Ikea - Indonesia

Is it weird to blog about food from Ikea? I wasn't planning on writing this review because I thought reviewing Ikea would be like reviewing a random McDonald's. But, to be honest I've only been to two Ikeas in my life (Perth and Jakarta) and everytime I go, I'm always excited to eat there, even though the menu is mostly always the same. 

I went to Ikea in Jakarta for the first (and only time, so far) last week and of course eating at the restaurant was a mandatory part of the visit. My family and I ordered the meatballs and then we saw that they also served siomay. (If you're not familiar with siomay, it's similar to shiu-mai which you may order at dim sum or yum cha, but the Indonesian version.) But, we also noticed they did not have the peanut sauce to go with it, so we hesitated, but, curiousity got the better of us and we ordered a couple of pieces. 

Swedish meatballs with Mashed Potato (Rp. 50,000)

 The meatballs were standard. I have heard people complained that the meatballs were either overcooked and undercooked when they ate there, but, on our visit they were just right. Which just goes to show practice does make perfect. One minor complaint that I had was that we were not allowed to choose between mashed potatoes or fries, we were only allowed mashed potatoes. 

Siomay (Rp. 6,000 per piece)

Now, on to the siomay, so at first glance they looked bland and way too big. Also, as I said earlier, it did not come with the peanut sauce which is essential for siomay. But, as we cut into it, that's when the fun begins!

They have actually put the peanut sauce inside the siomay! I thought this was ingenious.

Overall, the siomay tasted decent, but, with room to improve. The meat to sauce ratio was not right as the siomay was too big and not enough peanut sauce, but dipping it into the tomato or chilli sauce (which is usually served with normal siomay) helped give it a flavour boost. I have heard that they also do a deep fried version of this, but the that the steamed tastes better as the fried ones were too dry.

So, well done Ikea on making creative furniture and innovative food as well!

To finish our visit, we also had their soft serve cones. At only Rp. 4,000 a piece, who could resist?

Soft serve cone (Rp. 4,000)

Ikea Indonesia:

Jl. Jalur Sutera Boulevard No. 45

Alam Sutera

Serpong, Tangerang

Ph.: 021 2985 3900

Website: http://www.ikea.com/id/in/ 

Disclaimer: Prices and store info was correct on 3rd March 2015. Prices are inclusive of taxes.