Restaurant Review: KIN NO TAKI

Kin no Taki is one of our favorite restaurant. It's one of our "go-to" restaurant whenever we crave for Japanese food. This restaurant has various options on authentic Japanese dishes such as Ramen, Miso soup, Donburi, Okonomiyaki, Japanese grilled meats or Teppanyaki, etc.
In fact, their specialty is the Teppanyaki or japanese grill. You can do the grill yourself on your table, or if you're too lazy to do it yourself you can also ask them to grill it for you in their kitchen and have them delivered to you once it's done.
I love their Teppanyaki menu, aside from their "USDA Choice" meats they also have scallops and beef tongue slices which is amongst one of my favorites ;)

The variation on the menu is one of the reason why we love Kin no Taki, many of the dishes are unique and authentic japanese dishes. Me and K have been eating here since we are still dating. And it is still one of our fave Jap resto so far! We even get our families to eat here too.

Other reason why we love Kin no Taki? Their price is affordable ! 

And I also love the decor and ambience of the place.

I love the thick atmosphere of the Japanese style decor on every Kin no Taki restaurant, it kinda helps to spruce up the all around Japanese mood, and they always play Japanese songs too ;) 

TV on the wall playing Japanese video clips and songs

In every Kin no Taki restaurant that we've been to, there are always two different areas of seating. You can choose to sit in the common "table + seating" area OR in low tables with built-in hollow area underneath, in which you can sit and put your feet underneath the table and experience the japanese traditional way of eating. When you choose the low table seating area then you are required to take off your shoes and put them in the small lockers that are provided nearby.

In this pic you can see the common seating area with Teppanyaki grill on top of every table, and the low seating area at the back (see the dark brown lockers there on the right?).

Every time we enter the restaurant all the waiter and waitresses would greet us with a simple saying of "irasshaimase" which means "welcome" or "please come in". You would notice this greeting in most of Japanese restaurants in Jakarta.

My go-to menu from Kin no Taki is either something from the Tepannyaki menu or the Spicy Chicken Ramen ! If you love ramen, and you love some spicy stuff then go ahead and order the Spicy Chicken Ramen, slurpy good! ;) 

Kin no Taki has several branches around Jakarta, we went to Kin no Taki at Pondok Indah Mall 1 for dinner a few weeks ago and here are what we ordered:

 For Appetizer, 

I ordered Agedashi Tofu (IDR 15.000) 

 Agedashi Tofu is basically a deep fried silk tofu dish served with dashi-based (fish stock) sauce, topped with spring onions and some kind of red paste (special Kin no Taki sambal?). 

I have always love Agedashi Tofu ever since I first tried it 6 years ago. And I would usually order Agedashi Tofu in every Japanese restaurant I dined in ;p But not all restaurants have good Agedashi Tofu, and Kin no Taki is one of those Jap resto who nailed the Agedashi Tofu. Me likey a lot!

K ordered Chawan Mushi (IDR 21.000)

Chawan Mushi is one of hubby K's favorite (although the menu says that Chawan Mushi is a girl's favorite ;P). Since I'm not really a fan of mushy things so this one is never my favorite. Chawan Mushi is basically an egg-based dish, a steamed egg custard served in a cup. It is served with some slices of crab cakes and green celery on top. Hubby K loves this and almost always order this whenever we dine at Kin no Taki.

Then for the main dish,

 We both ordered Ishiyaki Chicken Bibimbap (IDR 39.000)

I was very hungry that day so I decided to order rice instead of my usual Spicy Chicken Ramen. Kin no Taki have many rice options but I was feeling insecure about my health so I decided to choose Ishiyaki Bibimba which is basically "rice with veggies". 

This dish is very similar with Korean Bi Bim Bap, it's a bowl of warm rice topped with egg and vegetables, and served in a hot stone bowl. We mixed them all up in the hot stone bowl just before we eat it (see above). Kin no Taki now has the options of chicken bibimbap or beef bibimbap, back then it was just only vegetable bibimbap. It's a healthy dish but be careful, this is one VERY HOT dish. Wait for a few minutes before you start eating it ;p

and we also ordered Spicy Cuttle Fish (IDR 38.500)

This is from the Teppanyaki menu, we had it grilled on their kitchen so we don't have to grill it ourselves. I usually don't really like squids or cuttlefish because of their gooey texture but this Spicy Cuttle Fish is finger lickin good! We both loved it and would order it again the next time we dine in.

And Tori Momo (IDR 31.000)

Tori Momo is also from their Teppanyaki menu which we also ordered to be grilled in their kitchen. Tori Momo is basically just a grilled chicken thighs. It comes with a small plate of sauce and slices of carrots and yams. And just like we expected, these grilled chicken thigh were yummo! No wonder they specialize in Teppanyaki food, they really nailed it :)

And as for the drinks, 
I ordered Ice Macha (IDR 20.500) and K ordered Nihon Cha (IDR 16.500)

Ice Macha is Iced Green Tea, and Nihon Cha is Hot Japanese Tea. The Nihon Cha is Refillable for that price. The Ice Macha comes in a rather tall glass so if you're not a thirsty drinker or simply don't drink much (like me) then a glass would suffice, no need to refill. But the Hot Cha comes in smaller glass so you might need some refills and all you have to do is just ring the bell in your table and the waitress will come to your attention.

Total spend:

We use a coupon of "buy 1 get 1" so we only pay for one Ishiyaki Bibimba.
The total damage  are IDR 182.000 (before tax) and that was for two persons and five menus plus two drinks !

We prefer and would suggest Kin no Taki in Pondok Indah Mall 1 and Kin no Taki Plaza Semanggi. 
We tried Kin no Taki at Jl. Tanjung Karang - Thamrin, Jakarta Pusat but we personally think that it doesn't taste as good. I don't know why.. maybe different chef?? And the service there is not quite as good too, the food takes too long, and the waitresses are not as responsive either. But these are just our opinions ;p

Kin no Taki
Pondok Indah Mall 1 - 1st floor #140 

Jl. Metro Pondok Indah Blok 3 B, Jakarta Selatan