H GOURMET AND VIBES SENOPATI - JAKARTA

Short to say, there's a new hangout spot opening in Senopati...yet again! I wonder why so many bloody rich Indonesians because truth be told, opening a restaurant in Senopati is clearly not cheap! No no no, no I am jealous tsk tsk, I am very happy for them because I've told you so many times how I love visiting w places and they're like the genies and you can consider me the Alladin, but this time, it's me entering the eateries ME SO PHUNNY! NOT.

Not my usual openings, I don't know why I am kind of excited right now, I just received a very good news I couldn't wait to blast out to you guys, so make sure you follow me on Instagram because they usually get the earlier notice. FYI I've changed my account to @eatandtreats instead of @STANISLAUSHANS because I think I want to make my IG more connected to the blog, so there you go.

H Gourmet and Vibes...emm, I don't know why the naming felt a little complicated to me but I am liking the "vibes", it's just different. This restaurant/cafe/hangout place is located at Gunawarman street (#41 to be exact) and located not too far from The Holy Crab and Pong Me. Talking about the current moment, if you make your way from the Wolter Monginsidi street, turn right and keep straight until to see the H sign (photo above) and an unfinished building, H is located on the fourth floor. Rumor has it that the building's going to be utilized as another restaurant and coffee shop, will keep my eyes on that fow sho!

I must say that I was quite impressed with the interior, in a way it's very vintage but still very simple with a touch of industrial giving it a little more sophisticated feeling, to me, this place fit the "hangout spot" or bar and cafe category more because when you arrived on the spot, you're going to notice a bar, and for some reasons, the setting, the coloring, the design supported that hype, edgy, rough energy it almost feels like you understand their concept. All the elements were very comforting, again, I adore simplicity and something that's pretty without being overdone. The only thing that I was not happy about was the fact that the whole venue was smoking area and the air-conditioning was like very cold. I do recommend wearing an outer or thicker outfit tho! Note this.

 SO PRETTY!

 This was my favorite view, I completely adore how beautiful the view from here and I honestly couldn't emphasize it enough unless you go here and experience yourself, the setting felt almost like the Central Park to me with that beautiful green framing the skyscrapers. It's a beautiful picture in a click.

 It was just the time as the sun started to set.

As expected, the menu was dominated with American western cuisine like sandwiches, burgers, chicken wings are many more. Came here with a few friends and we order some to share.

Vanilla Oreo Blend
IDR 35k
Looks promising, but didn't try it as it's my friend's order, took the photo to give you a little picture.

The Buffalo's Method Chicken Wings
IDR 65k
Hands down, very good wings! The sauce was the mixture of Cayenne pepper and butter and holy moly the perfecty executed sauce works well with the perfectly cooked crispy chicken wings with super juicy inside. Literally couldn't stop munching, must trick them next time so that I could have them all for myself, seriously good. Despite the amazing flavor, if they could make the wings less oily, I would give this a 9/10.

Jerky Chicks
IDR 85k
Jerky Chicks was their interpretation of the good old Jamaican dish, jerk chickens. Again, another flavorful dish perfectly cooked. The meat was still pretty tender with that smokey aroma and flavor (always love that kind of grilled dish), the seasoning was light but align. The serving came with this good Coriander sauce, the sauce had this unique flavor with good tanginess and balance.

Honestly speaking, I knew that Jerk chicken is a Jamaican dish but this was the first time I've tried it and if the original flavor happened to be like this, then this was pretty good.

H Stack

IDR 115k (additional +35k for double patty)

The waiter told us this was the best seller so we tried this, technically speaking, the same good old (almost boring) beef burger with coleslaw and Aioli, but I love how they try to change the fries with thin handcut round fries which by the way a pretty good imperfection. We could choose between the beef or swine patty and we tried the beef one, the patty was actually flavorful but it was just a little dry, as well as the buns. I really didn't like their coleslaw salad for the cream that they're using felt very heavy, it's like having mayonnaise sauce with oil in the same time, but I really liked the brown sauce (wasn't sure of what that was) and the mint sauce. Yum.

Vibe wise, H Gourmet and Vibes is a really good place for you to go if you want to spend your weekend night having good dinner or hangout with your friends, I could picture that. Didn't try their drinks but somehow I got the feeling that they're quite promising. Overall, the food was good (couldn't move on from the freaking chickens), but I think I could find these kind of food everywhere, the thing with those new places opening, I got the feeling that they're selling the vibe and the place more than the food and frankly speaking, only little that really surpass my standard.

Anyway, I would still go back to enjoy more of what they have in store tho, but I have to be with my friends because I think I'd need good companions.

H Gourmet and Vibes
Jalan Gunawarman No. 41
Gunawarman, Jakarta Selatn 12110
021 - 2765 0842
Opening Hours: 11 AM - 2 AM, closed on 3 AM on weekends
Pricing: $$
Dresscode: Sporty Casual (judging from the venue, especially if you're single you better look good)
WiFi: Yes!

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email: eatandtreatsindo@gmail.com

Map for H Gourmet and Vibes

WAKUWAKU JAPAN CAFE GANDARIA CITY JAKARTA

WakuWaku Japan, the well-known TV station from Japan is creating a new vibe in order to enhance the awareness of Jakartans about them, just last week I attended the grand opening of their very own pop-up cafe, WakuWaku Japan Cafe located at Kaffein in Gandaria City shopping mall.

This cafe is going to be operating for two months, and will be concentrating in catering their very own selections of artisan-traditional Japanese cuisine. If you've been to Kaffein before then you probably know that venue wise, the cafe's not exactly spacious, but I must say the outdoor area (smoking area) was quite spacious and could accomodate up to 30 people, comparing to the indoor area with only 10 people capacity. The indoor area was redecorated to this Japanese styled dining area with pillows and plaited mat.

The menu range here was actually quite simple, they only serve Japanese cuisine, Japanese desserts and Japanese tea. For the Japanese cuisine, they're specializing on the Chazuke dishes. If you are not aware of what Ochazuke is, well it's actually a famous Japanese style dish where you pour on hot broth made from green tea and meat stock on (usually) rice and raw meat in a bowl.  I happened to try out all four of their Japanese food but unfortunately I didn't have the chance to actually try the desserts because they were not available at that time. Their ocha (green tea) was actually quite fragrant, rich but in the same time mild in overall.

The team showcasing how the food was going to be presented.

photo courtesy of Eshtravaganza

All of their Chazuke dishes were served with Nori (seaweed), Japanese pickles and Wasabi and if you order any of the food, the price already included refillable Japanese tea such as Matcha, Sencha and Hojicha and you can choose to have it hot or cold.

Tai Chazuke

IDR 120k

I normally have salmon Ochazuke but this Tai Chazuke from WakuWaku Japan Cafe actually used the white snapper as the raw ingredient. I was quite fond of the broth because it was tasty, rich in flavor but there's that sense of mildness on the aftertaste. The fish was fresh and delightly pre-seasoned with some of their homemade ingredients!

Tempura Chazuke
IDR 120k
Again with the same concept, same broth and serving presentation only this tempura chazuke, as you guess, consist of beautiful deep fried tempuras (shrimp, eggplants, spinach).


Sake Chazuke
IDR 120k
This was another version of the chazuke and they're using grilled salmon on top of rice. The salmon was seasoned decently but I just didn't find this out of the world special.

Chirasi Sushi
IDR 150k
This dish was not a part of the Chazuke so it's served dry without the broth. This was actually more like a sushi due to the usage of Japanese sticky rice, salmon roe (Ikura) and then topped with condiments like seafood, vegetables and eggs. This was slighlty more unique and 'moist', however I was expecting more surprises from the overall flavor impression and it's quite hefty for IDR 150k to be honest.

Since the event was for bloggers and influencers invited, right after finishing our meals, we did have fun on the stage area because they were also having mini bazaar and photo booths!

Heard this guy has won a lot of Kendama championship. FYI Kendama is a classic Japanese cup and ball game and it's not abc easy damnit.

The super duper nice Mr. Tetsuya Osafune wearing funny looking mask!

Ultraman!!! FYI the costume was the original Ultraman costume and imported straight from Japan!

Told you they also had kimono and photo booths, but since we're not exactly happy with the backdrop we decided to take photos just around the stage area. Luckily, they had the sakura tree displayed and set around and the pink flare you're seeing is real! I actually placed the branch around my camera and the blurred part will create this effect. See? Another easy photo tutorial!

Some other candids!

Clara "lucedale" Devi

Generally the food here's not bad and concept wise, pretty interesting. I humbly admit that I am loving the broth from the Ochazuke dishes. Some might find the price pretty hefty for the price that they're paying but considering all ingredients are imported from Japan managed to put in a little sense. I still would love you guys to try this and feel free to drop your comments below if you've tried them! The last operational day will be on January 28th so you wanna be hurry!

For more info visit their site -> WAKUWAKU CAFE

WakuWaku Japan Cafe
Mainstreet Dining UG - Unit #MUC33
Gandaria City
Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda 
Kebayoran Lama, Jakarta Selatan 12240
Opening Hours: 10 AM - 10 PM (weekdays)
Dresscode: Casual

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email: eatandtreatsindo@gmail.com

Map for Gandaria City

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EATANDTREATS! FREE CURVE SUNDAY: BLUTRO & POPPYLOVE AND HOW TO SAVE PHOTOSHOP CURVE

Photo credit: Google, Cereal Magazine

TODAY IS EATANDTREATS SECOND BIRTHDAY!!!

Flashing back, I get a little overwhelmed right now, especially when I realize how blessed I have been along the journey with eatandtreats. So many good things have been happening and so many chances (even those I never expected) were given. God has been seriously good to me in my life and I always in need to share happiness with others. Trust me, the most worth it thing in this life is to do good, people!

As I wouldn't retype how I started the blog and my first year journey, you can read it HERE. Simply because I don't want to bore people with my story and I hope you won't ever. PS: you're going to find a skinnier version of me and how bad Blogspot has compressed my photos! Always realize everything at last tsk!

I honestly just got back from Bakerzin Plaza Indonesia to buy a mini cake to take pics for, a birthday without a cake is just a reunion, and when you're alone, it's nothing, and when I got back, unexpectedly, the cake slipped to the side of the box and stuck there, I got so pissed off that I threw the cake to the rubbish bin! It's such a freaking effort driving from home to PI (and literally just buy the goddamn cake) and went back to realize it was just time-wasting! The cake was pretty tho, forgot the name but it's this chocolate mousse cake with passionfruit layer in the middle T_______T.

I have been receiving quite a few emails and social media greetings from readers who actually remembered this day before I announce it on Instagram just a while ago. Seriously, I got touched knowing that this blog matters to some people and they do read it. I have been losing the urge to write because it came that I don't know if people still read words or they just want to look at the photos, but I always have this in mind whenever I am feeling that mini meltdown: "Whatever, Hans, whatever! The number one reason you you write this blog is for your own pleasure, and that's the reason why people start reading your blog!" and that's why I am always passionate about writing a post and probably 90% of the posts are always long.

Up until today, even though it's a fact (not to be arrogant, and I always tell you whenever I got featured somewhere) that I got exposed by a lot of medias, I still manage to feel like myself, I never stop cursing if something's really good or bad, I always write things how I want it to be even though I know that I don't have the perfect English vocab or grammar, and I know I always maintain to be... myself :), and I am so fucking proud of it!!!

Okay enough with the compliments and praises this ain't eatandtreats ad wtf, but seriously, thank you guys for following me through the years and trust me, this is just the beginning and a lot of more beautiful gorgeous amazing spectacular and all those term finer that finest will be happening to me. Thanks to you, you guys change certain parts of my life :").

AND HERE'S THE FUN PART!!!

As what I've promised you, I am giving away samples of free Photoshop curves created by me that could help you increase the beauty and enhance the feature of your photos but of course I'm not sharing you all secrets hence everyone will have my signature tone. I want you guys to do good but somewhere below me but not that insignificant *smirk*.

Since last week I missed giving you the curve (I was in Bali and it's really hard to open your laptop when you're travelling), I am giving you not one, but two freaking Photoshop curves and even better, they're FREE!

The first picture on the above was edited with simply a layer of "Blutro" curve and here's the before and after picture:

BEFORE

AFTER

Blue-ish color, fixed highlight and contrast with a little cross processed touch! Love this curve!

I'm going to tell you upfront that I love dreamy vintage faded tones and you're going to see that a lot every Sunday, well each person has their own preference about the photos and the mood and it's going to be seen in their pics, but I hope you're gonna like the colors! The Blutro curve has this blue-ish faded look with mild blue shadow resulting your pictures covered with soft and subtle highlight. I tried applying it and I found the effect works best on photos with heavy-blurred background and photos will major black or white areas as it's the 'it' key of faded tones!

Another example to show you how nice the curve works on black and white background.

I am setting the tone to 100% so this is the heaviest the effect is, but remember there's always the "opacity" setting so you can custom how you like the strength to be.

BEFORE

AFTER

Photo courtesy: Cereal Magazine

BEFORE

AFTER

Photo courtesy: Google

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Bonus: POPPYLOVE PHOTOSHOP CURVE

This is the bonus of the week to redeem last week's absence. I am also loving this curve of mine (what?) called Poppylove, again it will give you faded retro look but still very very mild and subtle - I believe less is more - and you're going to have this crushed blue and green colors resulting grey-ish tone, soft highlight and shadows and I learned that it worked best on outdoor photos, underexposured photos and also heavy-blurred background (as always).

BEFORE 

 AFTER

BEFORE

 AFTER

Please keep in mind that editing a photo is not only about applying a filter, you also need to do some minor personal adjustments like brightness, contrast or saturation :).

To download the Blutro curve, click HERE

To download the Poppylove curve, click HERE

HOW TO SAVE, INSTALL AND LOAD PHOTOSHOP CURVES
Hereby, I am also showing you the tutorial on how to install the downloaded curves to Photoshop and trust me they're easy.

First, you're going to have to close the Photoshop application because eventually you're going to restart the app.

1. After you download the curves, go to your assigned "Downloads" folder, mine is the default one and then "copy" the files.

If you're having the difficulties finding where it is, right after you download the file, there will be a new bar on top of the taskbar, click on the arrow and "Open File Location" and after you find the files, "copy" them.

2. Now we're going to paste the files, but make sure you know where you locate the "Adobe Photoshop" file, but mostly it's going to be on the Drive C:, and please make sure if your computer is either 32 or 64 bit.

The path should be like this -> Local Disk (C:) -> Program Files (or Program Files (X86) for 32 bits) -> Adobe -> Adobe Photoshop CS(your number series) -> Presets -> Curves and copy the curves to this.

3. Start the Adobe Photoshop app and the curves should be stored!

HAVE FUN PLAYING WITH COLORS!

For the previous tutorial on VSCOCam Photoshop Tutorial -> HERE

Once again, thank you guys for sticking to eatandtreats. I have so many upcoming projects and great news, it's just that I can't share them right now because they're all big and secrets! I can't thank you enough how thankful I am because of God and you my lovely readers/friends, as well as how I can't emphasize my gratitude enough! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

And for you readers and dislikers out there, stop wasting your time to underestimate me, because you're just making fun of yourself and your lame life. If you want to achieve something, work on it instead of talking shits about others, now you can suck on this *pointing at my balls*. You might think that I am just this pale Chinese boy with nothing but white skin and small eyes, but trust me, in real life, I am way whiter in the best way!!! MWAHAHAHA!

Make love, not war!

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email: eatandtreatsindo@gmail.com

EGGO WAFFLE JAKARTA

I have always been a huge fan of pancakes and waffles, not to mention cakes, breads, pastries oh shit that's everything! I heard about this snack from a friend but it wasn't this particular brand that I am talking here and for some reasons I got excited to try it and I did last week! I have heard amazing reviews from some of my friends telling me that this might be the best in town, but rumors are rumors before I actually tried it.

As you can see on the title, I am talking about EGGO Waffle! They have several outlets spread in Mall of Indonesia (MOI), Living World Alam Sutera, Summarecon Mal Bekasi but I went to their outlet in Mal Kelapa Gading 3, not because it's the closest but it's more like...the only option -.-". It's located just below Zara on the LG level, for some it might be isolated, but I think they're genius with the location. It's located strategically in between the entrance and access from the LG parking area and also the first thing you'll see smell right when you take the escalator down to the LG, smells annoyingly delicious everyone's going to cheat!

The venue wasn't spacious but it's not small either, and FYI this is their only outlet where you can actually dine-in, the others are more like island-outlets. The reason behind the naming (Eggo) was the fact that egg is the main ingredient used to make the waffles and you can't have too much eggs (well at least me). They currently have 10 flavors but since I finally realized my tummy actually has a freaking limit so I tried four...and four is quite a lot. If you want to customize your creations you can add up an ice cream topping for IDR 25k/scoop, they're using Spiky Smooth ice cream and you can choose between Hazelnut, Cookies and Cream, Matcha, Peanut Butter, Durian, Cream Cheese and Choco Milo.

PS: The creations already include one scoop of ice cream as the serving side and you can choose not to include the ice cream and get some "k"s waived off your bill.

Cherry on Top
IDR 42k
What makes this waffle special was the fact that they're using the Black Forest infused flavor with choco chips, completed by rum and raisin with literally cherry on top. Okay, I gotta give it to the texture of the waffle: AMAZING. For normal Belgian waffles, I usually love the crispier ones but as the physical appearance of this particular waffle was different, I like the round ones chewy and moist and that's what they are. The rum, black-foresty flavor was pretty rich but not overpowering. In default, this was served with cream cheese ice cream, but you can change it if you want and I did change it to Choco Milo flavor, the ice cream wasn't bad but I need bolder chocolate flavor I guess.

Half and Half
IDR 43k

The Half and Half was unique because there were two flavors in a portion: chocolate and vanilla egg waffle. However, there were chocolate chips inside both waffles, topped with skippy jam, almonds and dressed in chocolate sauce (the chocolate sauce was so good, premium-like) and served with peanut butter ice cream! I prefer the vanilla flavor to the chocolate, because remembering the condiments on this portion, the vanilla flavor really evolves that one whole bite of waffle, peanut butter jam, chocolate sauce, and peanut butter ice cream to a burst of flavor, and for some reasons, the vanilla waffle smelled so damn good, and yes better than the chocolate. I am not saying that the chocolate's bad, not at all, also yummy but I love the mixture of vanilla and chocolate. Recommended!

Firefloss
The Firefloss waffle was the more from the savory side of the creations and this was very simple, literally spicy floss inside the vanilla waffle and as simple as that resulting this very yummy moist chewy unforgettable waffle, and you might think that I rave so much about the waffles but I am not lying right now (not even an ad wtf), it's just simple but tasty (and quite spicy).

Pandan Waffle
The pandan waffle had this rich and bold pandan flavor which I quite like, but if they could tone down the pandan flavor just a little bit this would be even better for me. I adore their instinct of putting in kaya jam inside the waffle because the mixture of the pandan flavor and kaya jam felt just right! Shit I am getting hungry right now typing this!

The society (or life in general) is really funny because what's trending is really fast growing. I don't really know who bring this trend to Jakarta but I don't really care about trend as it comes and goes, but I do care about those who put more effort with the quality so they could have loyal fans who don't get too starstrucked with the trend. I could see good things happening to Eggo as quality wise, I think they have it, they just have to maintain it.

Either for the sake of bonding with the trend, Instagram purpose or whatever that is, you should try Eggo, at least for once.

Eggo Waffle
Mal Kelapa Gading 3 - LG level
Jl. Boulevard Kelapa Gading
Kelapa Gading, Jakarta Utara 14240
Opening Hours: 10 AM - 10 PM
Price: $, ranging from IDR 25k - IDR 45k
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Map for Mal Kelapa Gading