One of the best Japanese restaurants I’ve ever visited so far is undoubtedly, Sushi Masa,which I managed to visit just very recently.

The name itself was not new to me. At the beginning of this year, I’d heard about the name and raving reviews about it. Even though with lots of good reviews, this restaurant doesn’t dive into the popular mainstream group. I think partly because of the location, which is quite far from the usual hang out places. Another thing is probably because of the price. I personally don’t consider it cheap or affordable.

But before jumping to any conclusion, let’s hear my whole experience.

As what I’ve mentioned earlier, Sushi Masa is certainly located in a remote area. Well, not exactly THAT remote too though, but the area itself is not a common place to find food. In fact, perhaps it is the only restaurant in that area. When we decided to have a visit last Sunday, we called first to make sure that it was open for us. Yes, it was open and the operational hours start at 12 PM. It was 11 something, so we’re okay with that. The waitress did also kindly inform us to make a reservation first, and we did (gladly).

After almost an hour drive from Kelapa Gading, we eventually found the place, of course with the help of the mighty Google Maps. We agreed when people said that it was strangely located in that area, but somehow, we thought that it was a brilliant idea too. It was a bit far from the busy streets and  it is located in the port area. When it comes to sushi, my thought tend to think of the sea breeze and smell. In this area, all we can smell is the saltiness of the sea breeze. It felt kinda good, but some might find it fishy too.

The building itself is a grey building (as shown in the picture), with more or less, considered as striking exterior. Sushi Masa is located on the third floor, while on the first floor, it is where they sell everything about frozen sea creatures. 😀 You can find salmon, cod, tuna and everything nice here with slightly more affordable prices. The second floor, however, was empty. It’s a good idea to open another restaurant, I guess.

To get to Sushi Masa, all you need is taking the lift. But since the lift is pretty small, we decided to take the stairs. It’s easy. After arriving on the third floor, we were a bit surprised to see Sushi Masa. It occupies the whole third floor and the whole ambiance is somehow very Japanese. Upon entering, we saw quite many patrons were waiting to be seated. Gladly, we had made reservation and we didn’t need to wait. We had the seats by the sushi bar and the waitress politely gave us the menu. I then ordered some menus that I’d planned to try. (I’d done my homework with Uncle Google, so I know what to order :D).

Here is the entrance of Sushi Masa if you take the stairs to get there.

This is the view.

And this is the crowd! It was 12 PM and it was only the start of the opening time!

The fun thing of sitting by the bar is that we can always watch the chefs doing their stuff, sort of like watching behind-the-scene-featurette, minus the buffering. 😀 It was interesting to watch them cut the salmon, rolling up sushi, preparing dishes and etc.

# Sashimi

Salmon (IDR 12 k/pc) – Aburi (IDR 12 k/pc) – Maguro (IDR 15 k/pc)

Our sashimi came right up first. We were thrilled to have these sashimi since some foodies claimed it as the best. I went first with the salmon. I took a piece and ate it without any dipping. Guess what? It was heavenly good! Yes, the salmon was awesomely fresh it melted in my mouth. It tasted good even without the soy sauce and wasabi. I then have the second piece of the salmon with my usual dipping (soy sauce and wasabi), and put into my mouth again. Just, oh my.

Moving on next, I tried the maguro or better known as tuna. It was freshly red, slightly chill and when eaten, it did melt too in my mouth. It was very good and I loved the texture of this tuna.

Aburi is the torched salmon, and the aburi here was amazing. The top side was torched perfectly, resulting in a smoky hint of flavour and soft almost buttery texture at the torched side. I loved the smoky burnt smell and it was unforgettably good.

# Teka Maki (IDR 45 k)

Next, we went to have the simple dish, Teka Maki or simply, a tuna roll. This sushi indeed looks very ordinary. But it was unexpectedly good. Don’t be deceived by that plain appearance, as the secret lies in the rice quality. The rice was cooked perfectly, seasoned very appropriately and the amount of acidity was very light, but present. Simply good.

# California Makimono (IDR 45 k)

This is definitely the best California Roll I’ve ever had, to date! It was very delicious, in contrast to the commonly found boring California Roll. The ingredients are the same, and it even looks the same, but it tasted very good. The rice itself was very good, and it wasn’t rolled tightly, causing the california roll to crumble inside my mouth, blasting with more fresh flavours from each of the ingredients (fresh kyuri, buttery avocado, crab stick, creamy mayo and the bursting tobiko).

# Yaki Moriawase I – sanma, salmon miso, black cod, kobachi, tempura, salad, soup and steamed rice.

Then coming off next, the rice set. It is a complete rice set which promises you with plenty of oh and ah sort of goodness.

First, the miso soup. It smelt very good when I opened the lid of the bowl. It was served hot and the flavour of the soup was pretty light, but filled with flavour complexity.

Kobachi. I honestly had and still have no idea about what this is. I forgot to ask, but to sum this up, it is some sort of tuna which is steamed or cooked with soy sauce and ginger. The flavour? It was mostly salty-ish with a hint of spiciness coming from the ginger. Did I like it? Yes, but not that much though.

Tempura. Like any other tempura, I should admit that these Japanese battered and fried stuff was only an okay. It didn’t really impress me, since it was nothing special. In fact, this is the weakest link in this set menu.

 

Sanma. Grilled perfectly, the sanma was amazingly good. It had this smoky touch and the skin was very fragilely crispy. The sanma meat itself was somehow still very tender, with a bit of juice coming up every each bite. The dominant taste was salty, and because of that, it was very good to be eaten with the rice. I really loved this, like seriously!

Salmon Miso. It’s amazingly good, and this glazed salmon was magnificently delicious. The texture was solid but tender, the skin was also crispy-ish, and the miso glazed was awesome! It was kinda savoury but with that sweet end, which literally left me begging for more.

Black Cod. Bloody black cod! I’d lost words and don’t know how to say this. But again, the deceiving boring look just killed me during my lunch! It was good, absolutely delicious, with soft buttery flesh and very light soy flavour, and somehow, it was addictive! Amongst the other two, this was the underdog with less flavours, but my, it was equally good (if not better!) with the other two. I don’t know how to elaborate anymore, please try this by your self!

Here is the whole set! A big satisfying price-deserving set of happiness. A definite must-try!

You probably frown after reading about my review, but let me tell you, Sushi Masa did really have me gone head over heels! I seriously fell in love with the sushi, sashimi and rice set here, and I’d be willing to go the distance and come back whenever I crave for sushi and sashimi. It surely climbed to the first spot in my list of best Japanese restaurants in Jakarta.

Price-wise, it might be a bit steep. Not a bit actually, but undoubtedly steep (if not for you, it is steep for me). But, it is well worth it. The two of us still had to pay almost IDR 400 k for our lunch as elaborated above, and please note that those choices of dishes had been carefully thought by me in advance. 😉 If I hadn’t had calculated the whole, I might have gone uncontrollably mad and ordered many things and at the end, I could really imagine the amount of check I would have had to pay. Gladly, I behaved myself. 😀

Well, enough explanation. I really think you should give Sushi Masa a try if you’re a die-hard fan of Japanese cuisine. Make time for it, and most likely, you will not regret it.

SUSHI MASA | JAKARTA
Jalan Tuna Raya No 5, Grey Building Lantai 3
Muara Baru Ujung, Jakarta Utara, DKI Jakarta 14440, Indonesia
Phone: +6221-29263561