not to mention the affordable price. Let’s Jajan!!

Address:
Popolamama
Plaza Indofood Tower, G Floor
Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 76-78
Jakarta, Indonesia 12910
Phone: (+6221) 57936799
Opening Hours: 08:30 – 21:00

Grand Indonesia Mall 3rd A Fl Unit 09
Jl. M.H. Thamrin No. 1, Jakarta, Indonesia

Mall Taman Anggrek Lv 4 #420
Jl. Letjen S. Parman Kav. 21, West Jakarta, 11470

Map:

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When you come to Japan, ramen is one of the mandatory dish that you should try. That’s why this time we would like to introduce you with Ichiran Ramen, one of the most popular tonkotsu ramen noodle chain in Japan.

Ichiran Ramen focus only on one type of ramen that is Tonkotsu Ramen, a classic pork-based broth that has been boiled for hours using two kinds of cooking method resulting a rich delicious broth without any ‘heavy’ smell in it.

They are the first ramen shop that comes with red sauce mixture which has become super famous.

Ichiran Ramen is available almost everywhere in Japan such as Gunma, Saitama, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Aichi, Gifu, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Oita and Kumamoto.

As for Tokyo, they have 12 shops: Roppongi, Ueno (Atre), Shibuya, Shibuya Spain-zaka, Shinbashi, Ikebukuro, Tachikawa, Machida, Shinjuku Station Central East Exit, Shimokitazawa, Harajuku and Kichijoji.

This particular Ichiran Ramen branch we visited has 40 counter-seats and is located in Shibuya Spain-zaka (a small alley with spain slope design), it’s near LOFT Shibuya or around 5 minutes walk from Shibuya Station. The best part from Ichiran Ramen is most of their branches are open for 24 hours everyday, you can check their website for details (don’t worry they have english version of website).

HOW TO ORDER??
Similar with Shinyokohama Ramen Museum, you have to order using their/ buy meal ticket using vending machine. Just follow steps below:

1. Buy your meal tickets
You have to buy your meal ticket using vending machines available at the entrance of restaurant.
Luckily their vending machine comes with photos, Japanese and English language so it’s easier to order for non Japanese.
-Put bills/ coins into vending machine.
-Push button for the dish you select
-Take the meal ticket and changes

2. Find a vacant seat
In front of the restaurant there’s this one panel that shows which seats are available, if the light is on it means the seat is available. Just enter the restaurant and choose your seat.

3. Customize your ramen
Every customer will be given a sheet, mark on the order sheet based on your preference for every component of the ramen. You can request English version of sheet.

4. Press the button in front of you
Press it to call the staff and hand in your order sheet along with the meal ticket from vending machine earlier.

5. Enjoy your ramen

Ramen at Ichiran cost 790 Yen per bowl (1 yen = IDR110 during our trip on May 2014), you can order side dishes/extra toppings such as kikurage mushroom, additional sliced pork, rice, hard boiled egg, green onions, nori, etc.

AnakJajan ordered 2 bowls of ramen (790 yen x 2) and 1 hard boiled egg (120 yen). As for the drink, just like any other restaurants/cafes here in Japan they provide free water to drink.

When it comes to customizing ramen, you can customize almost every elements of the ramen here at Ichiran starting from flavor strengh, soup richness, garlic, green onion, sliced pork, Ichiran’s original red sauce level to noodle texture so you can have your ramen just the way you like either it’s super thick or light with firm or soft noodle texture.

Overall tonkotsu ramen at Ichiran taste is amazing, it’s incredibly rich and exceptional. AnakJajan immediately fell in love with it the moment we take a sip, we were hooked and couldn’t stop eating it until the last sip. If you are a fan of ramen especially tonkotsu ramen, we guarantee you will totally in love with Ichiran ramen. Let’s Jajan and Travel!!

List of Japan Travel blogposts that have been published:

• Shinjuku Gyoen National Park – My Cherry Blossom Diary
• 246 COMMON
• Aoyama Flower Market Tea House
• Fujiko F. Fujio Museum (Doraemon)
• Ramen Museum – Yokohama

Don’t forget to subscribe/ follow our blog so you can get an update on your email everytime we posted a new post.

Address:
Ichiran Ramen
Koyasuwan Building B1F
13-7 Udagawacho Shibuya-ku Tokyo-to
150-0042
Phone: +81334640787
Opening Hours: 24 hours

http://www.ichiran.co.jp/english

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Map:

Right in the central of Jakarta, there’s a new hotel just opened (June 2014) that is DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel. DoubleTree by Hilton is located in Cikini area, literally near Cikini train station. Inside the hotel, you can find their all day dining buffet restaurant called OPEN restaurant.

OPEN restaurant has an ‘open’ concept when it comes to interior and also kitchen, you can clearly have a very nice view of hotel pool area while dining there.

Buffet at OPEN restaurant priced at IDR 288k++ per person. There are three main sections inside the buffet: local Indonesian, Asian and Western, plus salad, cheese, fresh seafood, sushi and dessert area.

INDONESIAN SECTION
There are plentiful of Indonesian available here such as meal ball soup, ‘nasi uduk’, freshly grilled satay, etc. All of them are definitely not dissapointing at all, they were pretty delicious.

ASIAN SECTION
Dimsum, noodle soup, roasted duck, roasted chicken etc are available in this section.

WESTERN SECTION
My favorite section!! Freshly baked lasagna, pizza, bread, pasta, etc are available in this section. They also served incredibly delicious middle eastern dishes.

Besides buffet food above, there are these two signature dishes from OPEN restaurant: Cheese Cake and Rendang Pizza, both menu are included in the buffet and also available in a la carte menu.

What do you think when you heard of rendang and pizza words?? Both dishes are super famous, one is the meat stew dish from Indonesia and other one is from Italy. But what happen when both dishes are combined together into one?? OPEN restaurant is really daring to combine these two types of cuisine and surprisingly rendang and pizza work really well together. It was UUHHHMAZING!!

This thin homemade pizza dough was topped with tomato sauce, rich rendang and generous amount of cheese. The combination between crunchy crust, tanginess of tomato sauce, and richness from rendang seasoning are complimenting each other. AnakJajan almost finished one whole pizza if Ms. Tatha from DoubleTree didn’t remind us to save some space in our tummy for other dishes. Ooopsie :)

As for the dessert, all of the cakes at DoubleTree are fresh, moist and tasty but there is this special one which is Cheese Cake.
One of the main ingredient from this cheesecake is the signature Cookie from DoubleTree Hilton, it’s the famous soft baked chocolate chips cookies that will be served to hotel guest as a welcome snack available exclusively at all DoubleTree hotel all around the world.

The cheesecake was very light, smooth and not too sweet at all with DoubleTree Cookie bits inside. (info: cakes are also available at their lobby lounge and everyday after 8pm all of their cakes are discounted up to 50%, yay!!)

Address:
OPEN restaurant
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel
Jl Pegangsaan Timur No.17 Cikini
Central Jakarta 10310, Indonesia
Phone: (+6221) 31904433

http://jakartadiponegoro.doubletree.com/

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Tastiest food doesn’t always comes from the hippest or the most happening hangout spots, don’t you agree?? Besides hangout at fancy cafe or restaurants, neither we nor you sometimes also eat at simple humble eatery especially on daily basis. Yesterday AnakJajan accidentally found a new eatery named HOKI Klang Bak Kut Teh at Gajahmada area.

Bak Kut Teh is a pork ribs & meat herbal soup dish a la Chinese. Usually there are two main types of this kind of meat bone soup dish, one is Teochew style with light peppery ‘garlicy’ broth just like the famous SongFa Bak Kut Teh from Singapore and the other one is herbal soy sauce soup just like HOKI’s.

Actually hours before we found this bakkutteh shop by accident, one of our instagram friend Mrs. Sonya tag us on instagram informing there’s this new eatery selling appealing soup and dry bak kut teh but we haven’t had a chance to ask about the location. Then on our way back to home, Mr. Jajan suddenly spot this brand new eatery and asking me “isn’t that the bak kuh teh we just saw on instagram a while ago??”

Confirmed that it’s the same bak kut teh, AnakJajan immediately stopped and park our car and had our dinner there. About the location, it’s quite easy to spot. It’s located at the same row (near) with Joni Steak or across Gandy Steak.

Open everyday from 11.00-23.00, HOKI offers Bak Kut Teh as their signature dish, besides that they also have other dishes such as Penang fried noodle, chicken curry, sautee vegetable with oyster sauce, etc. AnakJajan ordered Bakut Teh Kering (dry bak kut teh) IDR 50k, Bakut Teh Kuah (soup bak kut teh) IDR 50k, Cakwe or fried youtiau or dough fritter IDR 5k and rice IDR 6k.

Please note that they don’t have EDC so you cannot use any card. AnakJajan didn’t realize that we were running out of cash but luckily we kept emergency cash for this kind of moment.

For the Bak Kut Teh both dry or soup, each portion consist of pork ribs, lean meat, belly (samcan) and intestine but you request based on your preference just like us we requested our bak kuh teh without any intestine.

Bakut Teh Kering (dry bak kut teh) IDR 50k
Dry bak kut teh has sweet and savory taste with a bit of spiciness in it from the use of dried chili. Besides pork, they also add mushroom and fried tofu that will totally soak the richness from the sauce, very nice!!

Bakut Teh Kuah (soup bak kut teh) IDR 50k
Soup one is more on the savory taste with a right amount of herbal aroma, don’t forget to order cakwe or dough fritter and dip into the soup .

Overall both dry and soup bak kut teh at HOKI were tasty and comfy, meat was tender and seasoning was also good. Let’s Jajan!!

Address:
HOKI Klang Bak Kut Teh
Jl. Gajahmada No.64
West Jakarta
Phone:(+6221) 96879889
Opening Hours: 11.00-23.00

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When in Japan, eat Matcha Green Tea!! If you are a huge fan of matcha, AnakJajan guarantee you will obviously gone mad the minute you reach Japan because you can easily find anything green tea/ matcha almost anywhere. Nana’s Green Tea is a popular matcha chain established 14 years ago in Japan. They are the pioneer of Japanese Matcha Greentea Cafe. But nowadays you can find Nana’s Green Tea outlet in Singapore and Malaysia too, good news right?!!

Nana’s Green Tea has more than 60 branches opened throughout Japan which are in Hokkaido, Miyagi, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Ishikawa, Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima, Kagawa, Fukuoka and Kumamoto. After that, they expanded their business overseas to other countries such as HongKong, China, Singapore and Malaysia.

Being Indonesian, AnakJajan think most of you travel to Singapore or Malaysia a lot rite? So it will be easier for you to visit these two nearest branch from our country. You can find it at The Atrium @ Orchard in Singapore or The Gardens Mall in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (detailed address listed at the end of this post).

Almost all of the menu Nana’s Green Tea offers are high quality Japanese Matcha Green Tea base dessert and it comes with many variety, but don’t worry because they have Udon and Rice Bowl menu for more filling and savory option as well.

At Nana’s Green Tea you can find light matcha drink, matcha latte, matcha frappe, hojicha latte, adzuki latte, black sesame latte, coffee, juice, parfait, ice cream, rice-flour dumpling soup, chocolate, cake, udon, rice bowl with price range from 330 yen to 1.050 yen (1yen = IDR 110).

AnakJajan visited their branch at Tokyo Solamachi (Tokyo SkyTree), their shop is really lovely, simple yet romantic with the use of curtains as separator between the seats and huge window facing outdoor terrace area.

Since we had more than 5 meals already on that day (breakfast, sushi, dessert, snacks, chocolate ‘teatime’), we only ordered two desserts menu for our second teatime :D We ordered Bracken-starch Dumpling on Matcha Frappe 670 yen and Matcha Gateaux Chocolat 580 yen (1yen = IDR 110). Don’t forget to request for ENGLISH MENU so it will be easier for you to order.

Bracken-starch Dumpling on Matcha Frappe 670 yen (1 yen = IDR 110)
There are 6 topping selection for Matcha Frappe such as ice cream, softcream, jelly, whipped cream, etc.
AnakJajan chose the most unique topping that is Bracken-Starch Dumpling, the texture was similar with jelly with a nice smoky aroma in it. Goes really well with the thick matcha frappe.

Matcha Gateaux Chocolat 580 yen (1yen = IDR 110)
The cake was really dense and rich with matcha goodness, served with light whipping cream with brown sugar syrup. So so so good!! Mr. Jajan loves it so much he couldn’t find anything similar since then. If we re-visit Nana’s Green Tea, Mr. Jajan confirms will order this menu again, he might not wanting to share it with me anymore :)

Overall, Nana’s Green Tea menus have a really nice quality and it was delightful with the right amount of sweetness and richness. Totally will come back if we have a chance. Lets’ Travel and Jajan!!

List of Japan Travel blogposts that have been published:

• Shinjuku Gyoen National Park – My Cherry Blossom Diary
• 246 COMMON
• Aoyama Flower Market Tea House
• Fujiko F. Fujio Museum (Doraemon)
• Ramen Museum – Yokohama
• Ichiran Ramen
• Nana’s Green Tea Cafe [NEW]

Don’t forget to subscribe/ follow our blog so you can get an update on your email everytime we posted a new post.

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Address:
Nana’s Green Tea
Tokyo Sky Tree Town Solamachi Shop
(Tokyo Solamachi) Tokyo Sky Tree Town Sky Gusset 4th Floor
Sumida-ku, Tokyo 1-1-2
Phone: +81356378210
Opening Hours: 10.00-21.00
Website:
www.nanaha.com/en/
(make sure you use Google Chrome, so it can translate any Japanese writing to English automatically)

Map:

Singapore Address:
The Atrium @ Orchard
Plaza Singapura 60B, Orchard Road, #03-80/82
Singapore

Malaysia Address:
Lingkaran Syed Putra
The Gardens Mall, Mid Valley City, Lot 231A, Lower Ground Floor
59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

How do you describe you perfect coffee shop?? Great music, nice coffee, fast wifi connection and cozy ambiance?? Well this newly opened Woodpecker Coffee Shop at Jakarta Panglima Polim area might be the answer.

Located at Panglima Polim V street, this little coffee shop is super easy to spot, it’s right across Mangia and Taco Local or right beside Holy Gyu steak.

This coffee shop unfortunately is quite small with limited seating capacity, but AnakJajan really love the simple combination with brown wooden and grey cement furniture and huge glass window on the front giving this coffee shop a really nice and bright natural light.

So basically if you visit during daytime, it will be almost effortless for you to take a great picture or I may say ‘instagenic’ photo.

AnakJajan ordered Cappuccino IDR 27k and Machiato IDR 18k. Cappuccino was smooth creamy and nice while Machiato was super acid, we didn’t manage to ask the staff about which coffee they are using because AnakJajan were too busy chatting and gossiping with our foodie friends Hans and Aline and also because one of the customer brought his super cute and huge dog we couldn’t stop looking at it.

As for the food, they only provide one menu that is Waffle. The waffle cost IDR 15k/waffle where you can choose original or oreo batter and also soft or crispy texture. You can also add additional topping such as maple syrup, fresh strawberry, nutella, banana, etc. We chose Waffle Oreo IDR 15k + Nutella IDR 10k + Banana IDR 5k. Waffle was delicious and crispy especially when you pair it with Nutella, unfortunately the Banana served was not as much as I saw on instagram posts that usually cover the whole waffle.

Overall, AnakJajan enjoyed our time at Woodpecker, coffee and waffle were great but it might be a bit uncomfortable to stay for a long time because of the limited seat. Let’s Jajan!!

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Address:
Woodpecker
Jl. Panglima Polim V No.23
South Jakarta

Map:

As I’ve said before on our Instagram, Traveling alone is REALLY FUN!! Because your schedule will be flexible and you can arrange the itinerary based on your interest or your mood. But on the other side, it also can be really CHALLENGING especially if you are traveling to a non English language country such as Japan.

Beside Oishi, Kawaii, Aishiteru, Sushi, Ichigo, etc, I barely understand their language, I also cannot read Japanese at all, yet I’m super confident going to there alone with Mr. Jajan. The only and one secret behind it is PREPARATION, I did my homework by doing TON’s of reading and research about everything I need and have to know and prepare before going there. Even more, I’m super lucky to have a friend Ame that just got back from her Japan trip with her husband and being super helpful giving me a lot of useful tips.

And now it’s our turn to share you everything we know that we think Sahabat Jajan might need to know or prepare before going to Japan. Hopefully all of the info can be useful for your trip to Japan, especially if this is the first time for you going to Japan just like us.

This ultimate guide/tips post was written 3 months ago and finally I manage to finish it. We realize that it took us a while to write this post, but it was because we really want to present you with the most detailed, complete and informative list of tips or guide in one post for you.

1. FLIGHT – VISA
You can use ANA (All Nippon Airways) for direct flight from Jakarta to Tokyo with a duration of 8 hours.
The other flight such as AirAsia or Garuda Indonesia require you to transit via KL (AirAsia) or Denpasar Bali (Garuda Indonesia).
If you are on tight budget, you can find airplane ticket with a great promo from budget airline such as AirAsia, my friend only spent around IDR 3.2mil per person (round trip Jakarta-Haneda-Jakarta). Can you imagine it?? And for us, we spent around IDR 5mil per person (round trip Jakarta-Haneda-Jakarta May 2014).

You might have read the news that Japan will exempt visas for Indonesian citizen next year 2015. But at this moment you still need to apply for Japan visa, if you need any tips about how to apply for Japan visa, you can read our guide about how to apply Japan Visa on our blog.

2. AIRPORT
There are two airport at Tokyo: Haneda and Narita. Fyi, Narita Airport is 60 km outside of Tokyo and the other one Haneda Airport is more centrally located less than 30 minutes south of central Tokyo.
I suggest you to fly to Haneda Airport if you are planning to stay at the central of Tokyo.

2.A. AIRPORT TRANSPORTATION HANEDA & NARITA
There are several transportation options at Airport: Monorail, Train, Limousine Bus and Taxi.
Airport Limousin Bus (Haneda ± 930 yen or Narita ± 2,800 yen // 1yen = ± IDR 110) and Train are available until midnight.

You can use Airport Limousin Bus back and forth to the airport. Airport Limousin Bus has collaborated with major hotels in Tokyo, so it can pick you up from or to hotel. Detailed infomation about Airport Limousin Bus https://www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/
Narita transportation detail please refer to http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/access/
Haneda transportation detail please refer to http://www.haneda-airport.jp/inter/en/access/

2.B. HANEDA AIRPORT
After you landed at Haneda Airport, don’t forget to visit the Tourism Center and take free map (located on the right side from the exit door).
You can also buy Suica or Pasmo card near Tourism Center (please refer to point no. 3 for details)

2.B.1. ARRIVE AT HANEDA
AnakJajan stay at Shinjuku Tokyo area, we used Keikyu Railways to reach our hotel, it took us around 38 minutes and 610 yen per person (Haneda Airport International Terminal Station // Shinagawa Station – Keikyu Airport line // Shinjuku JR – JR Yamanote Line).

2.B.2. DEPART TO HANEDA
In the end of our trip, because we shopped a lot, carriying 4 luggage for 2 person are kinda tiring so we decided to took Airport Limousin Bus (930 yen for around 50 minutes // 1yen = ± IDR 110), we took the bus from Asakusa View Hotel to Haneda Airport.
But if you want to take train,  it will took you around 35 minutes and 560 yen (1yen = ± IDR 110) from Tokyo Station (Tokyo Station – JR Keihin-Tohoku Line // Shinagawa Station – Keikyu Airport Line // Haneda Airport Station).

2.C. HANEDA AIRPORT HOTEL
You can also find hotels inside Haneda Airport: Haneda excel Hotel Tokyu (Domestic Terminal 2, regular hotel) and First Cabin Tokyo Haneda (Domestic Terminal 1, capsule Hotel).

2.D. AIRPORT LOCKER – COIN CHANGER
In case you need it, you can put your bag or luggage inside locker available in airport. Each locker has a different size and price (300 yen small, 500 yen large). Near the locker also available coin changer machine.

2.E. SHOP AT HANEDA
Shops and restaurants are available at Haneda, at International Terminal you can buy some snacks at 24 hours Air Lawson 1st floor or Seven Eleven (you should buy their super delicious Ajitsuke Tamago onigiri with melting egg yelk inside). TOKYO BANANA also available at 4th floor.

3. PREPAID IC CARD PASMO / SUICA
IC cards are rechargeable cards that can be used conveniently to pay fares on public transportation such as bus, train, subway or even vending machines,convenience store, shops and restaurants by simply touching the card on a reader.
There are 10 vendors of prepared IC card in Japan such as Suica, Pasmo, Toica, Manaca, Kutaca, Sugoca, Nimoca, Icoca, Pitapa and Hayakaken and can be used in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Nagoya and Fukuoka.

3.A. HOW TO BUY
Pasmo and Suica both are commonly used in Japan especially Tokyo. Suica Card is available at JR Station Automatic Ticket Vending Machine with Suica logo while Pasmo Card available at Metro or Toei subway station Automatic Ticket Vending Machine with Pasmo logo. Steps to buy the card:
-Select English Language option on the upper right corner
-Select purchase new
-Screen will display purchased amount, insert the cash and take your card

New card of Suica cost 2,000 yen (1,500 yen balance and 500 yen deposit) while Pasmo cost 1,000 yen (500 yen balance and 500 yen deposit) (1yen = ± IDR 110), both card provide Personal Pasmo or Personal Suica with you name in it.

3.B. HOT TO ADD VALUE / TOP UP
To add value or top up, just find any Fare Adjustment machine with Pasmo/Suica logo at any station and follow steps below:
-Insert your IC card
-Select English Language option on the upper right corner
-Select charge
-Select the amount that you want
-Insert cash and take your card
AnakJajan have spent ± 20,000 yen (1yen = ± IDR 110) total in transportation/ 2 person for 2 weeks at Tokyo, Yokohama and Nikko. Well actually we have to spent 25,000 yen because Mr. Jajan recklessly lost his card during our trip (if you have personal card with your name in it, you might have a chance to retrieve it, but we’re too lazy to do that)

3.C. HOW TO USE
Just tap your IC card on the IC chip reader panel.

3.D. REFUND
If the card is not used for ten year, it will become invalid so when you no longer use your Pasmo or Suica card, you can receive card balance and deposit refund from the station office. Suica cards issued by JR East Japan can be returned only at JR East stations and then Pasmo card can be returned at Shinagawa Station or Keikyu Line Haneda Airport (usually ± 220 yen handling fee is substracted from the remaining balance to be refunded).

4. INTERNET & APPS
Having internet connection is super important especially if you cannot speak Japanese and you are traveling alone without tour guide. With internet connection, it can help you to to find location, searching information, translating language, etc.
Free wifi connection is not widely available in public places so we recommend you to buy Sim card or rent portable wifi.

4.A. SIM CARD
AnakJajan found these two popular visitor simcard providers, eConnect and BMobile. For 4,000-4,100yen per sim card (1yen = ± IDR 110) both provider offer two types of sim card: 1GB data usage card (maximum speed) or Unlimited data usage (speed up to 300kbps only), you can also request on sim card size you prefer Regular / Micro / Nano sim card.
AnakJajan personally chose BMobile because they have more detailed information in their website.

Advantage: Cheaper and you don’t need to return anything
Disadvantage: Phone battery life will run out more quickly and a bit more uncomfortable to share/ tether the connection with many devices.

4.B. PORTABLE WIFI
Portable Wifi rental can be quite expensive in Japan, but if you travel in group, instead of buying sim card for each person it’s better to rent portable wifi because this device can be shared up to 10 devices. eConnect also provide portable wifi rental for 252-1,080 yen per DAY.

Advantage: Wifi connection can be shared up to 10 devices.
Disadvantage: Expensive and you have to return the portable wifi device.

4.C. HOW TO ORDER AND PAY? (SIM CARD / PORTABLE WIFI)
-You have to pay and order your simcard via online on their website, so that means they only accept credit card payment.
-Fill the purchase form and select delivery date and address (hotels, homes and offices). Airport Pickup Service also provided with additional fee. AnakJajan requested our simcard to be delivered to our hotel, by the time we reach our hotel, the simcard is ready to be used.
-Portable wifi device need to be returned, you can drop it at Airport post office, post boxes or convenience stores.
(btw, you can rent portable wifi directly at the airport, some providers open their shop there)

4.D. APPLICATION
Here’s some list of mobile apps that could be helpful for your trip:
Hyperdia, the best train/subway route finder for travelers
– Triposo, offline travel guide
– Bravolol, offline translator
– Google Translate, online translator
– Google Map, online map
– Google Chrome, user friendly browser with translation ability

Tips: Sometimes, it can be quite hard to find an address via google map, for example I cannot find Ichiran Ramen address on Google Map, so what I need to do is to find ‘Ichiran Ramen’ name with Japanese writing “一蘭 渋谷スペイン坂店” (use google chrome to browse and find the Japanese writing), copy and paste it on Google Map then voilaaa!! Ichiran Ramen’s address is found!

5. TRANSPORTATION
5.A. TAXI
Licensed taxi driver in Japan are generally highly trustworthy and will not try to take advantage of their clients that’s why fare calculation is always by meter (licensed taxi).
Normally there are three types of taxi size, Large with engine capacities above 2,000cc can carry up to five passengers, then Medium and Small taxi with engine capacities 2,000cc or below that can carry up to four passengers. Please note that taxi’s left rear door is usually opened and closed automatically or remotely by the driver.

About the fare, standard taxi typically start from 600-700 yen (1yen = ± IDR 110) for the first two kilometers, by late night the rate wil increase until 20%.
AnakJajan took our taxi from Nikko Edomura – Edo Wonderland to Kinugawa Onsen Station because we need to catch the last train schedule to Tokyo, it took us around 10 minutes and ± 2,000yen (1yen = ± IDR 110) for ± 4.6km.
TIPS: Prepare the address you are heading and show it to the driver (better if you can show address with Japanese writing to the driver). Don’t hesitate to ask the driver (just like we did) how much it will cost approximately to your destination so you won’t be shock with the fare.

5.B. BUS
Mostly in big cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, bus is a secondary public transportation to compliment train and subway. But in Kyoto, bus is the main public transportation.
How to pay:
-Enter the bus, by default you should enter through back door but if it only opens its front door then enter via front door.
-Pick up ticket from small machine located next to paying machine as a mark of your starting point.
-See the display on top of the bus that shows the next stop and fare, so you can calculate the total of your fare (starting point fare + bus stops fare you’re going through).
-Press stop signal button when you are approaching your destination.
-Put exact fare and your ticket to the paying machine located next to the driver (if you don’t have exact fare, use the changing machine to change your money into small coins).

5.C. TRAIN/ SUBWAY at TOKYO
Japan Railways (JR) or train and subway are the most convenient transportation in Japan especially Tokyo with super on time schedule.
Subway at Tokyo runs by two different companies: Toei Subways with four lines, and Tokyo Metro with nine lines.

All of the subway and train vendors have different lines and stations, some of them are connected though, so it’s mandatory for you to have Hyperdia apps (please refer to point no. 4) so it can tell you which station and which train/subway to take and how to connect from one to another train/subway.

There are three payment options:
-Single ticket, just purchase single ticket at the station machine.
-IC Card such as suica and pasmo, top up some balance in your IC card and just tap it to the train/subway station gate (please refer to point no.3)
-Day pass: if you travel a lot using train/subway whole day, it might be cheaper for you to buy daily or even weekly pass and you can use it for whole day indefinitely, there are several day pass option:
–Tokyo Subway Ticket (1-day: 800 yen, 2-day: 1,200 yen, 3-day: 1,500 yen), unlimited use of all subway line for one day (Toei and Metro subway), can be purchased at Narita or Haneda airport.
–Toei and Tokyo Metro One-Day Economy Pass (1,000 yen), unlimited use of all subway line for one day (Toey and Metro subway), can be purchased  at subway stations in Tokyo.
–Tokyo Metro Open Ticket (1-day: 600 or 710 yen; 2-day: 980 yen), unlimited use of Tokyo Metro subway lines (9 lines), can be purchased  at Narita or Haneda airport and Tokyo Metro stations.
–Toei One-Day Economy Pass (700 yen), unlimited use of Toei subway lines (4 lines), can be purchased at Toei stations.
–JR Pass (Regular JR Pass 7 days 29,110 yen, 14 days 46,390 yen, 21 days 59,350 yen), JR Pass can be used in JR trains, Aoimori Railway between Hachinohe and Aomori, Tokyo Monorail to/from Haneda Airport, JR Ferry to Miyajima and Local JR buses, JR Pass have to be purchased before your arrival to Japan, you can buy it online or authorized sales office http://www.japanrailpass.net/05/en05_1.html

Please make sure you stand at the left side of escalator if you are not in hurry (Tokyo & Kyoto).

5.D. BICYCLE
Bicycle is an easy and inexpensive option to explore Japan, mostly bicycle rental is available in many tourist destination or train station.
Usually bicycle rental cost around 100-300 yen per hour, 400-800 yen half a day, and 1,000-1,200 yen whole day. (1yen = ± IDR 110)

Most of cities in Japan provide bike rental, AnakJajan didn’t manage to use bike rental but we did some search before our trip, so these are some list of bicycle rental vendors as a reference for you and also for us in case we need to rent bike on our next trip :)
Tokyo: Tokyo Bike!!, Rent a Bike, Bike Rentals and Cycle Shops list in Tokyo
Yokohama: Yokohama Bay-Quarter, Panoren
Osaka: HUBchari, Umegle-Chari
Kyoto: Kyoto Eco Trip
Sapporo: Porocle, Sapporo City Bicycle
Some of the website above only available in Japanese language, so make sure you browse it via Google Chrome so it can translate to English automatically.

6. HOTEL
6.A. OPTION
There are several option for you to choose based on your budget and preference: Hotel, Hostel and Apartment.
Hotels at Tokyo can be quite expensive with super small rooms. But don’t worry hostel at Japan is quite affordable (for example, Khaosan World Asakusa cost around IDR 250k/person bunk bed dormitory style).

You also can rent a room in apartment or even renting the whole apartment from AIRBNB with super affordable price from the apartment owner.
AnakJajan booked our hotels from Agoda.com because it is super convenient not to mention room rate they offer usually lower than market. Maybe next time if we visit Japan again, we would like to try renting apartment from AirBNB instead. You can also try HostelWorld, my friend booked using HostelWorld with booking fee 2dollars only with full payment directly at hotel/hostel.

We stayed in 3 different hotels in Tokyo, Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku 30 April – 3 May IDR 1,766k, Centurion Hotel Ueno 3-5 May IDR 2,069k and Super Hotel Asakusa 5 – 9 May IDR 1,082k (NETT). Will write detailed review about these three hotels in separate post.

6.B. LOCATION
When it comes to hotel selection, my first priority would be the LOCATION, I always search the nearest hotel to station so we won’t end up too tired just by walking from hotel to station. These three hotel’s distance to station is only within 1km, the best one would be Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku because it’s located literally next to JR Shinjuku Station south exit.
Remember to take note on your Hotel/Hostel/Apartment’s location, address and map, so you won’t have any problem in finding its location.

6.B. PAJAMAS AND DEPOSIT MONEY
Three of AnakJajan hotels selection provide pajamas we end up didn’t wear any of our pajamas we packed from Jakarta. Check in and check out process also very quick because they didn’t ask for any deposit money.

6.C. CHECK IN AND CHECK OUT
Pay attention on check in and check out time because each hotel has different policy.

7.EAT & DRINK
7.A. EATING
We all must have heard that eating in Japan is expensive, but that’s a wrong paradigm. Eating at Japan especially Tokyo is not as expensive as people usually say, in fact I think eating at Singapore nowadays can be more expensive due to the currency exchange rate.

No offense, for some people that only eat at ‘warteg’ or ‘Bakmi GM’ they might think Japan is expensive, but if you often eat at at the malls or at any Jakarta’s latest hip restaurants, you will find that eating at Tokyo is actually affordable and mostly cheaper than Jakarta.

At tokyo, only with 300 yen – 400 yen (around IDR 33k-44k) you can have a delicious and complete set of meal including rice, soup, meat, vegetable and egg, you can easily find affordable bento box that will cost you only 250 yen (around IDR 26k) per box complete with rice, meat, egg and vegetables, no joke! Or a portion of two pieces super fresh salmon sushi with huge cut of salmon only cost you 190 yen only (around IDR 20k) from Toriton Sushi, crazily affordable rite?

Here’s some tips for you:
- English Menu
Most of restaurants of cafes at Tokyo provide English version menu book for non Japanese like us. So it will be easier for you to order, just ask “ENGLISH MENU???” to the staff.
- How to order?
There are two types of ordering, type one is ordering via staff just like in Indonesia. Second is by using vending machine to buy the meal ticket and then show your meal ticket to the staff so they can prepare your meal.

Ordering via vending machine:
1. Put bills/ coins in to vending machine.
2. Push button for the dish you select
3. Take the meal ticket and change, enter the shop and show your ticket to waiter.
- How to pay?
If you are using vending machine, it means you have already paid.
But if the cafe/restaurant is using cashier instead of vending machine, every time you finish ordering, the staff will immediately put the bill on your table, just bring that bill to the cashier and pay.
- Lunch set
Wanna have more luxurious or fancy meal with a great price?? Most of cafe or restaurant at Tokyo offer a great deal of special Lunch Set menu, a complete set of meal that is much cheaper than a la carte menu or dinner menu. For example this special Grade A5 Korugewagyu set from Matsuroku House that usually go for at least 5,000yen for dinner only cost 1,300yen per set for lunch (1yen = ± IDR 110), CRAZY RITE?? Will write detailed review about this restaurant later.

7.B. DRINKING
– You can easily buy drinking water from Combini (mini markets such as 7-11, Lawson, etc) or vending machine (± 130 yen) available in every corner of the street. It’s super easy to buy drink from vending machine, just put your bills or coins into the machine, then press the button of the drink you select, collect the drink and change.

Some vending machine provide Hot and Cold option so make sure you press the right button (red button for Hot and blue button for Cold).

- Free water or tea is provided in almost every eatery or restaurant or cafe in Japan.

– Although tap water in Tokyo is officially said to be drinkable, many Japanese prefer not to drink water from it. We also didn’t drink their tap water unless there’s a ‘Drinkable’ sign on the tap.

8. SEASON
Basically there are 4 main season in Japan: Spring (March to May), Summer (June to August), Fall (September to November) and Winter (December to February).

Make sure you pack and bring the right outfit and items for the season, such as umbrella for rainy season, heatpack gloves scarf and coat for winter, etc.

AnakJajan suggest you to take note on detailed weather forecast, you can check it from AccuWeather http://www.accuweather.com/en/jp/japan-weather , their weather forecast is pretty accurate.

9. TOILET
Mostly at Japan they use Smart Toilet that comes with fancy features such as drier, warm water, warm toilet seat and even water splashing sound effect so other people cannot hear the sound of your pee :)
You might be able to find this kind of smart at some places in Jakarta already.

10. PACKING TIPS
AnakJajan have list of some items that we thought will be important and helpful for your trip:
– Map/ Guide Book

– Vacuum Plastic Bag
This kind of special vacuum plastic bag is available at Daiso (you can get it from Daiso at Jakarta or Japan), it can really help you to get extra space in your luggage especially when you bring puffy knit sweater. No vacuum machine needed, just put your clothes inside this special bag and press it to release the air and then voilaaa, super pack and tight bag of clothes.

- Folding Backpack
This backpack is really helpful in case you don’t have enough space in your luggage. AnakJajan also always brought this backpack when we were shopping at Japan, so instead of taking lot’s of shopping bags, we can just easily unfold the backpack and drop all of our shopping bags in this backpack. You can find it online or bought it at the mall just like us (we bought it from Metro dept. store at Taman Anggrek Mall for around IDR 70k).

- Mini Sewing Kit

- Comfort Shoes
AnakJajan guarantee you will walk a lot in Japan, so be prepared and bring your most comfortable shoes.

– Extra Memory Card for you Camera
If you love to take picture, make sure you bring memory card with enough space. AnakJajan used up around 49GB total for both cameras :)
– Coin Purse
You will use a lot of coins in Japan, so it will be more convenient if you put it in coin purse.
– Umbrella
You can bring umbrella if according to the weather forecast it will be raining when you are there. Or you can easily buy this photogenic transparent umbrella at any 100 yen shop.

- Plug Adapter
Japan use Type A 2pins plug just like US, Canada and Mexico, so make sure you bring adapter.

- Moisturizer
Unlike humid weather in Indonesia, weather at Japan can be a bit dry so make sure bring your moisturizer and lip balm.

Finally final tips, if you are planning to go to Fujiko F. Fujio / Doraemon Museum, make sure you buy or reserve ticket as soon as you reach Japan, you can read detailed information about it on our Fujiko F. Fujio / Doraemon Museum review post.

We have fallen in love with Japan, everything was miraculously amazing and BEYOND our expectation. I guess we need to work harder so we can travel more because I super WANT to visit Japan again and again and again and again.

Using tour can be easy, but traveling alone also really fun because you can save your money and time by not doing things you don’t like, don’t you agree??

We do hope list of tips we shared can help you to plan your trip especially if you cannot speak Japanese and you never been to Japan, if you have any question or any additional & useful tips we really appreciate if you leave comment below so we can update our tips. Thank you for reading, let’s travel!! :)

PS: AnakJajan still have many things that we want to share with you about Japan, I will slowly update in on our blog, meanwhile you can see list of Japan Travel blogposts that have been published on our blog here -> Japan Travel Series.

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Disclaimer: All of the info in this post are purely based on everything we read, found, know and experienced from our trip last May 2014, it doesn’t mean that we’re 100% right or know the most :)