Wanderbites! Pay It Forward : Winner Announcement

It's been a hectic week. Juggling work, shooting, and moving in to our tiny new studio. Life get's a little off centered every once in a while, but somehow I find myself energized on my busiest day, like today.

Good news, I'm announcing Wanderbites Pay It Forward winner! If you missed what is it about, here's the link about it.

In short, I have received a lot of generosity during Wanderbites food photography journey. From zero client to serving brands like Nestle. In the spirit of paying it forward, we were giving away one free food photoshoot session. They simply need to tweet us their product's photo and added #WanderbitesPIF. Submission was closed February 28th.

We received a loadful of entries.

There are a few who bake cakes and sell them online. There are a few who recently started their own restaurants. There are also one who sell my favorite childhood food. Tough choices!  However, we can only pick one winner. Now, who could that be?

With the help of random generators, we have found our winner, and that is .... *drumrolls*

Congratulations!

Please shoot us an email at wanderbites@gmail.com with the subject "Let's Make Awesome Photo!" and we'll talk to you on the details of the photoshoot date, we'll discuss ideas on creative execution and lotsa more. Can't wait to put the exclamation mark on your cheeses. They deserve it.

For those who have participated but haven't got the luck, don't worry about it, you can still pay us for the photoshoot. =p

Cheers,

Fellexandro Ruby
Food / Travel Photographer & Storyteller

Snack on my tweets @Wanderbites ;)

Wanderbites! Pay It Forward : Win A Food Photography Session!

Remember Uncle Scrooge?
No matter how filthy rich he gets, there's this one day he set aside particularly to be 'poor' again. He'll dress in his ugliest wardrobe, beat-up shoes, and stroll as 'commons'.

As it reminds me to be thankful, it took me back to the earlier days I'm doing food photography. There was nothing but the love and the thrill of capturing the sexiest angle of a meal. All passion and money was not even in the equation. As I work my way to get where I am today, I can recall helping hands that gracefully support me.

With the kindness that I received, I'm paying it forward to one lucky small biz. One complimentary food photography session. No charge. I simply hope that you, the lucky one, will pay this random-act-of-kindness forward to someone else too.

Oh, and if you wonder what sort of food photos I took for my clients. Other than the photo below, here's a few of my recent portfolio : Wanderbites!

I tweeted it for fun last night, and turns out 4 smallbiz has submit in. I can see the excitement there, so I crank it up a notch. Here are the OFFICIAL details:

Cheers,

Fellexandro Ruby
Food & Travel Photographer / Storyteller

Snack on my tweets @Wanderbites

Pho Hoa - Wisma Metropolitan : Vietnamese Noodle Fling

Who believes in love at first sight?

I don't really, but I do believe in love at the first taste. The latter is much less complicated compared to the earlier. Ehm. Let's not get drifted away. 

Pho, this Viets-pride noodle has been on the top of my mind lately. "Rubs, what would you want for dinner?" ask a colleague and instantly my nervous system will react "I'm feeling for something soupy." Didn't know how the thought manage to park herself in the subsconcious real estate of mine, but she's slick. In the past two weeks I've savored as much as four bowls of pho goodness. 

Pho Hoa here was an adventurous attempt. Hearing its reopening from a friend of a friend of a friend who knows the ... You know where this is going, scratch that. Plus when I tweeted it, a few friends confirmed that it was once a hit in Jakarta. Google maps still put its previous location in Barito, Wijaya, and BEJ. They are now reopening Pho Hoa in Wisma Metropolitan I, Sudirman. 

I like how the menu is presented. Straight up, no hassle. Your eyes will be directed into the selections of pho, from the simplest (IDR 45k) with just meat, to the ones with the most variety of toppings (IDR 55k) with meat, tendons, and whatnot. You can pretty obviously guess which one I put my choice into. 

Yes, the top of the line. Pho with steak, brisket, tendons, tripes etc. 

Pho with Beef Brisket, Beef Steak, Tendon, Tripes (IDR 55k)

As I sipped the broth, there's this slightly bitter taste that gets annoying after a while. Adding a few aromatic basils helps to distract it, but not for long. The only way to get away was to munch in the extra sweetness from the beef together with pho and soup. 

Jamie Aditya Graham was dining a few table for us! =D

The Fling. Sexy isn't it? But sexy is just barely what we want right?

Physically I enjoyed the meal. But mentally, I couldn't help to compare it with Will Meyrick's pho at Mama San. It was as if it has a few layers that waited to be uncovered, and with every addition of ingredients, it gets better and better. I know it's probably a different playing field here, but I need to point out that once you've tasted the superior the other becomes mediocre. It is human, and I'm sure you've had that moment too at least once for one particular food. 

Should I admit my love to pho? Absolutely. For this particular one though, I'd say a mild liking is probably at best. Or for the lack of a better word, ehm ... a fling? ;)

Cheers, 

Fellexandro Ruby 

Food Photographer / Storyteller

Snack on my tweets @Wanderbites for #Livebites and more food / travel stories ;)

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Pho Hoa

Wisma Metropolitan I

Office Tower 

Jalan Sudirman Kav. 24

(Left side of the road, heading Blok M) 

Ph: 021-5228970

Opens weekdays only.