Have it my way: Maki-San's concept allows customers to fully customize their sushi. (JP/Dionnasius Aditya)

Asia’s first sushi restaurant chain with a DIY (do it yourself) concept, Maki-San, has opened its first store in Jakarta.

Starting out in the basement level of The Cathay in 2012, the Singaporean firm has now expanded to 20 outlets in the island nation, with its first overseas outlet in Osaka, Japan, opening in 2018.

Now, the sushi chain is gazing south, perhaps sensing the voracious appetite of Jakarta’s middle classes for sushi.

Maki-San opened its doors on Nov. 13 at the basement level of Plaza Indonesia shopping mall in partnership with Maspion Group.

Maki-San director and partner Alvin Wong said its expansion outside Singapore would be focused on Southeast Asia, as it would be easier in terms of location, as well as cultural understanding.

Maki-San offers customizable makizushi (rolled sushi) and salad dishes and claims 100 varieties of ingredients on its menu.

Just a dash: Aside from sushi, Maki-San's salad also allows DIY treatment. (Courtesy of Maki-San)

“We differentiate ourselves from other stores, which just basically say ‘this is Japanese sushi’. It’s very expected,” Wong says. “We did our research and we found it would be an interesting thing if you could choose different ingredients and roll them into a sushi.”

Diners choose their dish and ingredients from a computerized menu in the storefront, after which they will be directed to pay at the counter. The system is currently only available in English, but it is planned to include
Indonesian as an option, as well as other payment methods.

The menu’s user interface is relatively straightforward, but lines during the lunch hour rush are likely to arise when customers are faced with a large number of possible combinations, as happened during the press preview.

Fellow Maki-San partner and director Cydric Chung explained they are currently working on a mobile system to allow diners to order on their phones to ease congestion.

“We just need a little bit of time to do that, [...] we know we will get a bit of a bottleneck. That happened to us in Singapore as well, but that actually helped us because sometimes when people see a queue they get excited,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Full house: Maki-San's Indonesian menu includes a range of drinks and desserts that are not available in Singapore.

He said Maki-San also carried a line of house specials for the sushi and salad menu, which diners tend to go for when they cannot decide on what to get.

Prices start at Rp 22,000 (US$1.56) for drinks and Rp 39,000 for food, although diners can easily rack up a bill in the Rp 100,000 mark if they add in additional side dishes and options. The Post’s own order during the invited press preview ran up to Rp 179,000 after taxes for a large DIY sushi, a drink and a side dish.

An interesting addition for the Indonesian market is the inclusion of a wider variety of beverages and desserts.

Chung said the Singapore stores focused only on sushi and salad, while Indonesians will find a variety of drinks like iced coffee and tea to go along with their meals.

“In Singapore it’s quite fast-paced; we don’t have traffic issues so we just want to buy and go, or eat and go. Here, what we notice is people tend to spend more time at the same place, so we’ve added some coffee or tea so people can continue and enjoy,” he said.

The store ambience is also a reflection of the relatively relaxed style of Indonesian eating, with larger tables to fit in larger groups.

JP/Dionnasius Aditya

Local ingredients also make it to the list, which currently has rendang in the lineup. The dish, which originates from Padang, West Sumatra, is known for its deep and succulent flavor of beef simmered in thick coconut milk and rich spices.

Wong said the option would always be available, although in a period of six months the management will replace the least popular options with new ones.

Self-confessed sushi lover Bensfica Fedelia Audrey, who had the chance to try out the rendang option in a salad, said it tasted rather “funny” but was still an interesting experience.

“The variety of ingredients is quite attractive and it’s a good alternative to try out. For around Rp 150,000 for a meal, I think it’s worth the price since the portions are quite large,” she said, noting the rendang went well with the savory miso sauce and did not overpower the dish.

After trying the sushi, Audrey found the spiciness was also noticeable, to the point where she looked around to find the chili. 

Wong said that in Maki-San’s first few months in Singapore, customers were dazzled by the variety of ingredients, but now they are comparing orders. “Sometimes they’ll also joke and say that if you create a roll that you don’t like, it’s your own fault as you’re the chef.” (ste)