Take a quick jaunt off Jakarta to the little piece of Japan. Taste the authentic Ramen, a Japanese Noodle, in a small but compelling Ramen House called Ramen 38 Sanpachi.The place which located in The second floor of Kamome, a Japanese Supermarket in Melawai, is secretly famous among Jakartans, especially South Jakartans who love Ramen at its best. The best thing about this place isn't only the food, but also the services and the place which apparently quite secluded.
For the services, everytime you order a dish, you'll get some complementaries such as free flow ice water and a konyaku jelly for the dessert. While for the place, this is totally like a mini Japan in town since, first, the size remind me of the traditional Ramen Joint in Japan. Next, the decorations are so authentic with Kanji printed red flag hanging in the front door just like what i witnessed in Tokyo Love Story, a Japanese hit tv series in the 90's. And the guest, most of them are Japanese.
Well for that fact, i want to share my personal tip. If you want to know whether a native restaurant serves an authentic food or not, you can tell from the guest. If a Japanese Restaurant is packed with the Japanese, then the taste is authentic. Because as an Indonesian, when i'm abroad, i'll only visit the Indonesian Restaurant which has the food taste enclose to the real deal. How can i eat an Indonesian food that taste like an Indian's, for example. So i believe that this thing also happen to everypeople in the world. They'll look up for the taste like home. hehe.
For the price, they're ranging from IDR 15.000 to IDR 48.000 for the food, and the drink is around IDR 5.000- IDR 20.000. But watch out for the service tax, because they charge 10% for it, with the addition of Governmental Tax, the total tax is 20 %. It'll quite blow your bill.. But believe me, with the big portion and the best flavor, it's all worth it!!
And if im not succesfully persuade you with how authentic this place is, when you're there, make sure you check the menu carefully, because you'll find some English spelling error. I bet you've heard that Japanese are famous for the amateurish english translation. Need proof, check this pic below.
notice the blunder?
(check how the spell "dessert")
my miso ramenmy dessert
(i forgot the name, but it's the same stuff that appeared in Memoars of a Geisha)