Authentic Taste Never Die

by Felix Nathanael 

on November 26, 2025

Udon, Japanese noodle

As a food enthusiast, I believe that food will bring happiness for them who tasted it. Food is a universal language that able to create a unity and harmony. When we are not in the good form, sometimes food is the answer. Food brings their own identity to people. For example, when you want to eat something about fish, usually our mind connecting to Japanese food like sashimi or sushi directly. If we want some fast-food, our brain also directs us to American food such as burger, french-fries, and fried chicken. So that's why we need to proud about what we consume every day in our country, because it explains story with their own identity. 

Indonesia is a country that also lived by another countries' citizens. Some of them here perhaps because they have relatives here, some of them also have a business/working here, and maybe some of them just want to have vacation. Jakarta is a place that settled by quite many foreign citizens despite on its city's status as a capital city of Indonesia. So that's why we can find a lot of foreign restaurants in Jakarta. There are many fast-food restaurants in Jakarta, they have come here since 90s and some of them are really popular in society, such as KFC, McDonald's, Burger King, Carls Jr., Popeye Chicken, and many more. We are also able to find another foreign restaurant, such as Chinese, Indian, Arabian, Japanese, French, Italian, Korean, Brazilian, African, and Balkan. 

In Indonesia, and for me personally, Italian and Japanese culinary have strong branding in Indonesia. We have known a lot of food and familiar with them. For example, Indonesians really familiar about several Italian food such as pizza and pasta. Indonesians also love to eat Japanese food, as we can see together there are lots of Japanese restaurant more than Italian restaurant, such as sushi, sashimi, ramen, and udon. Both Japanese and Italian food have their own character each other, but they have their own market and innovation to survive in Indonesian culinary business.

In food and beverages industries, there is not a strange thing when they do the "taste-adjustment" to local people if they want to expand their market to another country. So, it concludes that most of the franchise food and beverage industry modify their original recipe for the people adaptation here which makes the taste of the food is not authentic anymore. The brand of the product also considers the potential annual they will earn when they try to serve food that acceptable by Indonesians' taste. So, in this time, let me share to you guys about my experiences to try authentic 2 Italian foods and 2 Japanese foods below.

Pizza and Pasta

Authentic Pizza I ate in Osteria Gia

I quite often to eat pizza anyway, and yeah, I love pizza. For me, pizza always bring happiness. When I was a kid and my parents brought pizza home, I always be happy for that. Pizza that I ate usually was the American-style pizza, with thicker and fluffy dough, and sometimes they put the pineapple too on the pizza. In 2023, I was invited to my friend's birthday dinner in Italian restaurant that located in Central Jakarta. When I entered the restaurant gate, there were lots of foreigners enjoying the meal of this restaurant. Then after she ordered the pizza, then I try, it just like "wow, it is much better from what I usually ate". I feel the thinner texture but crispier too, not too fluffy but still enjoyable for me. I also feel the smokiness of the authentic pizza. The authentic pizza for me is more enjoyable.

I also like to eat pasta. I also know several of them, but one of the famous here is spaghetti. There are 3 most popular ways to enjoy spaghetti here, there are bolognese, carbonara, and aglio-olio. The main differences between the authentic pasta with the 'local' pasta is in its saltiness. For me, the authentic pasta gives more tomato and garlic flavors, with less saltiness. Local pasta quite saltier, even I liked the saltier, but I respect the authenticity taste of pasta.

Ramen

Authentic Ramen

Japanese foods are hit almost all society's layer in Indonesia. We can easily find the home-made bento, teriyaki, and katsu with lower price. At the same time, many Japanese restaurants in Indonesia also apply the taste adjustment. One factor that the taste adjustment is needed because there are several Japanese food's ingredients are restricted for most of the Indonesian people, such as pork, lard, and cooking wine. 

I know quite many Japanese foods, such as rice bento, chicken katsu, ramen, udon, sushi, sashimi, curry, and gyoza. And I visited Japan in 2018 with my family to have a trip and exploring the taste of the real Japanese food. Overall, Japanese foods in Indonesia have the same issue with here's pasta, there is the saltiness issue. 

Let's start to share the differences about the ramen here compared to Japanese. For the soup itself, ramen in here is less savory, lighter, and little bit saltier. And for the component of course, the noodle is different, the egg and the protein component is different too. Japanese authentic ramen's soup tastes bold, less salty, quite savory, and little bit creamier. The Japanese ramen's noodle is more straight and soft and fluffy for me. Meanwhile for the components, Japanese version uses pork and onsen egg compared to the local version that uses beef and sometimes 'imperfect' onsen egg. The authentic one is still the best for the ramen.

So, as a closing, taste adjustment is a common thing that F&B's industry do. Besides they want to introduce their own food, their also have their dilemma about their sustainable annual so they need to adjust their taste to the local then they able to compete in Indonesian culinary market. But for me, if we know the taste of the original/authentic, we also will learn and embrace the different culture, different story, and different point of view about the food which are good for our knowledges. Because food basically is art and the authenticity is the artist.