Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Now Cooking - Hungry Hiro

There is this street in North Jakarta, inside a housing complex named Bukit Golf Mediterania, that slowly emerging as a culinary haven, mimicking Muara Karang, Kelapa Gading Boulevard, Kemang, Gajah Mada and the likes. Just in this month, I've seen at least five new foodplace opening and more to come. Hungry Hiro is one of them.

It grabs my attention with it's somewhat persuasive name and reminded me of my day-to-day meal when I was in Sydney, the ultimate go-to fastfood, Hungry Jacks.

Judging from the logo, brand, and design, I've carried a decent amount of expectation for this particular foodplace. Boasting themselves as the pro in Japanese don, I finally gave up being curious and give it a try last week. 

To my surprise Hungry Hiro was almost empty, and it was Sunday afternoon, a prime time for many of it neighboring foodplace. I started to feel a bit off, cause foodie in this area are very judgmental on new restaurant, you either make it or lose it. I uncover this hypothesis to be true in the next 15 minutes when the menu I ordered finally came.


Meet Beef Bulgogi Don, served in a plastic box. I repeat, plastic box. Yeah, you heard it right. I'm not against it, but it is such a turn off. Even fastfood like Yoshinoya use a proper solid glass bowl for the food.  That was the first minus point.

Second, the portion was a joke for someone who's still in puberty like me. In my cousin's words: "Hungry Hiro.. Right.., I'm still hungry after the meal. "

And third, the meal came out cold. I'm sorry, I just have zero tolerance for food not being served hot just as any meal should be. Don't you think so?

Trying to maintain my hopes up, I looked up on the other side of the plastic box. I got the Chicken Teriyaki Don.

Good thing the taste of these two were quite okay. Not in the 'special' category. Maybe more fitted into decent or average. But I personally like the saucing on the Teriyaki. It was the right amount of sweetness for my tastebud.

Right after I finished I still have the thought of coming back to try some other meal, but after learning the choices they have in their menu, this is probably the most interesting of them all. In other words, I have nothing more to expect from Hungry Hiro.

I really hoped that people who have the money and the opportunity to start up a new foodplace really take a serious effort into executing their concept. There's still a bunch of improvement that Hungry Hiro can do. Menu variety for one, ambiance for two, and a lot more.

Until then, I wish you well, Hiro. I really do.

Cheers (and I'm still hungry),

Fellexandro Ruby
Food Conversationalist & Photographer
Munch on my tweets @Wanderbites

7 comments:

  1. Haha, i kinda like this particular style of your writing. Funny and (probably) true without being oversatirical. However the food tastes, your photos are awesome.

    http://quirkitout.blogspot.com/

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  2. the anonymous needs good coffeeAugust 11, 2011 at 10:11 PM

    man...I applaud that you gave this chance the benefit of the doubt...though they let you down in the end...
    yup, I drove passed this place a few times & it always looks deserted. that gave me one good pointer : stay away from it....
    being a Pluiters we all learn that if a resto serves good food, no matter how shabby or unhygienic it is...(one good example: bakmi a*a*i), or how bad or slow the service.....the place would surely have customers coming in and out...and would prevailed the competition over the years....

    so, I guess we're back on devising plans on how to get kopi o opens one in Pluit.....
    I mean seriously, citos?????? aren't we here suffer enough already.....considering majority are medanese here, but no good coffee???

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  3. Couldn't agree more, their plastic box is a turn off. I called this place Yoshinoya wannabe but failed, they still have a lot to work on their donburi.

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  4. So many new places opening in that area. How can Hungry Hiro compete with such a pedestrian presentation and fare? I don't wish them ill, but we can probably guess what would happen to them a year from now.

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  5. @SOPJAGUNG: I hate to go there, but sadly I have to agree with you. Anw, a year? Shouldn't it be sooner? =p

    @THE ANONYMOUS NEEDS GOOD COFFEE: Blame my curiosity, and the huge "Only 10.000 Rup" banner =p HAHAHA. Anw, lay it out dude, im now supercurious with bakmi a*a*i, can't seem to figure it out. Help?

    @JENZCORNER: YOu couldn't be more right, Jen.

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  6. Hi guys, I'm the manager of Hungry Hiro. Sorry for your unpleasant experiences at our outlet.

    First of all, no more plastic box (food grade plastic container) for our dine in customers now, except for take outs.

    Secondly, the portion has been adjusted to suit our customers' big appetite :)

    Thirdly, no more cold food served. All our donburi is now made to order and steamy hot.

    Thanks a lot for all your comments, please come and see our improvements.

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  7. @DEWI: Now we're talking. =) Thanks to you and Hungry Hiro for being receptive for feedbacks. That's a major plus point. I surely look forward to coming back and have another taste of it.

    Keep up the goodwork ;)

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