HANAGUNI Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in Jakarta

Went here for dinner and ordered their set menu and bento box. I'm not gonna be too harsh here since the staff are very friendly, helpfull and polite. Food quality ? not bad but with this kind of price tag I expect more. The thing here is the food isn't bad at all but in my opinion this is not an authentic japanese cuisine. First mistake: Chicken teriyaki, you don't ever ever thicken teriyaki sauce with a maizena flour (it's a japanese cuisine not a chinese cuisine) you thicken the sauce by reducing it. Second mistake: the teriyaki sauce is way too sweet because either they put too much sugar or the they don't put enough japanese soy sauce in it and the amount of the sauce that they put is also too much. Third mistake: rule of thumb when you make a shrimp tempura is you must use a fresh prawn, the texture of the prawn that I ate isn't firm indicating it is not fresh. Fourth mistake: authentic japanese food doesn't use MSG for umami flavour, it relies on katsuoboshi and dashi as flavour enhancher. Fifth and final mistake the grilled sanma fish that I ate it is not fresh a and judging by the texture it's been frozen for a sometime. I don't know the common pratice in real japanese restaurant but I bet they won't serve frozen fish, thaw it, grilled it and serve it to japanese customer. I only give a 3 star rating because the reasons that i mentioned above, in general the restaurant atmosphere and interior is very good too bad they don't serve an authentic japanese food. PS: For a benchmark in kelapa gading area, if the owner or manager of this restaurant manage to read my long comment here please try to visit "Sushi Apa" or "Nagomi" restaurant they serve real and authentic japanese...

We ordered bento set with Salmon Teriyaki, california roll salmon mentai, soft shell crab hand roll, salmon sashimi and ocha for the drink. I will dwelve into the dishes one by one.

Bento Set Salmon Teriyaki The set was generous considering how much they gave for one person portion. All of their appetizers were a good starter. My favorite dish was the noodle. Also their karage was fried to perfection nothing too much. Then comes the main dish which is Salmon Teriyaki. The sauce was not too sweet. It reminds me of authentic japanese restaurant I visited in the US.

California Roll Salmon Mentai All the ingredients blend so well in my mouth. The portion was also big enough for a person which justified the price tag.

Soft Shell Crab I took this away home coz I cannot finish since the other portion was a lot! The rice, sauce was nice and I can feel the soft shell was kept fresh. Definitely one of the best soft shell crab dish I ever had.

4.Salmon Sashimi WOW. Fresh and Thick. I am a salmon sashimi lover and have tasted sashimi around the world and this is one of the best. I will come back for the sashimi alone😋

Ocha The ocha taste different than any other sushi place in Indonesia. It does not smell weird but rather more like corn tea which I like. It is sad that it is not refillable but maybe they want to keep the quality of this drink. It’s understandable.

bonus: they gave me free ice cream which was not too sweet. Just perfect for my liking.

Overall, Hanaguni definitely deserves a five star for a Japanese restaurant. The authenticity, freshness, and not forget to mention friendly staffs were the highlight of my visit. I will come back for other...

Okay so I visited this restaurant with zero expectations as I was literally too hungry to think about where to get dinner. Upon reading one of the top reviews, I was bracing for some surprises. So here goes.

Honestly, I think the food is great. Shio Salmon head tasted great, chicken karaage set is also great. I forgot what I ordered for sushi rolls but I truly enjoyed it.

The only “problem” I have is just too negligible I cannot even really say it is a problem, but here goes. The menu is a bit too intimidating for those with limited knowledge of Japanese food. But I appreciate that they also have a supplementary menu with some pictures in it. It helps especially for newcomers and those who always pick their food based on which one is the most visually appealing.

So all around I had a great time here. Honestly, I almost fell for that one specific lengthy review. But note to myself: never ever trust a person who gave PappaRich 5 star reviews (in my 7 years living in Malaysia, the worst Malaysian food I’ve ever tasted is from PappaRich).

Next time, I’ll be sure to order Otoro, since I believe that the true mark of a good Japanese restaurant is only if they can nail the Otoro. Until then, keep up the good work folks...