MIYAMA Japanese Restaurant, Hotel Borobudur, Jakarta

MIYAMA Japanese restaurant is the prestigious restaurant in the five-star Hotel Borobudur Jakarta, located just side by side with Bruschetta Italian restaurant on the 3rd floor. “Miyama” is acronym of “Umi” (sea) and “Yama” (mountain), featuring authentic Japanese dishes with ingredients such as fresh fish, meat, and vegetables: served as sushi and sashimi,  grilled dishes, steaming soups, and also desserts.

I remember I had only been there once, fell in love to everything about it (food, place, service, you name it), and this time I still had that “love” when I walked into the restaurant.

Miyama has this kind of amazing calming effect, which we will instantly feel when we go through the entrance door. Something about this place is so warm, elegant, and mysterious in the same time. If you see my rating board, I gave full rate (10 score) for the ambience because it is just great. The spacious area, the selection of furniture and interior style, the glass windows overlooking the green yard, the Zen-themed garden in the back, everything is just perfectly executed. And whoever takes care of the music playing throughout the restaurant area, he/she deserves a raise! Soothing Japanese-style instrumental music helps defining the elegance of Miyama to another level.

But again, photos speak thousand words, so let the photo tour begins!

Main entrance with wooden sliding door, pretty.

Bar is the first thing you’ll see when you walk in, neat!

Apparently, Miyama just got awarded as one of the Best Restaurants 2015 by Indonesia Tatler, congratulations!

The breath-taking, gorgeous view of the Zen-themed garden.

One of 4 private tatami rooms for more intimate and private dining occasions.

Helmed by experienced Chef Tomohiko Omori, Miyama has undeniably great selection of food, and the best thing is, almost all of them are homemade (including the noodle). The passionate Chef Omori makes sure that everything stays authentic and you’ll definitely notice the difference between Miyama’s dishes with typical Japanese dishes in some so-called Japanese restaurants in Jakarta.

Offering Japanese cuisine like sushi, sashimi, rice bowls, steak, teppanyaki, grilled and boiled dishes, as well as hot and cold noodle, the menu seems like heaven for Japanese food lovers. For the noodle though, Miyama only serves udon and soba – all homemade – there is no ramen because the Chef says serving ramen in a restaurant means they have to prepare their own broth, otherwise he refuses to do that.

Prices for the food range from IDR 38,000 to 1,708,000.

Yanagawa Wagyu IDR 388,000

Wagyu beef, burdock root and egg stewed in clay pot.

The first clay pot dish that I tried that day and I must say I was impressed since the first moment I set my eyes on it! The beef literally filled the clay pot together with the egg, such a pleasant view. Tasted the soup first, only to let myself totally sold right away. I noticed that the Wagyu beef was well-cooked but the final result was still very soft and tender, complete with melting fat part that made them looking so good. Taste wise, the broth was rich, absorbing well to the meat and egg.

Unagi Crunch Maki IDR 88,000

One of most recommended sushi rolls from Miyama, uses unagi (eel) and tempura crunch made into balls. Sadly to say, the unagi were very small and almost buried by the tempura crunch, leaving a not so impressive taste of unagi itself. The crunch was good and given generously, but the saying “less is more” is better applied here.

Rainbow Maki IDR 118,000

Salmon, tuna, avocado with sushi rice topped with mayonnaise.

A beautiful combination of colors, this actually tasted as good as it looks. Love the fresh ingredients including the fish slices and the avocado, but the mayonnaise was a little too runny and ruined the presentation a bit.

Jyu Jyu Rib Eye IDR 258,000

150 grams thin sliced rib eye beef grilled on the hot stone.

Miyama has several menu where the dishes are served on hot stone, both the block-shaped hot stone and the round stone put on top of hot pan. I only tried this one with round stones and the sliced meat were put on top of the sizzling hot stones along with some cooked vegetables.

First of all, the presentation was just typical Japanese dish, beautiful and elegant at the same time. The beef certainly looked so appetizing with the visible textures and glistening fat all over. What I couldn’t resist the most was the aroma from the grilled meat and seasoning which was added separately. It was just SOOO GOOD.

The beef was thinly sliced and grilled to perfection, giving it a nice (almost) crunchy texture that was unforgettable. The seasoning was perfectly savory with subtle hint of sweetness, enhancing the natural sweetness of the already-great beef. Needless to say, this is my favorite of the day!

Umi Teppanyaki IDR 318,000

Umi – or “sea” in Japanese language, indicating that this teppanyaki set contains various kind of seafood. Each set comes with 3 dipping sauces for the meat, seafood, and vegetables; also a choice of rice (regular or fried).

Again, the plating is very beautiful and emphasize the variety of colors from each ingredients. The seafood were very fresh and fragrant, not mentioning that they were very well-cooked and perfectly seasoned. It’s even safe to say that I didn’t need the dipping sauce anymore!

For teppanyaki, usually I opt for fried rice because they are cooked with the left-over oil from cooking the meat or seafood, resulting in an irresistible aromatic and tasty fried rice. This one wasn’t an exception! The rice was cooked very nicely until dry and not soggy at all, enhanced by egg, spring onions sprinkles and fried garlic. Heaven is one step closer from this. <33

Gonshoku Soba Teishoku IDR 118,000

This soba is served cold and accompanied with 5 types of toppings. There is nothing fancy about this dish compared to the others, but the simply beauty really attracted my curiosity. The soba noodle was firm and cut in perfectly consistent size – please acknowledge that the noodle is also homemade so it is pretty impressive, and had the right texture and hardness that resembles real soba in Japan.

Actually during my visit, I got to try Konabe (Hot Pot) Parade promotion which is happening throughout this month (March 2015), where Miyama offers Japanese hot pot dishes served in clay pots with prices ranging from IDR 148,000 to 388,000.

Curry Nabe IDR 388,000

Japanese soy curry soup with wagyu beef and vegetables.

The curry wasn’t thick but tasted quite strong and powerful, almost resembles Indian curry at some level. Wagyu beef was similarly nice with the other dish but the slices were a little thicker, in my opinion. This is truly a delightful dish and I don’t mind having this everyday. XD

FYI, mainly the dish above are a la carte menu, but you can always make them into set menu, and you’ll get a bowl of rice, appetizers like the picture below, miso soup, and assorted fruit for dessert.

Ice Cream IDR 48,000 – 58,000

Tried 3 flavors of their homemade ice creams, Matcha (IDR 48K), Ogura (IDR 58K) and the newest one, Black Sesame (IDR 58K). These are very good, perfect combination of flavors and milk, refreshing ice creams with distinctive flavors and perfect serving.

And because the Black Sesame one was very satisfying for me, it deserves a personal shot!

Hiyashi Shiratama Zenzai IDR 78,000

Cold rice flour dumplings with sweet red bean sauce.

As always, Japanese are very good in presentation and pleasing the eyes before we even start eating. This dessert comes in a big tall glass with assorted tropical fruit in the bottom, the red bean, red bean ice cream, surrounded by the mochi, then topped with whipped cream and artistically arranged strawberry before garnished with crafted watermelon slice.

The mochi is actually bland and tasteless, understandable because there are so many sweetness going on there in the glass, we need something to neutralize everything. I love the texture and how chewy the mochi is, but still managed to keep its consistency to be not too soft and sticky.

Those were what I tried this time at Miyama and from beginning to the end, I was always getting surprised by the quality of the dishes. Dining at Miyama gives me a different level of pleasure, especially because all the dishes spread umami goodness that is quite a rarity. The food are amazingly executed and well-presented, the place is undeniably beautiful, and the service is excellent. It was truly a five-star dining experience.

Come and try yourselves the beauty and delicacy of authentic Japanese cuisine in Miyama! 😉

*All prices are subject to 21% service charge & government tax

Visited on: 15th March 2015

*The Food Escape team are not paid whatsoever for writing this post.

Follow Us in:
TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | GOOGLE+

MIYAMA JAPANESE RESTAURANT
Hotel Borobudur Jakarta 3rd Floor
Jl. Lapangan Banteng Selatan
P.O. BOX 1329
Central Jakarta 10710
Phone. +62 21 380 5555, 383 5000
Opening Hours:
Opens Daily
Lunch: 11.30AM – 2.30PM
Dinner: 6.30PM – 10.30PM