TOBAK KOREAN RESTAURANT – Jakarta

Cukumi Sam Gyeop Sal IDR 460k (2 portion)

Out of many cuisines out there, Korean cuisine has a special place in our tummies, we just love the taste of Korean food, that explains why we always have happy tummies whenever we visit South Korea (Check following link for Korea Food Guide anakjajan.com/2016/01/07/korea-food-guide-what-to-eat-in-seoul/ ). In Jakarta there are several tasty gems that serve legit Korean Food such as Seorak Chuoetang Bumbu Satu or Cheongdam Garden in Senopati, recently AnakJajan visited one of the well established restaurant in Wolter Monginsidi called TOBAK.

Kim Chi Jeon Gol IDR 320k + Ramnyun IDR 35k

Korean food is best for sharing since the portion is always huge, it fun to gather with several friends and share some dishes. Out of many Korean restaurants in town, Tobak has been around for quite some time but we haven’t get a chance to try it, that’s why we immediately suggested it to our friends during our meet up.

The restaurant has just a simple humble decor, one thing that instantly caught our eyes was their generous servings of banchan, there are so many types of side dishes provided for free such as kimchi, stir fried potato, fish cake, Korean pancake or pajeon, stir fried spinach, spicy crispy salted fish, etc. Eating warm rice all the banchan together are already satisfying.

Bo Ssam IDR 280k
Bo ssam is usually made of pork belly boiled and thinly sliced and served with lettuce wrap. The bo ssam in Tobak is served with lettuce, Chinese cabbage, and spicy radish salad. The meat itself has just the right thickness, it was tender and nicely done without any unpleasant smell.

Jap Chae IDR 200k
The stir fried glass noodle was nicely cooked, great texture with nice balanced seasoning, only we wish the portion can be bigger.

Kim Chi Jeon Gol IDR 320k + Ramnyun IDR 35k
Since it was raining in the afternoon, we opted for Kimchi tofu stew or Kimchi Jeon Gol to warm the bodies up with additional instant noodle but the taste was a bit let down. It was spicy but the kimchi was way too fermented with an overpowering sour taste. We love the sour taste from old kimchi but this one was just too much to be enjoyable.

Cukumi Sam Gyeop Sal IDR 460k (2 portion)
Here it is our favorite dish during the visit. Cukumi or baby octopus with thin slices of pork belly and vegetables cooked in spicy seasoning on hot stone pan. Both baby octopus and pork belly were tender and savory with subtle hint of sweet taste. The spicy taste was very stimulating it kept us wanting for more.