Aromasop Seafood — Restaurant in Jakarta

Aroma Sop Seafood is well known as one of the best seafood joint around Muara Karang area. With nearby traditional market and some dining points in viscinity, most people would need quite some time to find this golden. With just few meters away from Toyota Auto2000 Muara Karang branch, the place utilizes small space and terribly humble ambiance. So keep in mind that this restaurant might not be very comfortable, felt stifled on the inside, the outside seating might seem to be a better idea despite the beggars.

One thing I appreciate is that customers would be able to pick their seafood; fish, squid, crab, you name it. You cam even pick some fish fresh and alive from the aquarium display, so you're paying the weight of the seafood of your choice.

Most of their dishes were great! I can't even tell which one failed me, so that would be a good start to tell. Fried squid, grilled prawn, all was tasty. But this time of visit, let me tell you about the dishes that me and a friend ordered, those were Ikan Tim Nyonya and Cumi Bakar.

Ikan Tim Nyonya is a steamed grouper fish that cooked in thick yellow soup. The soup itself was thick, thicker than similar type I found from different restaurants, and it consisted of few herbs and spices to season and remove the smell of the steamed fish. I noticed cayenne, bayleaf, turmeric, lemongrass, and probably lime leaves in it with cayenne being a dominant note here. This type of dish is somewhat tricky; often i found the fish to be overcooked that it easily frayed, other times there's some kind of notable soil smell on the fish. But I reall impressed with their take on this kind of dish, no fishy soilish smell, cayenne made a nice fresh aroma and flavor onto the herbs packed soup, not to mention that the soup was thick enough that it being some kind of light sauce for the steamed fish.

Other dish that we ordered was grilled squid, the squid was nice. It was deemed as a staple menu for most people besides fried squid. It was tasted good, but more on the 'okay' area instead of 'so good' territory. Served with a chunk of lime, I like to drench my seafood with lime to get rid of fishy smell and enhance the taste. But I guess some improvement could be made to the grilled squid, either on the seasoning, cooking technique, or even on the freshness and quality of the goods.

I also need to point out that they have 4 types of chilli sauce, so you can pich the chili sauce you desire. A great thing if you happen to be an avid spicy food enthusiast.

So apparently there's a reason on why Aroma Sop Seafood restaurant has its own fame and popularity, and it was ths great tasting dishes they carry albeit their considerably shabby outlet appearance. So definitely this one is on my list when it comes to great seafood...

One of my favorite seafood restaurant. Their services are fast, even though it's kind of hard to ask for something as the employees are always busy, but you can just try to take it by yourself. I ordered a few menu Kepiting Asap smells good as it's covered with banana leaves? tasted a little bit sweet but I still like it Kepiting Betina Saus Padang It's a little bit spicy if you compare it with other seafood restaurant, but for me it's not that spicy. The kick are not that strong, but for taste, perfect. Total kepiting: 550k Kerang Kampak Cabe Ijo (85k/ portion) We didn't get this at first as they ran out of kerang kampak, but after 5 minutes, when we want to get additional menu, we saw a loaded kerang kampak, and ordered it. They say their favorite is steam bawang putih, but mine is this. Cumi Bakar (100k/ portion) You have to order this when you came, it might look like bakar kecap but there's more in this. Udang Rebus (115k/ 400gr) It's live seafood, and we choose to boiled it. So I don't think we need more explanation for this:) It tasted just like what it looked like, sweet, fresh, and plumpy. Ikan Kakap Putih (163k) If you buy more than 1 kg/fish, you're allowed to cook itu in 2 different ways. So we got the fish head in Steam Nyonya, and for the tail we grill it. Not sure if it's the fish or the sauce, but it's really good😌 The grilled fish are not tough at all, it's so soft, so tender, and the sauce a little bit different with the squid one. You must try steam nyonya as well, the sauce really make you addicted. It tasted a little bit sweet, and sour, really fresh💗

Overall this place didn't change, it tasted even better for me. For the price for me is normal and worth it, the crabs are bigger than the one in the picture, the fish also very big, and thick, the clam's meat are so plumpy and big. Maybe just need more employees as they have tables everywhere. Also one funny thing, the employees doesn't know the price, only the cashier know it. So yeah maybe tell the employees the price, or just put the price tag.

New update: Food still tasted the same, the difference is just their service. I think they need more...

DISCLAIMER: This is a very bias view.

The place is very crowded and clean as well, Udang Goreng telur asin (Fried Shrimp with Salted Egg) is also super delicious to the point that I feel like there are no other place can serve it better. Other seafood dish is delicious and very very fresh as well, because the restaurant managed to keep them alive until before its cooked and also a pity as well for the fish? Looking from the taste view, it's amazing, top notch, the quality is par to that famous seafood restaurant in Ancol as well, but at this place, you can get it the half price there.

But the thing is, tonight it doesn't went well for me. The experience of dining there is horrible. Since the time I am seated till the food comes it took one hour, but I noticed as well that other tables doesn't took that long, so probably, chances are, it's only my table. So it kinda ruin the whole thing, especially in the middle of waiting, one ignorant and ill-mannered woman grab our seat when my group was already seat there for like half an hour, and that particular guest yell at us, even create a chaos over that seat that don't even belong to her at the first place, in the end she was removed by the owner and replaced at the other seat, but truthfully, can you still enjoy eating after being yelled at for nothing your mistake?

This is a hidden gem really, I have no complain over the food, the server gave decent friendly smile which is fine for me since the place was super crowded and I feel their stress as well. The price is okay for the food too, but the thing is, some glitch, some bad personal experience definitely affect me for not going back there and I am very sorry for this truly biased review that is also a...