Snaps: Food Photography with Olympus 25mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko Digital

It’s no surprise that one of my favourite lens is the Olympus 25mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko Digital, a lens which I have gotten not long after the release of it. I have used the Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH Micro 4/3 Lens, which has the same focal length as the Olympus 25mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko Digital. The difference is that with the Panasonic lens, you can shoot at wider aperture of f/1.4, which most likely would be handy during low-light shooting.

However, I use the Olympus 25mm f/1.8 more often to shoot food photography than anything else. When I’m shooting food, I have a tendency to shoot at a aperture of f/2.8. Shooting wide open at f/1.8 would give me a nice creamy bokeh but at the expense of a shallow depth of field. I usually prefer to have more focus on my food, overall instead of just a tiny focus area. Hence, f/2.8 is the my favourite aperture to shoot at. But if the need arises that I would need to shoot wide open for that effect, I can very much do so.

| ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/125 sec |

| ISO 200, f/1.8, 1/640 sec |

| ISO 200, f/1.8, 1/160 sec |

| ISO 400, f/1.8, 1/80 sec |

The Olympus 25mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko Digital is for me, one of the best prime lens to use to shoot food because of the focal length which in 35mm equivalent format, is actually 50mm. According to scientists, our eye focal length is approximately similar to 50mm field of vision. Hence, with the lens having the similar focal length as our eye, it would pretty much mean that with what I capture is what I see through my eyes. I hope you get what I mean, but if you don’t, you can just assume I’m rambling along.

| ISO 250, f/2.8, 1/60 sec |

Another reason why this lens is my go-to lens for food is the close minimum focusing distance of approximately 25cm. What this basically means is, with this lens, I can go up to 25cm to my subject to get in focus. If you compare the distance with a ruler, you’ll find that the distance would be similar to when you shoot your food subjects. Perfect!

 | ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/80 sec |

| ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/60 sec |

When I first drafted this post, I had expected to have more pictures of food to be posted along this post. But unfortunately, I had only wanted to post unpublished pictures here for this post. But most of the food photography pictures taken with the Olympus 25mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko Digital have already been posted up in the respective food reviews post. To view those pictures, you can click on this link; http://www.carmenhong.com/search/label/Eat which would show you all the food posts that I have done before. Most of the food pictures are taken with the Olympus 25mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko Digital lens.

All in all, I hope this short post have shown you the key features on why I love the Olympus 25mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko Digital and also, with the pictures to show you why I love it too. I will continue capturing food pictures with the lens and I might update this post further when I do have additional pictures to showcase. 

Till next time,

xoxo

Eat: Ramen Ten & Shin Tokyo Sushi, Jaya 33

Whenever I think of the neighbourhood malls in Petaling Jaya, places like Jaya 33 comes to mind. I have been to Jaya 33 once when there was a conference in DUMC and I remember having trouble deciding on a place to eat. There is nothing that I fancy eating in Jaya 33 (I know there is a nice Chinese restaurant there). But that time, I wanted something simple, much like comfort food for me.

I was recently invited to Ramen Ten & Shin Tokyo Sushi which to my surprise was located in Jaya 33. This was much to my delight because I have always been a fan Japanese food. It makes me happy to know now that there is affordable and tasty Japanese food in that area. So, what is tasty from Ramen Ten & Shin Tokyo Sushi? Read on to know more. :)

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Soft Shell Crab To Salmon Skin Salad | RM 23.90

 Soft Shell Crab To Salmon Skin Salad | RM 23.90

Soft Shell Crab To Salmon Skin Salad | RM 23.90

In the past couple of months, I found myself favouring salads over any main courses. This change in eating habits is probably due my conscious decision to maintain a healthier lifestyle. So, I was pretty excited to try this when it arrived looking so deliciously yummy. The Soft Shell Crab To Salmon Skin Salad was no ordinary soft shell crab salad, because it was served with a meaty chunk of crab. You can still see the obvious outline of the crab there. This, I like! Every bite of the salad, I could taste the crispy crab meat. Coupled with the sesame sauce along with the Japanese lave egg and salmon skin, these are all match made in culinary heaven! I’d strongly recommend you to give this a try!

 Santen Sashimi Moriawase | RM33.90

Santen Sashimi Moriawase | RM33.90

This platter of sashimi arrived looking so much like a piece of art installation; it was gorgeously decorated. It was a difficult decision I had to make when I decided to eat this piece of art. But ah, savouring the fresh sashimi of salmon, salmon’s belly and tuna was just as good as admiring the beauty of the platter. I found the sashimi to be fresh and reasonably priced.

Chuka Santen Moriawase | RM 15.90

If sashimi are not your type of dishes, then maybe you can try the seasoned moriawase. Here, we have platter of seasoned baby octopus, seasoned jellyfish and seasoned snail. Frankly, I’m a fan of both seasoned and raw sashimi so I would pick both of them any day! Come to momma :p

 Chicken Teriyaki Dry Ramen | RM 16.90

Chicken Teriyaki Dry Ramen | RM 16.90

I have only remembered eating a dry ramen once, and even then, it didn’t quite leave a memorable impression on me. Needless to say, it was rather meh. Ramen Ten’s version was lighter and simpler on the flavour, where you have the option of fresh vegetables on the side to eat together with. Either you’ll toss it together with the ramen or you eat it on its own. The chicken teriyaki  was also tasty and was well marinated. You’ll be delighted to know that the chicken teriyaki also comes in Chicken Teriyaki Don Set too. Have them awesome chicken teriyaki with rice, mini salad, miso salad, appetizers and Japanese lava egg!

 Tom Yum Chicken Katsu Ramen | RM 22.05

Tom Yum Chicken Katsu Ramen | RM 22.05

The highlight of the day was a surprising ramen dish which came in one of my favourite flavour. The tom yum flavour! To begin with I had no expectation that Ramen Ten would serve fusion ramen but this arrived to the table looking absolutely yummy! It has more of the curry soup appearance but trust me, it’s tom yum flavour and it packs a punch! It was those dish that look unassuming, but one gulp down your throat and it just kicks in! This is my personal favourite I would really recommend this. The ramen is served with chicken katsu.

Deluxe Combo Set | RM 28.90

If you’re feeling rather ambitious or you’re there with your friends, you might want to try out Deluxe Combo Set which consists of sashimi, noodles, rice, chawanmushi, tempura, California roll, miso soup, salad and fruits. This way, you’ll be able to sample a little bit of everything. If you have a larger appetite, I’m sure you would be able to finish it all too.

Asari Butter Soup | RM 11.90

I have a soft spot for anything which has seafood in it. And then there is butter, this amazing marvellous creation which makes any dish super delicious. So when you have combination of both, ah, this is another culinary heaven. I did have one wish though, that the clams had meatier flesh. But then again, the Asari type of clams typically are less fleshy compared to other clams.

So, all in all, I had an enjoyable time sampling these few dishes from Ramen Ten & Shin Tokyo Sushi. I would be happy to say that I would want to visit the restaurant again to try the rest of the dishes and also for whenever I have mad cravings for Soft Shell Crab To Salmon Skin Salad! If you want to pay them a visit, there is no better time to do so than now because they are running a promotion at their respective outlets;

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// Ramen Ten & Shin Tokyo Sushi //

Jaya 33 Lot PG-02B
Level Podium Ground Floor

Jalan Semangat Section 13
46100 Petaling Jaya

03-7955 7558
Open Daily from 11am – 10pm

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Out & About: Rain Party at Luna Bar, Pacific Regency Hotel Suites

It was years ago when I first heard about Luna Bar, about how gorgeous and romantic the place is because you get a good view of Kuala Lumpur city. I even remembered my friend posted a picture of her and her boyfriend chilling by the glass, with the KL city skyline view. Then, recently I had another friend posted a picture of her in the pool during the night and I was pretty much like, “I need to put this on my list of places to visit”.

That had been on my list for months and as usual, my work and life got the better of me and it was casually just sitting on a list. But then, as it happens I was graciously invited to a ‘Rain Party’ in Luna Bar. I really didn’t know what to expect, except that it’ll get wet wet wet so I should be dressed to get wet.

It took me a while to decide what to wear and then I settled for a bikini top paired with black shorts and white buttoned up shirt. So, with no expectations except that it will get me wet, I went to the party after catching Pentatonix - Live in Kuala Lumpur in Stadium Negara. When I arrived, I was greeted with waiters & waitresses wearing raincoat!

It wasn’t raining yet when I arrived, or at least they haven’t made it rained yet. As it turns out, it wouldn’t be fair to just have it rain on everybody and assume everyone wanted to get wet, so you could have the option to wear the raincoat and walk to the rain. Since I was dressed for the rain, I didn’t grab the raincoat. At the ‘Rain Party’ , Luna Bar was transformed into a party playground with props in the pool and there was fun activities lined up throughout the night. DJ Newell spinning on the decks, entertaining the party-goers through the night! 

One of the activities for the night was that the first few person in the pool would be get a shooter and I was the first girl who jumped into pool, so yay! After jumping in, I decided to take a swim and then I got on the inflatable float. As I lay down, floating around in the pool, I just realized why the bar was called Luna Bar, you have a clear view of the moon. It’s such a great feeling to be floating around with the moon in sight, it’s the best calming feeling ever.

I had so much fun at the themed ‘Rain Party’ at Luna Bar, I am looking out now for the next themed party again to have some fun there. Or I would consider returning here again to chill with some of my friends, to just enjoy the view and maybe to take a dip in the pool. Swimming at night with the moon in view with the Twin Towers and the KL Tower makes it feel rather surreally amazing. 

Till next time,

xoxo