Bernie's Diner, Moss Vale

There's a lovely story behind Bernie's Diner, one that isn't immediately obvious as you scarf down burgers and fries in this 1950s themed American diner. Bernie's Diner pops up out of nowhere, in the small town of Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands, population 7,792. It's cute and gloriously kitsch with black-and-white chequerboard tiles on the floor, gleaming chrome stools at the counter and

PUBLIK MARKETTE GRAND INDONESIA - JAKARTA

Slowly but sure, I feel like everyone - if not every foodies - is excited about new places and I am talking about the restaurants only, the art of new places opening or even the moment when you wait until it opens is always exciting (at least for me) and that's exactly how I deal with this one, another new comer, another Ismaya's creative venture, Publik Markette located inside the growing Central department store, Grand Indonesia just across NOMZ and near UNION DELI.

Just to let you know, I just had lunch here and here I am typing the blog post while I was waiting for my meeting, Initially wanted to work in Kempi Deli, but it's so sad knowing that Kempi Deli is now closing (I asked the security there), I don't know if it's temporary or permanent, but all the cakes and pastries purchase are now transferred to Sweet Boutique, Kempinski's recently launched signature bakery. BRING BACK MY GODDAMN KEMPI DELI! One of the coziest spot to work on my stuff, petite and comfy ah! *wipe tears*.

The soul of this restaurant reminded me of Kitchenette in a glance, not sure if it's because of the hanging cabinets or the color palette, but there's something Kitchenette about it, of course in a good way. I love the atmosphere of Kitchenette, I think Ismaya is the champ when it comes to the concept, even though sometimes the food turned out just OK. The ambiance of Publik Markette on the day was quite homey and comfortable with a little touch of industrial but looking nowhere near cheap. I love sitting on that little pot just near the window, aside from the photography reason, the sunlight kicked in beautifully and I found that "my own heartwarming reason". I also love how they managed to use a lot of greens inside giving the refreshing feeling to the ambiance.

It's not yet opened for public, I was one of their guest on the soft opening days. It will open for public this Thursday!

The concept of the order was as simple as the canteen method, you just need to take the number on your table (mine was #62 and photo below) and you made your way from the start point (left) to the end part where they displayed the juices (right), at the end, you only need to pay for the purchase and they will bring your order to your table so no need to wait!

The food was dominated with Western cuisine and they will be rolled daily to keep the guests entertained with the options, but everyday you're going to find proteins like chicken, beef, pork and fish. I had myself "Crispy Pork Belly" (IDR 155k) that came with roasted corns and green salads, "Baked Bolognaise Pipe Pasta" (IDR 55k) and for the drink, I ordered their "Tropical Sunrise" juice which is the mix of pineapple, cucumber, lemon, and honey.

Everything was displayed beautifully it's almost you want a piece of every freaking thing. They look so chunky and good damn it!

The Tropical Sunrise Juice (IDR 35k) was dominated with sour flavor with proper amount of sweetness and very refreshing. I like it better served with cubes!

TO REMEMBER: Publik Markette also offer another option for lunch and late lunch and it's the Ala Carte menus available everyday from 3-5 PM. They have two opening hours at the moment: the lunch time starts from 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM, then continued with the Ala Carte hours and finalized with the dinner from 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM. You better note this my friend.

The number that I talked about, you need to bring this when you're ordering the food.

Crispy Pork Belly
IDR 155k
Two big chunks of Pork Belly that came with two roasted corns, green salad and homemade sauce (guessing it was Wasabi and sorry if I am wrong but I kinda sensed something spicy and sour). I was quite stunned at how big the portion was because it looks more like a sharing portion! The pork belly was indeed crispy on the skin layer and the meat was very juicy and tender and it's marinated and seasoned beautifully, light without overlapping the meat's flavor. The roasted corns were beautiful as well, properly cooked and seasoned! Sort of proud of this dish! I was not disappointed at all and had no complaint for this, except the homemade sauce which I was not very fond about, I just didn't like the flavor.

Baked Bolognaise Pipe Pasta
IDR 55k
Flavor wise, this was beautiful! The pasta was cooked al-dente and you can clearly note that and the seasoning of the Bolognaise has got to be the bomb of this dish! It was that meaty-savory flavor, I normally don't like pasta with tomato sauce base because it could go sour, watery and just not how I like it, but it's thick and stick on the pasta. Love! For some reasons, I think it's quite expensive for IDR 55k considering this looks more like a side-dish presentation, if they can make it prettier looking then that IDR 55k would seem worth it.

Strawberry and Banana Cobbler
IDR 30k
I was quite fond of this dessert for a few reasons: the fact that it's not too sweet, the fact that they're generous in giving the fruit cuts and the fact that the texture of the "pie" was gooey, chewey and has this crusty biscuit like texture and fragrance. I think you should order this.

Pleasant time and good food were what I got for lunch, this actually changed my perception of Ismaya a little bit. Face it, Ismaya restaurant is never really bad, they always have the urge to grow and that's what I see from Skye (which btw the food turns good comparing to the first time I came) and this one! Keep up the good performance and good quality and soon you'll be getting loyal customers coming here ;).

BEST OF LUCK!

Publik Markette
Central Department Store East Mall - G Fl. (Across Nomz and below Social House)
Jl. M.H. Thamrin No. 1
Jakarta Pusat 10310
Opening Hours:
Lunch Time: 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM
Ala Carte Hours: 3 PM - 5 PM
Dinner: 6 PM - 9:30 PM
Pricing: $$
Dresscode: sporty casual
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Map for Grand Indonesia

HOW I EDIT MY PICTURES USING AFTERLIGHT: TUTORIAL + FREE PRESET!

Finally another tutorial post! It's always exciting to write about this kind of entry and frankly, it's a bit more different and less boring. If I've been disturbing you with my restaurant review posts then hopefully this post could refresh the sense!

I don't know why but it always feels so good to be able to share things with other people and in my case, at least the least that I can do is share some tips, tricks and tutorials around the photography topic. Some of my friends actually asked me if I really want to do this because I could easily spread my best kept secrets to everyone and they could end up be better than me, but to be the most frank, that's the least that worry me! I don't really give a damn because that's the fact, there are SO MANY talents out there who take photos, edit the photos and do things better than me, at least I do something good to others by sharing some valuable things, and I wish them all the best of luck.

Just like when people share their signature recipes to others, I think someone who really master something wouldn't have to worry about this because a same recipe could taste different, simply for the magic of each other's hands and sense. Even though there's still a probability that one could do better, but remember this, at least you're doing something good and in return you're getting something more beautiful!

The opening sounds so dramatic and religious wtf, not how the ambiance of this post that I intended, but anyway, in this tutorial, I am going to show and actually give you the tutorial and FREE PRESET for everyone on the photo editing using Afterlight. Lately I've been obsessed with Afterlight because I found Afterlight has some features that VSCOCam or SnapSeed are lacking of (these three are my most used, but lately been using SnapSeed less and less).

I would say Afterlight is the more advanced version of SnapSeed because it has some of the "more detailed" setting like the shadow, highlight and some other basic enhancement. I love how I can manually set the strength of the shadow and highlight value to add up or reduce certain hue or color that I want or don't want. But honestly, filter wise, it's not coming very close to VSCOCam quality, VSCOCam still has the best muthafuckin filters (those film inspired tones FTW!)

One thing that really tops it all from Afterlight and I wish VSCOCam would have it in their setting soon is the "Fusion" feature, short to say, it's like the Photoshop action where you can create your own settings and then save it as your "action" so that the next time you want to edit your photo with the same tone and setting, it's just a tap away!

This time I am going to share mine called "Lana", it had this grey-ish faded look just how I like it. FYI I want to let you know that creating a preset that could really fit each and every photo is sort of hard, and I've been practicing for so long with computers to learn about colors, shadows, highlights and all and indeed experience is the best teacher! I love spending hours in front of the laptop creating my own Photoshop tones and go crazy with it. I normally would apply it in photos with different ambiance and if this particular tone happens to fit each photos and create a lovely balance then I would keep it, if not then it's time to make another one. I learn that the grey-ish undertone fit most of the condition (most importantly on my food shots!) and could create this moody feel to your photo and that's why I've been loving this kind of tone and happily sharing it to you right now.

So let's just cut it and so straight to the steps!!!

PICK A PHOTO AND READY FOR THE FUSION!
The first step would be choosing any kind of photo you want to start with and before you proceed with the setting, GO TO THE FUSION MENU FIRST AND TAP ON THE (+) OPTION! Until you see this notification.

THE "RUSS" FILTER

I literally clicked all the Afterlight filters and my favorite has got to be "Russ" filter. It's neutral and faded and in certain condition, I would just leave it to the "Russ" filter and export the photo, but in some cases this filter is a little too faded, bright and lack of contrast and it's tiring to do the manual adjustment all the time so I am really thankful for this feature (Afterlight you rock!). Pick the "Russ" filter from the "Guest" option and leave it at "100"

CONTRAST & FADE

Since I found the "Russ" filter's lacking of contrast, I decided to add the contrast value to "30", but after that I decided to add another "30" on the fade to really give a nice balance, the fade softens out the harsh parts (like harsh shadows) on your photo.

SHADOWS AND HIGHLIGHT ADJUSTMENTS
I don't really give large values for both of the settings because I want to keep the tone on a nice balance, meaning not too "warm" or "cool". That's why I try to set the highlight setting more towards the blue undertone while the shadow is where I added the warmth. In case you don't read my VSCO turotial, let me explain you a little bit about shadow and highlight setting in the very simple way: shadow is the black or dark area in your photo and highlight is the white or bright area in your photo.

My adjustments for the shadow is:
Red: +10
Blue: +5
Green: +5

Highlights:
Red: -5
Blue: -10
Green: -5

BRIGHTNESS AND SHARPENING
The reason why I chose to edit the brightness towards the end is because I want to see just how far the editing has been and if the photo actually needs extra brightness, but I guess a little wouldn't hurt. Set the brightness to just "5" and the sharpness to "10" because I like that extra crispiness. Consider this a topping.

TEMPERATURE AND VIGNETTE
Even after the highlight setting, I found that it's still a little warm for me so I tone down the "warmth" using the temperature setting and set the value to "-10", the thing with the temperature value, the lower the value the cooler or bluer the tone will be and the opposite would give this yellow undertone.

GRAIN

The grain setting is actually optional, but I just like my photo to have this grainy touch, but if you don't feel like one, you can just skip to "FINISH".

RESULT:

And congratulations! Some of you just created your first preset using Afterlight! A good preset with faded subtle grey-ish tone, good balance, no rainbow or color errors and I really do hope you'll like it!

Photos edited using the "Lana". I left the level at "100" to show you the effect.

I love that it fits beautifully on the food photos <3.

It works beautifully at dark (black) background!

Even works decently on photos with a lot of colors...

an Iphone shot of my current project, I must say that this filter's made for iPhone shots, just like VSCO, I learn that their filters actually works better for iPhone snaps, I don't know... it's just different.

A beautiful snap from Linda Lomelino's blog edited using my "Lana" tone. Her shots are ALWAYS perfect my oh my!

There you have it! A quick tutorial of my recent favorite filter that I created myself using Afterlight! I hope you're now inspired to create your tones and get crazy with all the setting, trust me if you're fond of this kind of stuff, it would be fun!

Last but not least, I hope you're liking this tone. All that I need is not much, if you plan to edit your pictures using this filter and upload it on your Instagram or any other socmeds, tag me @eatandtreats or use the hashtag #thelanatone for me to see the pics, and if I happen to like your shots, I'll feature them on the blog <3.

THANK YOU FOR READING!

My VSCOCam tutorial -> HERE

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Top 10 Sydney Cheap Eats for Tourists

It's easy to be distracted by the spectacle of the Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the golden sands of Bondi Beach, but we all know that the lifeblood of any city is in its food.

But how do you eat the best of Sydney on a whirlwind schedule?

I first compiled this resource in 2009, but a lot can happen in six years in the restaurant world. I've reworked this listing to include

THE BETTER TRANSITIONS

All these times I’ve been struggling with the eye cylinder that I’ve been suffering. Initially I didn’t have any eye problem and not until the middle of last year that I knew about that because I started feeling that I need to quinch my eyes more to read small letters and number in a certain distance, AND THAT’S THE MAIN REASON WHY I’VE BEEN WEARING CONTACT LENS! But currently, I found myself too lazy to wake up (even waking up is lazy) and put on the contact lens and for some reasons, my eyes tend to be very dry in the morning and most of the times, putting on the contact lens could irritate my eyes. I know I could just moist my eyes with the eye drops and put them on but yes sometimes I am THAT lazy.

If there’s an award for the laziest person on earth, I’ll probably send someone to pick it up for me.

Just in time when I was planning to start converting to glasses, it was just the perfect timing as I got introduced to the Transitions^® Signature™, the newest, most responsive adaptive lenses!

Transitions^® Signature™ lenses are released by the Transition Optical Inc. so I guess the naming should make sense (LOL). They call it the Transitions^®Signature™ lenses because the lens was equipped with the photochromic technology inside the lens allowing the lens to adapt automatically with the direct sunlight and the further protection of the UVA and UVB sunlight, to describe it in the most simple way, the lens could darken out when you’re actually outdoor and as you stare directly into the sun, you barely need to quinch your eyes as you’re wearing sunglasses! As you guys know, the UVA and UVB sunlight could be very dangerous and when it continuously hit the eye without protection, it could really be one of the cause of cataracts and trust me you don’t want any.

This is what I meant:

When I don’t stare directly to the sun

When I stare directly to the sun: look at how the lens darkens out

The adaptivity of the lens is also quite sensitive, as soon as the lens detected the UV light, it darkens out and it will get darker as the UV light gets stronger.

You can purchase the frame and lens at any major optics in Jakarta or Indonesia, they are highly available there. I bought the frame for IDR 1,5 mil ($140).

And of course to ensure I get just the exact value of the lense I must do the eye check and even better: IT’S A FREE EYE CHECK! No extra cost needed!

The eye check test was pretty basic: letter and number reading and the spot and point test. Since I knew my cylinder was around 0,5 which technically not crazy big or bad, but the disadvantage of it is that if I have to read small letters from a distance, it could be a burden and blurry. Anyway, back to the result, the number stated that my cylinder value was still 0,5 for both eyes. They would print out the result and you can give this to them as the prescription to proceed with the next step, which is the lens making.

I was given two options for the lens color: brown and grey, actually it doesn’t matter if you choose either brown or grey, they don’t contribute to any sight problems even when they darkened out, and I can still see, read and notice 100% clearly (even clearer as I am now using the glasses) but the optician told me that the brown color is better in enhancing contrast between red and green objects, while the grey is more neutral.

I chose this New Balance frame, initially wanted Ray Ban but the frame doesn’t really suit my style and I had to pick them asap because I was going to leave for Bali on the next day and couldn’t wait until freaking New Year. It took around 3-5 days of work, mine was around three days, sent it to the optic on Friday and got mine on Monday (Saturday and Sunday did not count).

So I currently still wear the contact lens combined with the best, most stylish and protective lens on the market. Not only that it boost my confidence, comfort is also the key! Not to mention most people told me that I look much mature and face is slimmer with glasses, and to you all wondering why am I still wearing contact lens is because I want my eyes to look bigger!!! It’s the eyes that do the talking. F small black eyes!

PRICING

If you’re wondering about the pricing of this lens, I must say the total value of the lens with the money that you’ll be paying is completely worth it. Health is such a lifetime investment and without health, everything is basically nothing. The pricing will depend on these conditions: the lens brand, the material, the lens type, prescription and additional coatings that you can customize. For the lens type you can choose between the single-vision, bifocal or progressive. The total value of the frame and lens was around $600, knowing that this has the possibility of lifetime usage, I am on board!

Yeah, just like leather bags, once you bought it and take care of it nicely, it could be a long lasting investment right *wink*.

For more information about the Transitions^®Signature™ lenses:

http://www.transitions.com/id/produk/lensa-adaptif-transitions/

This post is brought to you by Transitions^®

BELLY INC PANTAI INDAH KAPUK - JAKARTA

Went to this new eatery in Pantai Indah Kapuk a couple of days ago because I heard they provide Gyu Tan Don here and I am such a sucker of that. Talking about the food trend, Gyu Tan Don is big right now and you can easily find an appetizing looking GTD in Jakarta and it's probably near you, like this one if you live around Pluit or PIK area.

Fat Belly is located in the Ruko Crown Golf area and few shops from to the uber famous SumoBoo and the upcoming Nam Nam (yes Nam Nam is opening in Jekardah woohoo!)

I wasn't really expecting anything about this and lately I've been trying not to, whenever there are new places opening, all I want to do is to go there and eat, it's true that sometimes I can't help pre-judging certain places' quality from the venue and there has been quite shockers lately if you follow my blog. What's so beautiful could end up not so appetizing, what's really humble could be the most spectacular, nope I won't name names, you read and you know.

Belly Inc. didn't have the most spectacular venue, it's just very simple and very proper. Not much going on with the detailing and deco but they do have separated area for smokers located at the outer area with two medium-sized tables and the second level. The venue itself wasn't spacious hence the capacity's not ultra.

The food menu here is pretty much casual meals with mixed genre, so you can find Asian and Western food here with very affordable prices! The Asian menu also feature traditional Indonesian street food like noodles, fried rice, meatball soup (bakso) or fritters (bakwan). The range price of the food here starts from IDR 25k-IDR 150k. I assume for two, generally you can spend IDR 100k-150k (but still depend on what you're ordering).

I forgot the name but this one you should try (at least show the picture to the waiter). I love how refreshing this was with lovely balance of sweetness and a good hint of sour. Fruity and sort of addicting!

THE FOOD! Everything you see is goodness goddess!

Fried Mushroom with Salted Egg
IDR 30k
This was a bloddy good appetizer! The mushroom coated with batter then deep fried with salted egg dressing. They were cooked perfectly leaving the inner part to still be juicy. The salted egg coating was flavorful but not overpowering. MUST TRY.


Gyu Tan Don
IDR 85k
Just when I looked at this on the menu Gyu Tan Don (GTD) I knew I must order. What's really the high point of this dish was how generous they are with the ox tounge! They were much and cooked beautifully. Flavor wise, it's heading the sweet taste instead of savory and it's rich in a good way. If they could make the overall to be a little dry and less "wet", this would be even better.

Tak Tik Tuk Noodle

IDR 25k

Tak Tik Tuk Noodle is their take of simple fried noodle, but I have to give a credit for this one because this was freaking good. Simple yet very flavorful with incredible seasoning. Couldn't seem to find a way to describe it, you better try.

My take on Belly Inc: simply a restaurant in the most literal way. They're not fancy with this and that, everything is simple, right on point, proper and probably not your typical hangout spot. The food here (based on my visit) was good with minor personal preference. I love how smartly brave they're with the seasoning, meaning the flavor is quite there yet but not overpowering the palate.

Simple yet humble but quite impressive. Sometimes it's better this way!

Please keep this or keep up the overall performance!!! Please! I give you good review so next time I won't be hearing people leaving comments saying that my review is overrated *shoot*. I am coming back for more in store! GOOD LUCK BELLY INC!

Belly Inc
Rukan Crown Golf Blok D #20 (near SumoBoo)
Jl. Marina Indah Golf
Pantai Indah Kapuk, Jakarta Utara
021 - 2921 0551
Opening Hours: 11 AM - 10 PM
Pricing: $
Dresscode: As casual as you can!
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