IPPUDO Grand Menu Launch

November reminds me of Thanksgiving and the Grand Menu at IPPUDO, which is available starting November 2, is something to be thankful of.

IPPUDO, the well-known ramen restaurant from Japan, opened its door to Indonesian customers through its Pacific Place store a year ago. Since then, it hasn't stopped feeding its customers with surprises. The Grand menu is basically a compilation of the on-demand dishes from the previous menu. Remember the chef's special which stopped by IPPUDO's menu a while ago? Those were the qualification rounds.

This is Ruth, reporting the IPPUDO Grand Menu revelation.

So what's in the menu? We attended the sneak peek of what's on the list and here's what made it to the list of popular menu.

Teriyaki Chicken Salad

Teriyaki Chicken Salad (59k). Sweet and spicy for the health conscious, this green appetizer mix wasabi and teriyaki, two of the well-known Japanese delicacies. The dish is great for a fresh start while still leaving spaces for the ramen.

Tsukune Balls

Tsukune Balls (48k). IPPUDO Regional Operations Consultant, Takashi Mikami, described the dish as chicken potato balls, hard on the outside but soft on the inside. Infusing a hint of Japanese culture with the soft chicken bone inside each balls. It comes with pasteurized raw egg on the side, to be used as a sauce or a dip. Some might prefer without the egg, so give the original sweet taste a chance and find out which one do you like best. We can't decide but ended up dipping the balls into the raw egg.

Chicken Teba Gyoza

Teba Gyoza (48k) gives chicken wings an upgrade. "I observed Indonesians love chicken wings very much," Mikami said. "For this dish, we removed the bones and filled the wings with our special stuffing." This special stuffing include Indonesians' favorite chili, cabe rawit. Appeared in small cuts for extra spice. "For Japanese, Spicy is spicy but for Indonesians spicy means very spicy," explains Mikami. Teba Gyoza is popular in Malaysia as well.

Rainbow Ebi Tempura Roll

Rainbow Ebi Tempura Roll (70k) is sushi with bright colored tobiko toppings: black, red and green. The green one is created with wasabi. Crunchy shrimp tempura is wrapped with colorful fish roe.

Sake Mentai Rice

Sake Mentai Rice (49k) is described as rice topped with grilled minced salmon and cod fish roe, we would prefer to call this dish "a perfect main course" instead of appetizers simply because its taste and size is right for women who don't want to eat to much but still want to be full. It's delicious beyond belief, and despite the sticky rice and mayonnaise mix they're using, this dish isn't overwhelming.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt (48k). If you prefer sour than sweet, just because the ramen makes you full, this dessert is perfect. Fresh homemade strawberry yogurt served in transparent glass arrived at the end of our meal. Somehow there are still space for it. 

Matcha Creme Brûlée

Matcha Creme Brûlée (48k). What's Japanese dessert without matcha, right? This one is quite a surprise. Rich creamy custard topped with a contrasting layer of hard caramel and green tea. The green tea balances the sweet creme brûlée so we're sure you can finish this one too, especially if you're a green tea fan.

Following their chicken ramen launch earlier this year, the dishes served that night were all halal, adding more choices to the non-pork selection. Answering Indonesian customers' demand, the restaurant takes halal food concept seriously, separating the chopsticks and bowl used for halal food with the ones used for the pork ramens. Several chopsticks exchange happened when the ramen are served and those with pork ramen received a new pair. 

Takashi Mikami showing off the takeaway pack for ramen

Another good news for the night is the revelation of the take away menu. After months of putting together a way to pack their ramen and other dishes without compromising the taste and quality, finally IPPUDO is ready to serve takeout. Not seeing your favorite dish on the take away menu yet, don't worry, according to Amanda Sihombing, IPPUDO Indonesia Marketing Manager, they're still working on more dishes because each dish is unique and require specific package for take out.

So, let's be patient and wait for the Grand Menu.

Where is this?
Pacific Place 5th Fl. #5.37
Jl. Jend. Sudirman kav 52-53 (SCBD), Jakarta 12190
Tel: 021-57973339
www.ippudo.co.id

IPPUDO’s Summer Chef Special

Introducing the new set of Ramen Buddies from IPPUDO: Salmon & Chips, Spider Roll and Chashu Minced Katsu. The dishes that are inspired by the sunny summer time. All arrived in time to cheer up your summer.

Hi, this is Ruth. Lunchgetaway is glad to be the first to taste the new menu from IPPUDO, a ramen restaurant which opened its door to Indonesian customers at Pacific Place last year. After introducing their Chicken Ramen a while ago, the famous chain returns with fascinating non-ramen (side)dishes.

“Although it’s called Ramen Buddies, many order them as a sharing plate,” explained Amanda Sihombing, Marketing Manager IPPUDO Indonesia. Well, looking at its amount, it’s indeed a sharing portion. The problem is, with a taste like that, I wouldn’t want to share.

Deep fried battered Salmon

sweet and sour potato wedges and tartar sauce

Salmon & Chips is the Japanese twist of the well-known classic fish and chips. Deep fried battered Salmon is served alongside sweet and sour potato wedges and tartar sauce. While the salmon is generous, the sweet and sour sauce splashed over the fried potato is a pleasant surprise. Spider Roll, the soft-sheel crab maki sushi rolled into rice and nori with cucumber, lettuce and spicy mayonnaise, is served on a bed of spiderweb made of sauce. Too pretty to eat.

Spider Roll

But the champion has to be the Chashu Minced Katsu. Interesting Japanese Croquette (otherwise called Korokke) is a deep-fried meatballs of beef and pork meat, mixed with potato and different spices. Dipped into special brown sauce. The meatballs are a perfect balance between crunchy and tenderness because they melted in your mouth once you have that first bite. They do taste great even when consumed without the sauce.

Chashu Minced Katsu comes in four

A closer look at Chashu Minced Katsu

The Ramen Buddies are changing every 3 months and the most popular one will have the chance to compete on the final round, for a prestigious spot on the regular menu during the annual grand menu changing. Make sure your favorite wins by ordering it every time you’re at IPPUDO.

IPPUDO, a restaurant founded in 1985 by Ramen King Shigemi Kawahara, serves mainly pork ramen around the world. Shiromaru (ultra-thin noodles in tonkatsu broth) is for those who loves the original Hakata-style ramen flavor while Akamaru (thin noodle in tonkatsu broth, miso paste and garlic oil) wins the heart of spicy fans. Another popular dish is Karakamen which comes with curly noodle, spicy miso and ground pork. The minced pork should be caught in the noodle as it’s pulled our and eaten with chopsticks. Playing on the safe side, I ordered Shiromaru and found tasty soup hiding soft noodle and pork loin inside. In IPPUDO, you can choose how you want your noodle to be cooked: from hard to soft. 

Akamaru Shinaji

Shiromaru Motoaji

The question remains: when will IPPUDO expand its shop? “IPPUDO is using fresh ingredients. It means we’re using local ingredients which can match up the international quality standard set by the chain. We’re looking for the right place to open our next restaurant but it’s likely still going to be in around Jakarta area,” explained Amanda. Well, since IPPUDO doesn’t do take outs (it’s their policy, which dismissed our secret plan to stock up the Chasu minced Katsu for afternoon snack once it’s available for the market on July 20, 2015), we’re definitely looking forward to more restaurants.

Where is this?
Pacific Place 5th Fl. #5.37
Jl. Jend. Sudirman kav 52-53 (SCBD), Jakarta 12190
Tel: 021-57973339
www.ippudo.co.id