ROBA YAKITORI MALL TAMAN ANGGREK - JAKARTA

They say it’s better late than never ever and in this case, it’s me coming to Roba Yakitori. Hey, it’s not that I’m THAT late, it’s just a few months after it’s first opened for public – in my defense, I’ve been wandering around lately – but I finally made a little space for their beautiful yakitori! Oops that's a teaser already!

For those who don’t know, Roba is the sister (I odn’t know why people tend to use “sister” instead of “brother”) venture from the Pancious group and its first outlet in Mall Taman Anggrek is located exactly beside Pancious on the third floor. I came there during lunch time and the crowd was quite there (but I stayed just to wait for people to go so I could take pics). The interior was minimalistly design with earthy tone, wood color and material dominating the mood. To complete that "Japanese" feeling: what seemed like japanese paper lamps (but it wasn't exactly paper), bottles of sakes with red, white and gold labels decorating the top cabinet.

I also liked the live kitchen concept!

I love how casual and well-organized the display was, I found that very helpful and easy when it comes to choosing what I want, especially when there’s a queue line and people are probably waiting (or bitching about you if you take too long). All the raw ingredients and food were displayed neatly on the counter and all you’re gonna need was basically your pointing finger and mouth. Payment’s proceed at the end of the queue (basically canteen style), they'll give you number, and food will be served by server on your tables.

For the food, they serve a lot of kinds of yakitori, appetizers, inari, katsu, bento, sashimi and desserts with price range starting from IDR 12k-IDR 52k. I wanted to try their soft-serve matcha ice cream but unfortunately it wasn’t available on my visit.

Inari Spicy Salmon (IDR 26k), Inari Kani Mayo (IDR 22k)
They offer three different Inari toppings here: Kani Mayo, Wakame (IDR 20k) and Spicy Salmon. Knowing that I would go crazy with the eating and all, I tried the Kani Mayo & Spicy Salmon. The fillings were generous, creamy without overpowering my palate and altogether yum, love that little hint of sweet from the Inari and the spicy salmon wasn't crazy spicy, still pretty mild and I like how they keep it that way! 

Edamame and Chuka Wakame
Simple to say, easy light appetizer that worked everytime and theirs were fresh, especially the Chuka Wakame (seaweed salad).

For the teriyaki, those that I tried were:
Chicken Leg Teriyaki (IDR 15k), Shitake Teriyaki (IDR 18k), Beef Enoki Teriyaki (IDR 22k), Beef Tenderloin Teriyaki (IDR 30k), Salmon Head Teriyaki (IDR 50k), Chicken Breast Garlic Mirin (IDR 15k). They have four sauce choices (Teriyaki, Shio, Miso and Garlic Mirin) that you can choose depending on your preference. The Teriyaki was my personal favorite: you got sweet, savory and dayum, just perfect for meats! Shio is the salt based sauce, Miso is the Japanese soysauce (lighter consistency) and Garlic Mirin is this savory cream with a little hint of garlic, altogether delicious as well!

Salmon Head Yakitori

IDR 50k

Nicely cooked and generously seasoned. Silky smooth meat and fresh!

Left to right: Beef Enoki Teriyaki, Chicken Ball Teriyaki, Chicken Breast Garlic Mirin, Chicken Leg Miso and Beef Tenderloin Garlic Mirin.

Frankly speaking, found all five pretty good in terms of texture and flavoring, but personally, out of the five, my favs has got to be the Beef Enoki Teriyaki and the Beef Tenderloin with Garlic Mirin! It’s true that I am slightly biased when it comes to beef as it’s my favorite protein, but this came with worthy reasons: the beef was perfectly cooked and richly seasoned: tender, juicy dan here it goes again...DAYUM! I honestly liked their teriyaki sauce as it had that beautiful combination of sweet & savory and when it’s actually grilled, you’re getting this smoky aroma which made it even better! The miso sauce fit well on the chicken leg, I found that beautiful too!

Salmon Wasabi Butter

IDR 32k

This was highly recommended there so I decided to give it a try. I am not a big fan of wasabi but I found theirs blended quite nicely as it's in contact with my palate – assuming it’s high quality? – The salmon was cooked beautifully without anything feeling or smelling fishy, and lightly seasoned!

If you still think the big range seemed a little confusing to you, rest assure as they also have set meals that you can choose too! 

Yakitori Bento 2B

IDR 52k

The Yakitori Bento 2B consist of rice, chicken breast teriyaki, chicken leg miso, tamago and stir fried onion. In a nutshell, decent flavor play and combination: you get the savory from the chickens, slightly sweet tamago and the rice sort of balanced out everything. Not everyday that I found myself liking restaurant’s rice, but this one’s an exception.

Banana Katsu

IDR 15k

As for the dessert, just in case you don’t get the chance to try their Matcha soft serve, do order their Banana katsu. It’s actually a very simple dessert: deep fried battered banana (katsu style) and drizzled in caramel sauce (color's very light gotta pay more attention to notice). I love soft creamy banana (the very ripe one) and thank goodnees they used it for this dessert, as there's texture and contrast. That simple caramel sauce glaze also changed the game ;).

Affordable, yummy and appetizing, that’s how I would describe Roba Yakitori and I had a pleasant experience as well. Food wise, I had no complaint as they were tasty and fresh, service was fast, humble and pricing made sense. Yummy without intimidating or making you feeling ripped off, that’s probably why you should come here.

Will be back for their matcha soft-serve yes!

Roba Yakitori
Mall Taman Anggrek 3rd fl. (next to Pancious)
Jl. Letjen S. Parman Kav. 21
Jakarta Barat 11470
021 - 5365 0806
Opening Hours: 10 AM - 10 PM
Dresscode: none
Pricing: $$
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Map for Mall Taman Anggrek