AW Kitchen by Akira Watanabe Jakarta

I have told you guys so many times how I am so amazed and overwhelmed by the number of new dining places opening in Jakarta, but truth be told, not a lot of them are actually 'great' or even close to 'good', the urge of needing a good place to dine is incredibly imperative and in a sense... stressful *sigh*, but I am beyond glad that there is this new restaurant opening in Plaza Senayan called AW Kitchen by Akira Watanabe. I have personally been waiting for this place to open and just couple of days ago, I had my dinner here, and to know the full story and how I feel about the food and beyond, just keep scrolling baby ;).

Located at what used to be Avorio, this Tokyo origin restaurant is serving the customers what I didn't expect on the first place! I thought it's going to be a Japanese restaurant but turned out, it was actually a Japanese-Italian restaurant serving mainly Italian food with Japanese twist, maybe I was too blown away by the name "Akira Watanabe" which indeed a Japanese name. The venue was medium-spaced and I love the simplicity and the warmness that this restaurant offered, it rang 'urban casual' to me, good lah don't need to feel so intimidated by a restaurant, everyone likes feeling welcome!

Before I start I was SUPER BLOWN AWAY by the humbleness of the service. I need to take this moment to thank the manager, server, the waiter/waitresses, they're really professional in what they're doing, they were really attentive, fast and know what they're doing and seemed like they know where they're working. I am very sensitive when it comes to service and I was so glad that the service in AW was beyond polite and impressive.

Was seated in the VIP room, the room was just clean, not exactly wide but still comfortable.

AW glasses spotted!

I didn't exactly know the name of this refreshing beverage is but it was something with Fraiche, or not, anyway I super love this drink! Fresh apple juice with kiwi, lime and strawberry muddled together, it was sweet with a little hint of sour and perfectly balanced without each element overpowering one another. Must try!

Black Angus Beef Tataki with Soy Truffle Sauce
IDR 85k
This dish was just the perfect opening, rare black angus beef on top of vegetables (watercress, carrot, cucumber) salad drizzled with soy truffle sauce. The truffle was generously given which made everything smelled and tasted better, you just can't have too much truffle my dear. Great seasoning, fresh ingredients, amazing opening!

Tuna Salad with Japanese Radish Sauce
IDR 65k
The ingredients were pretty much the same like the previous dish, only this one they're using Arugula (rocket leaves) which was my favorite kind of green veges and again, amazing seasoning, the tuna was cooked to perfection : still leaving the center to be rare. I freaking love this one!

Fried Fish Ball with Shrimp and Scallop
IDR 85k
Another favorite of the night, the fish balls were perfectly cooked, crispy on the outside and flavorful on the inside, the seasoning was just glorious. I was glad of the fact that this wasn't oily even though this was technically a fried dish. Nice!

Spaghettini in Garlic Oil with Spicy Cod Roe and Japanese Mushroom
IDR 138k
This particular dish happens to be one of their best sellers and for an Algio Olio lover like me, this was just perfect! The pasta was cooked Al-Dente (still a little firm) but this one, perfectly Al-Dente, so far it's probably one of the best, if not the best pasta consistency I've had! The cod roe and Japanese mushrooms were given pleasantly generous, there were few kinds of mushroom in this portion (Shitake, Enoki, Shimeji). The seasoning of this pasta was just beautiful, garlic oil dressing with nori flakes garnish. Highly recommended. Period!

Spaghettini Pescatore
IDR 148k
Another personal favorites (to be honest almost all of the food here I love!), the pasta was again cooked Al-Dente, only this one they're using fresh homemade tomato sauce and the portion was HUGE, it's share-able for two or three people and I was happy that they put generous amount of seafood like tiger shrimps, green mussels, squids, clams and also LOADS of Arugula leaves! The seafood was fresh (significantly the tiger shrimps), the homemade tomato sauce was light, I like thicker consistency to be honest but this ain't bad tho.

Risotto in Ikasumi Sauce (Squid Ink Sauce)
IDR 88k
Normally I hated cheese but this one, even though still cheesy they managed to 'force' me to eat it, it was too beautiful to be ignored and yes it was again, champ! The risotto was cooked perfectly and seasoned amazingly! The squid ink sauce was creamy, milky, rich and overall...FRESH! I highly recommend this one for you.

Black Angus Sirloin Beef
IDR 198k
Don't judge food by its cover, the meat looked so juicy and tempting but by the time I started to take the knife to slice it, uh oh I know the meat wasn't as juicy as how it looked, the meat was kind of dry, a-medium rare would do because that was certainly medium... However, I must gave it to the sauce! There were three sauces to accompany the beef: Porcini Sauce, Ginger Sauce and Wasabi Pepper Sauce. The Wasabi Pepper sauce was just brilliant, I am not a fan of Wasabi but they deliciously clever it up to something pleasant for my palate :).

Pannacotta and Berry Sauce
IDR 58k
Delicious looking and pretty presentation but this dessert needed MORE work, and I mean from the consistency of the pannacotta, it felt like they're confused around "Pudding" and "Molded Porridge", it was just too hard for a pannacotta and it was lack of that silky texture, but as in for the sauce, I quite liked it!

Chocolate Profiterole
IDR 68k
The profiterole was everyone's favorite of the night, the texture and consistency of the profiteroles was perfectly lovely, not too hard but not too soft either. I honestly didn't really know why they call it Chocolate Profiterole because the chocolate was actually just the sauce dressing on top, the custard cream was really delicious along with light consistency not too overpowering milk flavor and I adore how they managed to put in chunks of fruits to add more vibrance and play of flavor. I wanted to see their take on chocolate cream custard, that should be fun!

Banana and Strawberry Tiramisu
IDR 68k
My favorite dessert of the night has got to be this one, the profiteroles was really nice but it's kind of "been there done that" but this one, the first time I've tried and actually fell in love at! The tiramisu was wrapped in soft sponge cake (at first I thought it was ice cream but it was actually light tiramisu cream with rich flavor), and gotta love the banana one: so creamy, flavorful and yum!!! MUST TRY!

Nice to have a sweet ending!

The dinner was spectacular, some food might need work here and there but they were mostly very good. I started my dinner feeling happy and I closed the dinner feeling even happier and sweetly, thanks to the Tiramisu, apparently in certain cases (like this one), the appearance order sometimes works!

Will there be another visit? Yes, more like other visit(s)! I love the food, the ambiance, the music they're playing and the kindness and the humbleness of the staffs, to cut things short, almost ALL about AW Kitchen. This restaurant's highly recommended and I would love to see you guys getting entertained while having such joyful meals here. If you've been here before but having this mixed feeling of what I wrote on my review, feel free to drop your comments below even the meanest! Everything's well appreciated!

THANK YOU AW KITCHEN JAKARTA FOR THE NICE DINNER!

AW Kitchen by Akira Watanabe Pasta House

Plaza Senayan 4th fl. #CP409

Jl. Asia Afrika No. 9

Jakarta Selatan 10270

021 - 5790 6071

Opening Hours: 10 AM - 10 PM

Price Range: IDR 80k - IDR 250k

FIND ME HERE

FACEBOOK || TWITTER || INSTAGRAM || GOOGLE+

email: eatandtreatsindo@gmail.com

Map for Plaza Senayan