Know What It's Like to Crave for a Good Ramen, Badly?

Have you ever had a food craving so bad, you just got to appease that constantly haunting desire to eat a specific type of food as soon as possible, lest you'll just go mad?

What a sinful kind of craving.... *sigh

I recently did, well, apparently I 'caught' the craving from my friend Tere (IG: @heytheresia) who has been craving for some lip-smacking, rich ramen with all the glorious sinful toppings! We were discussing about which ramen to try out and decided to try this one that was recently open in Baywalk shopping mall, Yamagoya Ramen. Since both of us live so far apart and are each busy as hell on weekdays, then we scheduled a lunch date on a Sunday 11 AM. Who would eat rich ramen that early? guess what, us two greedy girls did. LOL

Yamagoya Ramen currently already has several branches in Asia, including The Philippines, and Jakarta. It is no longer a new name in Jakarta, because previously, it was located in one of Jakarta's office buildings, but it was closed down due to the floods. I did hear about Yamagoya back then, at the beginning of the ramen craze in Jakarta, but somehow never managed to try out the famous tonkotsu broth ramen until it has finally moved to this newer and swankier location, overlooking the bay of pluit.

Nice location, overlooking the clear Pluit bay

Since I and Tere live so far apart and are each busy as hell on weekdays, then we scheduled a lunch date on a Sunday 11 AM. Who would eat rich ramen that early? guess what, us two greedy girls did. LOL! The ramens available at Yamagoya are the signature tonkotsu broth, shoyu broth, with different toppings combinations, such as wanton, tamago, kimchi, chili, etc. On top of the signature ramens, we ordered a few side dishes as well as pork gyoza (we never go Halal whenever possible LOL).

Pork Gyoza juicy pot stickers, best eaten while it's hot and the skin is still crispy. I really enjoyed the gyoza served here, better that at other places.

Pork gyoza IDR 29,000

Yamagoya Ramen - signature tonkotsu broth with default set of toppings (bamboo shoots, spring onion, tamago, nori and 2 slices of chashu). My first impression: it tasted good, but nothing super special...the broth is rich and not too salty, tamago was quite nicely done, and the chashu was good. Quality and taste wise, all are well executed, but I'm not sure how it is any different than the broth I had at other ramen joints.

Yamagoya Ramen IDR 58,000 | additional Tamago IDR 9,000

Kimchi IDR 12,000

Black Garlic Ramen - I'm not sure why it's called black, but the broth does look black, but not pitch black like squid ink. Upon closer look, the broth is made of small black particles, which I have no idea what it might be...charcoal maybe? It does not matter though, because what matters is how the black broth is different from the original one. I expected the difference to be quite significant, but it turns out to be quite subtle, that it took me several tries to really notice it...or was it just my numb taste buds? Anyhoo, Tere was pretty impressed by the black garlic broth. If you love spicy food, ask for the spicy tobanjan paste, on its own, it is quite a devil, but when mixed in the broth, it's much more tolerable.

Black Garlic Ramen IDR 55,000

Spicy Tobanjan - I will update the price soon!

Finally, our ramen craving was satisfied! I guess one of the plus about Yamagoya is that its price is not as pricey at other ramen restaurants in other shopping malls. If you can get the same quality and taste for less, it's a pretty good deal right?

*) Prices are subject to Government Tax & Service Charge

Yamagoya Ramen

Baywalk Mall, 2nd floor

Jl. Pluit Karang Ayu

Pluit - North Jakarta

Ph: +6221 29839063

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