SANTHAI - KOTA KASABLANKA

First of all, loving the catchy name of this newly opened Thai restaurant in Kota Kasablanka that I visited a couple of days ago. Don't be too serious, just SANTHAI.

Santhai is located at LG level of Kota Kasablanka next to Wing Stop, I arrived during lunch time and man the restaurant's almost full house! The exterior of the restaurant has this pop-youthful vibe to it thanks to the dominating teal color and expect to find a touch of industrial to the interior design from the pink "Hello Gorgeous" neon lights, mural and basically the overall vibe of the design. 

As the name suggests, the restaurant focuses in serving various Thai cuisine with a modern touch and presentation like never before. They have a lot of food options here and they all look so good which will maybe cost you some time to decide what you're gonna get. One thing that I need to highlight is the pricing! I was pleasantly surprised that when I scanned the menu the prices were reasonable and affordable. Price range for food is around IDR 30k-200k (for the fish dishes) and their Instagenic drinks reasonably priced around IDR 10k-30k.

Lunch spread, OMG I have so many to talk about!

The drinks here are presented on the cute floats like the followings: unicorn, coconut tree, pineapple, etc. I'm not sure since I didn't do any request but I think you can request for specific floats for the drinks that you ordered, like the Thai Tea on the Unicorn float.

Apparently, not only the drink, certain food can also be presented with the float like the fried rice in the coconut shell on the right aka Coconut Fried Rice (IDR 55k), by the way the fried rice was fragrant and tasty!

Legend Curry Soft Shell Crab - IDR 80k

A legit must try! The fresh soft shell crab was beautifully cooked while still being a little crunchy even after being dressed with the generous curry sauce. The texture of the curry sauce was thick and had this hint of spicy which I found perfect (maybe for some of you it's a tad too spicy or some can even go spicier) but one thing for sure I just can't have this without the rice as it's best paired with it.

Thai Beef Salad - IDR 70k
Beautiful blend of sweet and sour with hint of savory aroma and flavor from the stir-fry beef.

Bangkok Beef - IDR 90k
Another menu from Santhai that's really worth trying has to be their Bangkok Beef, again, it's a stir fry beef with generous seasoning and ingredient to reach that flavor intensity. The beef was so tender and juicy altogether with the proper amount of spicy, delicious fragrance (mainly from the curry leaves too), just pure addicting and don't forget the rice too!

Left: Tajima Wagyu Satay (IDR 60k), Right: Chicken Satay (IDR 45k) - per 3 pieces

I don't think I've ever been the biggest fan of skewers/satay since I was little but theirs were well seasoned, tender and the peanut base dipping sauce was spot on tasty. They belong to one another.

Amazing Pineapple Fried Rice - IDR 55k

Thank goodness their pineapple fried rice wasn't one of those which leans more to the sweeter side because quite frankly I NEVER really like sweet fried rice, well they still have the sweet flavor from the pineapple infused but mainly savory along with that little wokhei aroma and flavor that I like.

Pad Thai - IDR 60k

You will mainly find the sweetness of this Pad Thai from the tamarind pulp, but on the right amount as I can still sense the savory flavor. The glass noodle was beautifully cooked as it could be pretty tricky and soggy which I will spontaneously dislike. Just like how it's normally paired and serve, you'll find roasted peanut, chili powder, chili flake, and fresh garlic chives & bean sprouts. Not correlated but I hope they would put Pad See Ew on their menu.

Peking Duck Sandwich - IDR 70k/3 pieces

This was one of those menus that I was skeptical at first but turned out to be pretty memorable! The buns were fragrant and properly firm, the duck was beautifully seasoned, overall seasoning was also pretty darn tasty! Anyway gotta give plus point given for the unique presentation!

Salmon Head with Tom Yum Soup - IDR 99k

Ohmygoodness THIS! This is probably my favorite menu from the lunch date that day for it has everything that I like: fresh fish, spicy bold tom yum broth and came in such generous portion that's perfect for sharing! The broth was so flavorful, so tasty and spicy (but not too much for me), the fried fish head was fresh and meaty if you challenge me I could honestly finish the whole thing by myself. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this cost around IDR 99k (well IDR 100k) as you can really share this for 3-4 people. If you fancy the classic ones they also have the good old Tom Yum Goong and more!

I am typing this post at night that this fish head is seriously the most evil thing on my goddamn screen right now I am so coming back for this!

Santhai Steamed Fish - IDR 190k
If you want something that's also flavorful but slightly lighter in overall, this might be the perfect option! The bumbu kuning was this beauitful mix of tangy and spicy that's tasty, and paired with

Aside from the two mentioned, they also have Lime and Garlic Steamed Fish, Blackbean Steamed Fish and Aromatic Soy Steamed Fish, all priced at IDR 190k.

DESSERTS!
They have quite a few dessert options and I love how they keep majority of the options classic like the followings:

Thai Ice Mixed Bowl - IDR 35k
If you fancy something not too fulfilling (well depend on what you order) and quite refreshing for the full blown bold lunch, then go for this Thai Ice Mixed Bowl, it's very smiliar to our very own Es Merah Delima, the coconut milk wasn't overwhelming and the sweetness was perfect.

Mango Sticky Rice - IDR 39k
I didn't ask and not sure where they're getting the mangoes from (whether local/imported), the sticky rice was beautifully dense with that creamy coconut milk dressing. Delicious, but might not be the best one that I've had because I've had better ones from the origin country, Thailand!

Anyway APPRECIATE the affordable price tag IDR 39k is a good pricing damnit!

Spring Rolls Durian - IDR 35k

The spring roll dessert is served hot aka fresh from the deep fried cooking process and this has a bit of molecular gastronomy presentation to it from the syringe with homemade Durian sauce, to the cage! Talk about unique presentation without losing what's important: the taste of the dish. I am a classic cold dessert person, but to be frank this was pretty good: sweetness and flavor were just right.

It's the beginning of the year and I am honestly thrilled to find out that most new places that I went to for the past two weeks have been pretty impressive in terms of quality of the food and Santhai is definitely one of them. I would say that this is head to head with another favorite of mine, which is LARB in Pantai Indah Kapuk but somehow Santhai had this more kekinian vibe (and way more options) while LARB is all about classics, but both are equally good, equally bold I can't decide.

Santhai

Kota Kasablanka Mall - LG fl.

Jalan Casablanca No. 88

Tebet, Jakarta Selatan 12870

021 - 2946 5137

Opening hours: 10 AM-10 PM

Average spending for two: IDR 250k

Dresscode: none

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Map for Kota Kasablanka

BATTLE OF THE ROSEHIP OILS: THE ORDINARY VS TRILOGY

This post has been highly requested and I've actually wanted to post this on my blog since a few weeks ago, but when it comes to skincare reviews I wanna give the products at least two weeks trial to find out what I like and dislike about the products, and fast forward since the day I got these rosehip oils, it's been a month already and here I am finally doing the review, comparison and have a fair judgement towards these two highly popular products!

Besides the impressions, one of the most frequently asked questions about these rosehip oils is WHERE DID I GET THEM? When I threw the question on my Instagram Stories I think 90% of you told me to go get them at Benscrub (and which I did) and I'm gladly recommending you guys to order from them too simply for the good experience that I had with them, the admin/customer service was friendly and I got the product in my hands in a fairly short time, but one thing that you guys have to remember is that these rosehip oils SELL OUT FAST! So I suggest following their Instagram account to keep yourself updated with their stocks or new arrivals.

WHAT IS COLD-PRESSED ROSEHIP OIL?
Lately I've been hearing A LOT about rosehip oils and since I follow some Indonesian beauty gurus I've seen a lot of them raved about this product too, and since it's a cold-pressed products (just like the juices) the production process of the oil doesn't involve any heat to make sure they don't let go the main qualities of the ingredients which can be beneficial for human skin and in this case the rosehip.

Rosehip oil is rich in Linoleic Acid, Pro-Vitamin A, C, E, and believed to help the recovery of the face like reduces redness, increases moisture, firming the skin, treating wrinkles and fading scars, and that's what I am aiming for as the last two months my skin was on its worst due to the stress, after years of no encounter with such, my skin was on its driest, especially at the nose, mouth and eyebrow area, they would peel and irritated.

APPLICATION?
I watched quite a few YouTube videos and I notice there's no significant rule of application, some people prefer wearing is after washing their face in the morning, some prefer using it as 'moisturizer' before makeup, some even mix it with their makeup, but I personally have been wearing it at night after washing my face and let it sit overnight.

The recommended amount is about 5-6 drops for the whole face and neck. 2-3 drops are just too little for me.

Left: Trilogy, Right: The Ordinary

Pretty much the same consistency and the same yellow-ish color, but maybe as I paid deep attention, the Trilogy one is just slightly SLIGHTLY thicker.

PACKAGING

Left: Trilogy, Right: The Ordinary

The box packaging of both products is clean and simple, but somehow I like The Ordinary one better for the white color: it's just so neat, clean and expensive looking with a hint of hipster, Trilogy's box packaging is this red color that looks exactly like the one on the bottle label (above). Wanted to show you guys the box packaging but it was not at its neatest as I expected when they arrived and I chose not to show it here, anyhow you can always google.

As for the bottle, The Ordinary's bottle is clear and UV protected, while Trilogy's is frosted with another layer, almost like this doff-matte layer.

PRICE POINT (Benscrub.com)
The Ordinary's Cold Pressed Rosehip Oil - IDR 289k/30 ml
Trilogy Rosehip Oil - IDR 329k/20 ml

...of course when you buy them directly from Australia/New Zealand they would be way cheaper than the reseller price.

If you really care about the bang for your buck, even before we get to the actual product review I'll quickly recommend you to go get The Ordinary for you're paying cheaper and getting more in a bottle, like 10 ml difference.

INGREDIENTS
Here's the inside scoop from the Benscrub admin when I was deciding whether to get either The Ordinary/Trilogy (but ended up choosing both lol), the admin told me that both products consist of THE SAME ingredient, BOTH PRODUCTS ARE FRAGRANCE FREE AND TOTALLY VEGAN TOO!

VERDICT:

What I did was applying The Ordinary on the left side of my face and Trilogy on the right side of my face for a month, let them sit overnight and nothing else, during the day I would be using Laneige products evenly on my face, the dryness of my face occurs pretty much on the both side of my face so what a time to really test out the product!

Okay, let's start from the feel of application, this has happened for quite some time (and I initially thought it's a one-time thing) and I feel like Trilogy oil indeed has slightly thicker consistency compared to The Ordinary and it glides on my skin better and smoother, but not that much of significance to be honest and both products actually absorb to the face pretty damn well, just somehow the thicker feel of Trilogy's enough to make me feel like they probably have more moisture infused, but is that so? Keep reading.

I notice that after one month of application the redness on my face started to fade (but NOT gone), they control the oil very well and evenly, can't talk about the wrinkles because I don't think I have one at the moment in my 20s, the dry patches is still there (I honestly don't see a lot of recovery) and the most significant pleasure is I like how I look when I wake up, I didn't look like greasy fried chicken and there's this one time when I woke up and realized that my skin was matte but not dry.

After that one month of application, I started drifting back to my Sulwhasoo products (which until this day is one of the most life-changing products) and the dry patches were gone in three freaking days I'm not even kidding it's medicinal damnit, but again the price difference is too significant, Sulwhasoo is FREAKING EXPENSIVE.

SO SHOULD I GET THEM?

For the sake of 'coba-coba', why not? Some of my friends and actually A LOT OF YOU from Instagram have experienced drastic upgrade of their faces after using the oil, but somehow for me it's more like the products to maintain, but not exactly life-changing. Up until today I still apply the oils regularly every night but more to The Trilogy one simply because I personally think I like Trilogy better for those reasons I can't explain, but I just feel good when applying it.

Short to say, both products are good and almost similar, and again for the sake of 'coba-coba' go get The Ordinary for more bang for your buck, slightly cheaper than The Trilogy but more products that you'll get.

Thank you for reading!

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NGOPI DENGAN TENANG DI WARUNG TENDA BATURADEN PURWOKERTO

“Ah! Bosan lah nongkrong di café Purwokerto yang itu-itu aja dengan konsep yang sama”

“Ah! Paling juga di café sibuk mainan hape dengan disediakannya wifi gratisnya”

“Ah! Berisik dan ramai nih sekalinya mau nongkrong”

Purwokerto sepertinya sudah terlalu banyak café di pusat perkotaan, mungkin kalian ingin suasana nongkrong asyik yang berbeda dengan yang lain. Eits! Bukan berarti menjatuhkan café di Purwokerto loh ya, setiap individu itu unik dan tentunya memiliki selera masing-masing. Kalau bajet emang lagi high ya sesekali nongski di café or resto, bajet pas pasan pengin ngopi ya bisa di café or coffee shop, atau bener-bener minimalist ya bisa deh di angkringan.

Kali ini Purwokerto sedang ada yang berbeda dari biasanya. Tempat nongkrong buat kalian para perindu ketinggian, perindu menggigil di gunung, perindu alam tak perlu jauh-jauh harus naik gunung. Ada warung dengan konsep alam. Warung Tenda Bintang namanya, berlokasi di Desa KarangSalam Baturraden ini menjadikan sebagai tempat nongkrong berkonsep alam dengan disekelilingi oleh tenda-tenda yang berada di lereng Gunung Slamet.

gerimis. gemerlap lampu kota tak terlihat.

Di malam hari kalian dapat melihat indahnya kelap-kelip lampu kota Purwokerto dari atas sini seperti halnya di Bukit Tranggulasih. Jika cuaca cerah, Gunung Slamet pun terlihat walaupun itu malam hari. 

Lokasinya dimana?

Dari arah Kota Purwokerto mengambil arah menuju Baturraden sebelum gerbang mandala belok kanan mengikuti arah menuju ke curug telu. Dari parkiran curug telu naik ke atas dikit, disebelah kanan jalan terlihat sudah tenda-tenda didirikan dengan parkiran yang cukup luas. Hati-hati jalan menanjak dan cukup sempit hanya bisa dilewati oleh 1 mobil saja. Terlebih jika melakukan perjalanan menuju Warung Tenda ini di malam hari tak ada lampu penerangan dan terkadang kabut menghalangi.

konsep daur ulang botol minum sebagai hiasan lampu

Menunya apa saja?

Berhubung konsep yang alam banget, menunya pun cukup sederhana saja seperti makanan dan minuman yang berada di angkringan. Ada nasi goreng ngapak, kopi, susu, mendhoan, air mineral, dll. Harganya? Murah! Setara dengan angkringan!

kopi jawa murah cuman 3rb perak!

Bagaimana dengan fasilitas?

Terdapat 5 tenda yang telah didirikan sebagai suatu iconnya warung tenda. Jangan khawatir, tidur-tiduran, foto-foto didalam tenda tidak dikenakan biaya kok. Untuk yang ingin bermalam menggunakan tenda tersebut dikenakan biaya Rp 50.000/malam dan mendapatkan sarapan di pagi harinya.

Ga kebagian tenda? Tenang aja masih ada saung bambu yang lumayan luas untuk dapat menikmati dinginnya karang salam.

Kalau mau kencing gimana nih? Jangan panik! Memang konsepnya alam tetapi ada toiletnya juga loh.

Bagaimana? Tertarik untuk ngopi-ngopi di Warung Tenda Bintang? Kuy ajakin temenmu sekarang juga!

HAPPY NEW YEAR (AND FREE LIGHTROOM PRESET FOR YOU!) - VSCOCAM A6 INSPIRED PRESET!

Holla everyone! Might be just a tad too late to say this but anyway HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I promise myself to be more positive in 2018 and I remember praying before going to sleep on January 1st that I didn't want to ask for things and instead being grateful that I've made this far, but if you ask me, all I really want is to become happier and happier each day, 2017 wasn't the easiest year to cope mentally, but it's still a good year because there are so much to be grateful for, and I always believe that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

...and of course, I promise to blog MORE in 2018, I took 2 weeks off for myself, went to Bali with some friends and it's time to come back and realize that not everyday Sunday (lol) so I really need to keep up with the hard work to keep this blog alive. Since you guys have been such loyal readers to my blog and for me to realize that your support means the world to me, I have always loved giving back to you, and here I am kicking off the first post in 2018 with a Lightroom preset giveaway!

I asked what your favorite VSCOcam preset is and 70% of you answered A6, and yes that's also one of my all time favorite VSCOcam filters for its versatile film look (you can literally apply this filter for every photos) and not overly bold appearance. It might not be 100% as similar as the real A6 VSCOcam filters but you can always play around.

Here are some sample photos edited using one click of my "EATANDTREATS A6" filter!

Left before, right after.

Top: before

after

Left before, right after.

I also use this preset to edit my endorsement photos (when I'm actually diligent enough and have time to transfer the photos to my laptop), but I tweak it further for my liking and depending on which color I want to emphasize more,

ok, let's just cut the bullcrap and click the link below for free download! I won't be limiting the number of downloads so if you're new to my blog, big welcome to you and consider this a gift for you!

DOWNLOAD HERE

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND LOOKING FORWARD TO SHARE MORE AWESOME ADVENTURE TO YOU! ALWAYS REMEMBER TO BE KIND! LOVE YA!!!

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