Daechang 대창

We had dinner at Gahyo for farewell dinner of a colleague.  One of our manager suggested we tried daechang, which is grilled large intestines.  She said you can only eat it once a year... because of cholesterol! haha..

It tasted pretty good.  Texture is chewy but savoury.  I also liked it's clean taste, so will order this next time I had Korean BBQ.

Ramen Edition

Recently I bought Marutai instant ramen in the supermarket and absolutely love it.  It tasted great, as good as the one you ordered at ramen shops (or even better, IMHO).

So for the past few weeks I've been on Ramen frenzy, trying different varieties of Marutai ramen. I love each variety (and they are not that much different, anyway).

For comparison, here I include some of ramen I had at Menya Sakura and Taichan.  Can you guess which ones I cooked at home?

 

Pic 1

 Pic 2

Pic 3

 Pic 4

Pic 5

 Pic 6

Answer :

Pic 1 : Ramen from Menya Sakura (website)

Pic 2, 3 and 4 : Ramen from Marutai - cooked at home.  I used different toppings for varieties.

Pic 5 and 6 : Ramen from Taichan

Menya Sakura
Ciputra World Super Block 2Fl-02A
Jakarta

Taichan
Mid Plaza Building - Jl. Jend Sudirman
Jakarta

Taoge Goreng Khas Bogor [Repost]

Literal translation for "Taoge Goreng" is fried bean-sprout, even though they are not actually fried in this dish.  Taoge Goreng consist of rice cake, fried tofu, blanched bean-sprout and sauce made with fermented soybean.  Served with noodle cracker.
Yummy!!!

Nasi Jaha & Sambal Roa [Manado Cuisine]

Nasi Jaha is made from white rice and sticky rice, cooked inside bamboo.

Sambal Roa, made of hot chilis and Roa fish.

Sesto Senso

Today I had a late lunch at "Sesto Senso" (means Sixth Sense). It's a casual Italian restaurant runs by Japanese chef (check out their website).

I love all the dish we ordered, especially the pasta and beverage. Dunno if it's because of Japanese chef factor, but all the food were nicely presented and looked exactly like the photos on the menu.

 La Passion : Passion Fruit, Grenadine, Orange, Pineapple

 Antipasti : Affettati Misti (Prosciutto, Coppa, Italian Salami, Mortadella and Pickles)

 

Spaghettini Aglio Olio Peperoncino (Silver Fish, Young Corn and Garlic Oil)

Pizza Margherita

Sesto Senso
Ciputra World Super Block 1FL-01
Jakarta

Tokyo Banana

Ah, this one's a nostalgic treat for me.  I had my first Tokyo Banana almost a decade ago when my Japanese colleague came and brought this with him.  I absolutely loved this soft cake with banana cream filling. It's just like eating banana - shape and taste wise.

 

Nowadays Tokyo Banana has various filling flavours, like you can see from below :

Left - Original (banana cream filling); 

Middle - Cat pattern (caramel filling); 

Right - Giraffe pattern (banana caramel filling)

Each cakes is wrapped in individual plastic wrap.  The pattern ones has each animal printed on the packet. 

I once saw a Cheetah pattern on websites, but I couldn't find that one on my trip.

 

Shopping Tip :
It's not easy to find the pattern ones, so buy whenever you see them.  I bought the Cat & Giraffe at 2 different stores in Tokyo Station.  Don't expect to buy last minute at the airport, except the original which are available there.

Kit Kat

Another treats I brought home from Japan.  I bet you all know what these are... and only Japan has the most diverse Kit Kat flavours. 

Not all good, you know... some are weird ones (like Wasabi flavor), so I only bought what I know will taste good (Matcha is most favourite).  Although I did buy the Chili flav out of curiousity... thankfully it's very good.  You can feel the chili at the end of the bite, cutting the sweetness of chocolate.

From top left : blue (Rum Raisin); Pink (Sakura Matcha); Green (Uji Matcha); Yellow (Passion Fruit); Black (Dark Chocolate); Red (Chili Powder)