Last weekend, on May 24th & 25th, Ennichisai was once again held in Little Tokyo, Blok M, Jakarta. Ennichisai has been one of the most anticipated events every year, not only for Japanese community in Jakarta, but also locals, who have particular interests on Japanese arts, cultures, and also culinary. Ennichisai itself has been held in Jakarta since 2010 and every year, the responses are very great, with average visitors around 200.000/event, and I expect it was higher this time. With different theme everytime, this year the theme is 飛躍 Hiyaku ~ It’s Time to Jump!, and seriously I could feel the atmosphere and enthusiasm of the visitors. The event was only held for 2 days, and I visited on the second day towards the closing, around afternoon to evening. It was massively crowded by people, but it was very fun!

 

 

 

There were so many stands, food or non food. Let’s talk about the food stands first. There were so many big names participating too, such as Yellow Fin, Tokio Bowl (same group), Sun Tiang, Hoka Hoka Bento, Sanpachi Ramen, Robata Jinya, etc. And the other food stands were mostly the ones selling takoyaki (probably the most popular Japanese snacks EVER), okonomiyaki, yakisoba, ramen. Few ones selling burgers, hot dogs, jumbo sausages, kakigori (Japanese shaved ice), obanyaki, onigiri, and there was even a stall selling ringo ame (candy apple)!! What a total FEAST, right?!
Takoyaki IDR 20K
This was from the takoyaki stand that I stumbled upon the first time, if I remember correctly the stall name was Goemon or something. I really didn’t find it amusing to see the making process, just because it just didn’t look right to me, but when they put beni shoga (pickled ginger) into the holes, I was feeling kinda hopeful that the taste would be great. The octopus also looked decent and fresh, and surprisingly in quite big size compared to the ones used in some takoyaki stands in malls. Honestly, I have love and hate relationship with takoyaki, as I can’t really eat super hot food right away, but takoyaki would lose its delicacy when eaten cold. So yeah, I have no choice in this matter. Turned out the takoyaki were very nice, soft and tasty. The sauce was decent although probably a bit too sour. Overall, they were very enjoyable and telling you, the real takoyaki uses the ginger so feel the difference! 😀

 

 

 

Yakisoba IDR 20K
This one was also from the same stall with above. The portion was quite a lot, and I actually loved this “yakisoba”. The noodle was nice and chewy enough, not being too soft or too hard. Love it!

Okonomiyaki IDR 20K
For an okonomiyaki with this price, I should have been happy. NOT! The “okonomiyaki” was not even an okonomiyaki, honest. It looked and tasted more like mixed flour and egg. This and the yakisoba were already made and boxed when I ordered, so they were pretty cold when eaten. The okonomiyaki was already a bit dry and hard. EPIC FAIL!

Walking around, we saw many people doing cosplays too, and I wondered how they could bear wearing all those costumes, wigs and bringing props like that? The event was held outdoor and although it was afternoon and the sun wasn’t shining so brightly, it was still pretty hot and humid. Some cosplayers even wore like 2-3 layers of costumes, heavy make-ups and very uncomfortable-looking wigs. Kudos to them, really. Beside cosplays, there were also many stands selling Japanese-related hobbies, anime, arts, bags, fashion stuffs and so on.

 

 

 

 

Okonomiyaki IDR 25K
This one came from another stand nearby named Tokuni. It attracted our eyes because of the way they cooked. From the process, it looked like Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki just like what Mr. K has been trying to introduce to people here. The okonomiyaki was made per layer, even using noodle. Moreover, I was quite surprised to see the amount of toppings they used, octopus, kani (crab), smoked beef, egg, that was wonderful! Although it wasn’t precisely Hiroshima okonomiyaki, but we all enjoyed this very much.

Jumbo Sausage IDR 15K
An outdoor festival is never complete without a sausage or hot dog, LOL! The sausage was pretty big and tasty, but mine was covered with a little too much sauce. Anyway, it was still enjoyable and didn’t regret I bought it!

 

 

 

 

 

The shooting game stand that was always crowded!

We managed to catch the Mikoshi Parade and it was very fun to watch!! It almost felt like I were in Japan and I totally loved the enthusiasm of the people and surroundings. It was magical that these cultures exist and people from different races and backgrounds gathered together and enjoyed the festival. *melancholic*

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing with the food, LOL!

Ice Cream Wafer Matcha IDR 12K
Almost can never miss this kind of snack, I tried the matcha one and wasn’t impressed. There was only little hint of matcha in the ice cream (which tasted like super frozen ice, BTW), the wafer had chocolate layer in it so the chocolate flavor kind of dominated the whole thing.

 

 

Brought back home 3 onigiris just because the guy was so cute with the onigiri head! XD

Kakigori IDR 25K
It was very refreshing to eat this ice during such a hot and humid condition like that. I just wished the ice was shaved finer, because this one looked more like slushed ice to me rather than shaved.

 

Taiyaki IDR 15K each
I was ecstatic when I found the stall selling this, but I had to be disappointed once again because these were not fresh and the red bean filling was dry and hard when eaten. The shape also wasn’t the best so I hardly had any good impression about this taiyaki.

 

Overall, a very enjoyable afternoon and it was worth the sweat! See you in next year Ennichisai in 2015!!!

 

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