Popolamama Indonesia, Sudirman Plaza, Jakarta

Have you ever heard about the Japanese Italian chain named Popolamama? Well, I certainly hadn’t. So when I got the invitation to try their very first outlet in Indonesia, they got me very curious and I immediately said yes.

First of all, Popolamama comes from Italian words: popolare and mama, which means that, in Italy, it’s believed that the best homemade cuisine are the ones made by mother. Don’t you all agree with this statement? 😉

Popolamama is opened for the first time in Japan, in 1995, and have gained so much popularities that up to date, there are currently 170 stores in Japan only. We might think why, but let me introduce about them a bit. Popolamama claims to be “The First Fresh Pasta & Napoli Pizza Chain”, while fresh pasta here means that rather than using dried or packaged pasta, they use fresh ones that are made from durum semollina wheat. The fresh pasta makes the texture more solid and chewy, also more nutritious than dried/packaged one. For the pizza, Napoli pizza has the characteristic of being thin in the middle and thicker in the edge, also are relatively medium size (diameter around 25-30 cm).

Are you excited enough after knowing more about the facts? Now don’t worry about having to go to Japan to experience these fresh pasta and Napoli pizza, because Popolamama is now opening in Indonesia! Brought by JC Comsa as the franchisee for Popolamama outside Japan, and the first outlet is already opening for public on the Ground Floor of Sudirman Plaza (or Indofood Tower, if you prefer so), and the second outlet is also opening in Mall Taman Anggrek followed by another one in Grand Indonesia soon.

The outlet in Sudirman Plaza is quite big with open kitchen concept so we can actually watch how the pizzas are made. The place has seating capacity of 75 person and there is no separated area for smoking. If you happen to work in the building, you will get 20% discount by showing your ID pass to the staff during payment.

SALADS & APPETIZERS

Popolamama Salad IDR 26K
This signature salad has the slices of Grana Padano cheese and served with Thousand Island dressing, made it simply irresistible. If you prefer Western salad, this one will do the trick.

Japanese Mushroom Salad IDR 30K
The salad is accompanied with 3 types of Japanese mushrooms like Eringi, Shiitake and Bunashimeji, then served with Japanese dressing (aka Wafu) and Kizami Nori. My favorite salad dressing is always Wafu because it’s light and refreshing. I enjoyed this salad very much!

Bolognese Potato Gratin IDR 30K
In the first glance, this looked like lasagna but it was actually potatoes and Bolognese sauce baked with cheddar and mozzarella cheese. The potatoes were very soft and cheesy that I almost thought it was a thicker layer of lasagna when I tried it. The Bolognese sauce was a bit too sweet for my liking, but overall, it was good, especially if you add some chili flakes on top. Yum!

Spicy Beef Krakauer IDR 45K
This was another favorite of mine, the sausage was thick and spicy, very bold in flavor. Accompanied with broccoli, potatoes and Neapolitan sauce, this dish was simple yet memorable.

PIZZAS

For the pizzas, I tried 3 kinds: Classic Pizza Margherita, Beef Pepperoni and Three Japanese Mushroom. The pizzas are not too big, probably around 28-30 cm in diameter, and have very distinctive shapes. The center parts are thinner than the outer parts, because as I was told, usually Napoli pizzas have at least 3 centimeters height difference between the outer and center part. The pizzas were very nice, with soft and chewy dough but you can actually feel the crust too. I loved all the pizzas served that night but if I have to choose, my favorite is Beef Pepperoni one, it was just SOOOO DELICIOUS!!

Classic Pizza Margherita IDR 50K

Beef Pepperoni IDR 60K

Three Japanese Mushrooms Pizza IDR 65K

PASTA

For the pasta, we tried 6 pasta menu and I must say I was totally impressed by the freshness of the pasta, not mentioning its chewy texture that I found so addictive! I mean, yes, I love pasta but usually I prefer to eat pasta dishes that I cook by myself. I have somehow mastered the technic of boiling pasta to make it chewy and just enough, not undercooked or overcooked. Since then, I usually consider pasta in restaurants can’t beat mine and I prefer to eat pasta at home. But now, I think I have found a place to eat better-than-mine pasta, LOL!

Because these are fresh pasta, we were told the way to eat this is to stir and mix everything together when the plates are served on our table. The reason is, the pasta will continue cooking on the plate and if you leave it for a while, there will be some parts which are overcooked so the whole dish will be ruined. Dang, then it is just not the potential material for food bloggers, right? LOL!

From the 6 menu that I tried, all of them really screamed Japanese pasta because the sauce were quite light. My personal favorite was the Wafu Soy Sauce Based Pasta with Smoked Beef, Spinach & Rucola, closely followed by Genovese (Pesto) Pasta Pepperoncino Basil with Potato and Chicken Sausage. The others were good too but didn’t leave much impression because the sauces were quite typical. I think the selections are quite a lot, so you can try basic pasta sauce, Japanese-based pasta sauce, cream & carbonara, and many others.

Classic Bolognese IDR 48K

Neapolitan with Chicken Sausage IDR 52K

Aglio Olio with Tuna IDR 48K

Wafu Soy Sauce Based Pasta with Smoked Beef, Spinach & Rucola IDR 50K

Cream Sauce Style with Smoked Beef, Spinach and Rucola IDR 50K

Genovese (Pesto) Pasta Pepperoncino Basil with Potato and Chicken Sausage IDR 55K

DRINKS

Tried 2 of the signature drinks, the mocktails that use Teisseire Fruit Syrup, which is directly shipped from France.

Cranberry Lychee IDR 30K
A fan of cranberry and lychee, this drink was a total hit for me. The drink tasted sweet with a little hint of sourness, very refreshing. There were some lychee fruits inside too that made it another treat until the end. Lovely drink to accompany my fabulous pizza and pasta dining experience.

Green Apple Kiwi IDR 32K
In the other hand, I am not really a fan of this particular drink. Normally I really enjoy green apple drink, the more sour, the better. This one was very sour and it was nice, but kiwi taste wasn’t prominent at all. I was expecting better collaboration between these 2 fruits but in the end, it was just like filtered green apple juice, with slightly different taste.

Iced Tea IDR 15K

DESSERTS
There is a nice promotion called Dessert Delight so in the afternoon, from 2.30 pm – 5.30 pm, if you buy any of the desserts, you can get a coffee/tea for only additional IDR 8K. Neat, isn’t it?

Banana Caramel Pizza IDR 55K
Yours truly is a avid fan of banana-related dishes (probably almost the same level of my fetish with durian, LOL!) so I was glad there is banana pizza as dessert! This pizza dough is really something because with sweet topping, the taste was as good as the one with savory toppings! Kudos to Popolamama to be able to present such a nice, chewy pizza bread.

Apple Cinnamon Pizza IDR 55K
Here is another favorite toppings for desserts, apple and cinnamon, seriously, what else can you ask? The apple were sliced very thinly and sprinkled with cinnamon powders, which BTW, were quite a lot so if you ask me, YES, I LOVE THIS!! The apple was red one so it had balancing sourness that matched very well with the sweetness of the whipped cream. These dessert pizzas were crazily delicious and I will definitely come back and order more!!

Apple Pie IDR 38K
The apple pie was very thick and there were so much things going on in that slice, like, seriously. This was one seriously-made apple pie and I could tell that it would be much more delicious when serving hot. Unfortunately, this came out quite early when we were in the middle of eating our pasta. So when we finally ate it, it wasn’t fresh from the oven (literally) and it was already kind of dry and hardened.

Hazelnut Dark Chocolate IDR 42K
As the compensation of the apple pie above, I have to say this was one of the best dark chocolate cake I have ever eaten so far! One spoon and I was finished. YUMMMMMYYY!! The chocolate was sooo rich and aromatic that I really smiled the moment I ate it. Nothing can really describe it in words, so I dare you to try it by yourselves and be amazed! XD

Cappuccino IDR 25K & Black Coffee IDR 17K
Another Popolamama’s trademark is that for the coffee, they use Carraro coffee that comes from Italy with composition of 90% Arabica and 10% Robusta. We tried the Black Coffee and instantly fell in love with it since the first sip. It was very aromatic and bitter in the same time, probably a bit stronger than Double Espresso. It was a very nice way to cool down after eating so much pasta and pizza, actually. And psstt, the Black Coffee is a great company to enjoy the chocolate cake!

Last but not least, I am so glad to know about this Popolamama chain and so happy to be part of the food tasting session. Enjoyed the food and the company, so excited to come back and try more of their specialties! Thank you for having us and…

WELCOME TO INDONESIA!