MOMOZEN - THE PLAZA, JAKARTA - Nice Food and Healthy

Just earlier today I visited the newly opened Momozen for a lunch date with some lovely people and it is another establishment from the Les Amis group and located at what previously the home of Shabu Gen (now located just across Momozen), venue wise not the most spacious but clean, neat with fancy vibe, the latter might be me carried away for the fact that it's located at the 46th floor, somehow the higher it is the more prestigious it feels, well at least for me.

Interior wise, I really don't think a lot has changed from Shabu Gen, even when you notice the table details, there are still electric inductive stoves installed on each, and honestly I give zero fuck about it because who cares if you look fancy but you can't keep up with what really matters: the food.

A small VIP room for 6 if you fancy a more private ambiance

Getting into fancy looking restaurants like this and you start contemplating on whether you're ready to be ripped off, but to be completely frank I was pretty stunned when I scan the menu and found out that the pricing was way below what I had in mind, average price range is around IDR 150k-ish which is clearly not bad. Momozen focuses in delivering modern Japanese fusion cuisine or should I say a Japanese-French combo and those below were some of the food that I tried to help you decide what to order here.

Corn Soup

The corn soup was a light and fresh kickstart, it was light, delicate, simple yet flavorful in the same time.

Truffle and Caviar Somen - IDR 95k

OH THIS! Definitely one that you must order from their "Cold" menu, simply because I love everything about this dish and I couldn't emphasize enough. Somen aka Japanese style angel hair tossed in truffle oil, twisted and presented beautifully with black truffle and caviar on top. The truffle oil was seriously generous on this one as even before landing on my table, I could even smell the lingering truffle aroma and basically a right amount of truffle perfume on my palate the moment I had it. MUST!

Yuba Frog Legs

If you fancy frog dishes then their Yuba Frog Legs is one that you should have on your order list, as I look as this, this was actually very simple, but it was really the fresh frog and how well they cook it that really stands out! The meat was very tender and actually satisfying enough for me to the point where I didn't pay attention to the dotted sauce as I was already pretty entertained by the savory and salty points of this one, the frying was nicely done and didn't turn out oily and greasy.

Uni Creamy Pasta - IDR 180k

As someone who is so into Uni this dish works really well for me! It's just 'really Uni' if you know what I mean, that creamy, and naturally buttery Uni flavor is rich on this one but still on the right amount that it didn't bloat me out (which is good), then the pasta also had crab meat then topped with four crispy dumpling with uni-prawn filling. The only thing that I would recommend is if they consider changing the pasta with Spaghettini instead of Spaghetti as I personally imagine it would be better (it's just my preference I guess), not to mention this pasta was actually pretty generous and looking even more due to the thick spaghetti, but anyway not the biggest problem it's just one's personal preference.

Baby Chic

This is one of their signature dishes that I heard one of the best selling menus here, whole slow roasted baby chicken stuffed with truffle butter rice, the picture above showed you the chicken right off the kitchen and the photo below is after they cut the chicken to pieces then topped it again with more grated black truffle (hashtag #fancy). The chicken was beautifully cooked with fresh tender meat (of course the thigh is my favorite part), the truffle butter rice was salty in the most delicious way and fragrant too, and couldn't complain on the generous grated black truffle I was so freaking spoiled damnit.

Truffle Donabe

Now to the menu that's worth highlighting for some reasons: generous black truffle, and more truffle! Japanese rice cooked in dashi and truffle for that savory goodness then more truffle oil dressing, photo below was when it's fresh from the cooking process, showcased then you kinda mix everything in but only stirring it twice otherwise the black truffle will be broken. This was amusingly VERY GOOD, it was super truffle aromatic which I guess for me the more the better, short to say major truffle duty here, just delectably good!

Such a great experience, definitely one of the most impressive lunch I've had in 2017. Food was good, didn't cost my arm, generally tasty and on point. I hope they can keep up with the performance, and oh aside from the food, I also like the service here, the waiters and waitresses are very attentive. Good luck Momozen and good job William Rusli and team!