AW KITCHEN PLAZA INDONESIA

Went to have lunch at AW Kitchen’s new outlet at Plaza Indonesia, this popular pasta house is now expanding their business after their first outlet in Plaza Senayan became a hit in town. The ambiance of this particular outlet in Plaza Indonesia has this more youthful feel to it, and in a sense, a little more casual than the more family-ish and business-ish Plaza Senayan outlet. Their newest outlet is located precisely beside Kitchenette on the second level.

You can read my review of AW Kitchen Plaza Senayan here -> CLICK HERE, can’t believe they’re almost turning two it feels just like yesterday.

Brought here by Chef Akira Watanabe, AW Kitchen is a pasta house specializing in Italian cuisine with a twist of Japanese. Pasta might be their specialties, but for avid fan of Japanese food, rest assure they have quite various selections of Japanese cuisines that are absolutely fresh and made to order. Quick scan to the menu, I found that the PS outlet has more pizza menu comparing to this one where I think they're packing it up on the pasta and antipasti.

It was a big lunch with sis (when is it not a big one?) and together we shared some of their newest menus priced at IDR 800k for two, and they’re just launched recently. All of their menu here is curated by Chef Tanaka Hidekazu, appointed chef to lead the Indonesian outlet and judging from my first visit, well he cooks good food!

Before getting straight to the food let’s tour the restaurant a bit.

Complimentary Bread

Amuse Bouche – Espresso Soup of The Day
This was the Amuse Bouche of the day! Gobo soup served in espresso cup. Gobo is Japanese traditional root which has the ability to grow until more than 1 metre with 2 cm diameter, and if you know how to process it further, the extract can be a unique part of cooking ingredients, and AW Kitchen uses Gobo as the main ingredient for their soup. Just when you thought this would taste very “healthy” (and by the way Gobo does have good benefit for the health), this actually taste just like mushroom soup with a hint of "vegetable" flavor, only with a little difference at certain note, but mostly equally enjoyable and delicious.

Antipasto Freddo – Cappellini Genovese with Salmon

This was one of my favorite menus off the lunch! Cappellini (angel hair pasta) cooked and tossed in their homemade pesto sauce, topped with fresh salmon and generous salmon roe. The trick was to have everything together in a bite! The pesto sauce had a hint of infused lemon flavor to it, and it went really well with the fresh salmon and the naturally salty salmon roe. The cappellini was cooked perfectly without being too soft.

Antipasto Caldo – Crab Croquette

Their Crab Croquette was something enjoyable, it was crispy on the coating with generous well-seasoned crab meat, topped with a savory cream to sort of balanced it a little

Creamy Pasta – Tiger Prawn Tagliolini with Bottarga

In a sense, this dish was something not miss if you’re looking for a dish with a twist of green. The broccoli given to this dish was pretty generous, or you can even make it a vegetarian dish by taking off the tiger prawn if you fancy.

The seasoning of this dish was quite simple and light, but not in a bad way. I love the chewy and perfectly firm tagliolini making it its own main texture of the dish. The tiger prawn and Bottarga indeed gave an additional salty flavor to the dish. I assume that some portion of the seasoning and overall flavor might come naturally from the broth and the Bottarga.

Secondi Piatti – Grilled Wagyu Tenderloin

As displayed (and hopefully the pic did the judgement), the wagyu was cooked perfectly medium! They’re using good quality wagyu, again with basic and simple seasoning, paired with their signature house sauce that fits just well with the wagyu without overpowering the original wagyu meat flavor (that matters!).

Black Cod with Blackpepper Crush

I usually would prefer beef more than anything, but this cod was something special. It’s made and prepared so simple, again with light seasoning, but all that doesn’t matter when you have a very good cod standing gracefully to your service! The black cod was simply the bomb with smooth silky meat and crunchy skin, the serving came with smooth mashed potato and pan seared vegetable on the side. MUST ORDER!

Dolci – Dessert of the Day!

First of all, gotta love the presentation. The soft and chewy macaron was definitely made for purpose comparing to the crunchy ones we usually have, the cake was very soft and a little gooey (in a good way) with this interesting . I wasn’t crazy fond of the milky ice cream on the side, but it’s just me who can’t really stand something very milky and cheesy, but I had a good feeling some of you are gonna like it if you fancy something milkier than my standard. The crunchy biscuit placed on top of the ice cream gave that extra crunch #textureplay.