With Tamara: Clueless Abroad

, by Unknown

Clueless Abroad: My Top 5 Favorite Foods in London

Disclaimer: These are MY personal favorites, foods I personally enjoy and regularly eats that may not meet your tastebuds. There are still lots of food that I haven’t tried in London, but these are my current favorites.

Below are the places I take my friends and families to whenever they visit London or whenever people asked me the must visits restaurants on their visit. There are lots of restaurants that are on the cult list but these are my top 5 which are also pretty much on the cult list.

5. Salted Beef Bagel

Now this is a must for every trip you make to Brick Lane or Liverpool Street. Not only it is very cheap, it also opens 24 hours. By now you may understand that I like my food salty, and of course the name is pretty much self explanatory, it’s a salted beef wrapped in Bagel. You can also have it with their gerkins and mustard which to my suprise are very sharp almost like wasabi. The bagel are somewhat sweet but to me it kinda balances the flavour of the salted beef. The presentation is not as wonderful as it taste, but I am not joking when it comes to my top 5. You may think that the portion seem small but it is actually enough to make you very full, so I suggest show up with an empty stomach. There are no seating inside the shop and the lines are usually very long, but it moves pretty quickly. Oh, and while you’re at it check out Crosstown Donuts and Orange Buffalo in Brick Lane, it’s not on my top 5 but it’s still dood!

(Image from here)

Salted Beef Bagel £3.90

Beigel Bake

159 Brick Ln, London E1 6SB, UK

4. Honest Burgers

Before I heard about this burger, I was so drawn in to Burgers & Lobster, except for the fact that it costs four times more expensive than most burgers in London. But then, Star Wars’ Rey herself, Daisy Ridley endorsed this burger chain and I was also very drawn in to her at the time, and I did not regret a single trust I put on her. Their burgers was amazeballs! They have 3 choices of burger which are: Beef, Cheese, and Honest. I always order the Cheese burger with Red Leicester cheese, a choice which was grand enough but without the bacon. Along with that you’ll also get a generous amount of Rosemary Salted Chips which are also part of the main cast of this cuisine. Did I mentioned that the burger was in a generous amount of size? The first time I ate this, I was very sure I would never finish the whole burger, but it was just so good you had to eat every last bit of it!

(image from here)

Cheese Burger £9.75

Rosemary Salted Chips - free with burgers

Honest Burgers Soho

4A Meard St, Soho, London W1F 0EF, UK

Honest Burgers Kings Cross

251-255 Pentonville Rd, Kings Cross, London N1 9NG, UK

Honest Burgers Covent Garden

33 Southampton St, London WC2E 7HE, UK

(and many more...)

3. Kappacasein Dairy

Grilled Cheese or Cheese Toastie is another one on my cult food list, I take my grilled cheese very seriously, and there was a time in my life where I religiously try to master the perfect grilled cheese recipe. I just recently discover this chain back in May when I visit Borough Market for the first time, they sell mostly cheese, while selling Cheese Toastie and Raclette on the side, and I found out that their cheese toastie are actually very famous in London. If you’re a fan of grilled cheese you’ll be head over heels with this cheese toastie not only they serve a generous amount of cheese they also added green onions to the toast and you can watch all that process right in front of you.

(image from here)

By now can you imagine the taste?

(image from here)

Is your mouth watery enough?

Cheese Toastie £4

Kappacasein Dairy (Borough Market)

1 Stoney St, London SE1 9AA

2. Flat Iron

I love steak, salty foods, and everything meat, and this restaurant ticked off everything on that list. They only have one menu, which is the Flat Iron steak, and you can choose the sides and sauces for that steak. My regular orders are the medium rare Flat Iron Steak, with Dripping Cooked Chips (French Fries if you speak American English) and Creamed Spinach that are seriously to die for, and I usually choose the Bearnaise sauce which if you want to imagine is that type of creamy buttery sauce. The steak are cut in slices and they are super chewy and salty, the way I like it. I usually devour them altogether, the steak, chips, and spinach, and enjoy them while they melt in mouth.

Other than things you pay you will first get a popcorn when you arrived (for free!) and to devour while you wait for the food, and tap water of course! Other than that, the house leaf salad is something else, I’m not a fan of greens and vegetables but I still eat their salad (even though I didn’t finish it).

Flat+Iron+Steak+London+Soho+Voyage+Collective+Billie+Norman.jpg

(image from here)

Flat Iron Steak £10

Dripping Cooked Chips £3.5

Creamed Spinach £3

Bearnaise Sauce £1

Flat Iron Carnaby

17 Beak St, Carnaby, London W1F 9RW, UK

Flat Iron Soho

60 Berwick St, Soho, London W1F 8SU, UK

Flat Iron Covent Garden

17-18 Henrietta St, London WC2E 8QH, UK

Flat Iron Tottenham Court Road

9 Denmark St, London WC2H 8LS, UK

1. La Creperie de Hampstead

No matter how long you are staying in London, you have to make time for this creperie!!!!!! This has to be on your priority! This is absolutely on the cult list. These are no regular crepes, this creperie change people’s lives. They have many choices to offer from Savoury to Sweet, and almost everything they have is out of this world delicious. But my favorite order is the Garlic Cheese! It is supposed to be under the Mushroom category under Mushroom with Garlic Cheese but I didn’t enjoy the mushroom very much so I only asked for the Garlic Cheese. If you’re still not convinced, I got the whole London to convince you. Not only that they always have an awfully long queue. This creperie stand was closed in 2013 because of a conflict it had with the pub next to it, and a petition was made to reopen the creperie with over 3000 signatures. Convinced? Now put this in your London itinerary!

(image from here)

(image from here)

(Mushroom with) Garlic Cheese £5.30

La Creperie de Hampstead

77a Hampstead High St, Hampstead, London NW3 1RE, UK

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, by Unknown

Clueless Abroad

Clueless Abroad: How to Apply to Study in the United Kingdom

source: @tamarafrhd on Instagram

A good friend of mine, @cutlakeisha, suggested that I should share tips and stories about studying and living in the UK or generally abroad, and so I thought maybe I should do a continuous series on this where I might share some tips, recommendations, and how-tos about studying and living in the UK. I might also include places and things to do specifically in London. Hopefully this will be useful for you who are looking for some information on how to study abroad or just simply reading out of curiosity! Enjoy!

First and foremost, Steps by steps on how to actually APPLY!

1. Do A LOT of Research

This is a small but major mistakes mosts of us had done (including myself!). Before actually applying and deciding anywhere. Make sure you know exactly what you will have to go through for the next 3 years/1 year (Undergrad/Masters) on the daily.

Spend time on the University website! Look through the major you’re considering, what kind of subjects you will be learning, its assessment types, the requirements. Unlike Universities in Indonesia, Universities in UK only studies subjects that are related to the course/major you are taking, each semester, (3-4 months) you will only get up to 3 to 4 subjects so make sure you know exactly what you will be studying. Most universities in the UK requires students to get a Foundation degree which takes up to 8 months, while some of them also requires an A-Level Degree.

Ask A LOT of questions! DO contact the University if you’re not sure, they will kindly and willingly reply your questions. Some admission staff allows you to call them which may cost some phone credit, but you can also easily email them.

If you’re considerate about rankings, find authentic sources. Different websites shows different rankings, so make sure you do a lot of comparing. But most Universities in the UK are ranked based on its courses rather than Universities alone.

What you may also be able to do is to get an educational agent such as SUN Education, IDP, etc. They will help you with most of the admissions, VISA application, and accommodation search. But usually, you will have to do some of the contacting relating to payments.

Other than campus life, you should also absolutely do a research on what you will go through on the daily. Which includes living space or accommodations, neighbourhood, transport and travel distances. Open Google Maps! Calculate your travel time to campus and other places. Research your considerations, whether you’d like to live in an apartment, student accommodation, or private home. Make sure your place has easy access to convenient stores and restaurants or fast food chains. Find authentic student reviews, they say a lot about a place or a campus. For example, some WiFi may suck, make sure your accommodation building have good WiFi connection, because you might need it for your studies (or Netflix) and students would gladly speak their mind if they find something inconvenient so take time to read those comments!

The most authentic review you can ever earn is from Indonesian students themselves. You may have mutual friends or close friends who actually study abroad. Take advantage of them!(Positively) Ask them about their real experience. They’re also very suitable for the part as they went through what you have to go through, and which you may also share common interests and daily life as Indonesians. Some students associations have a department that are specifically made to help new students. So do yourself a favor and find a “Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia” group on Facebook!

Lastly, if you are VERY hesitant another thing you can do is to travel to that place and check for yourself. IDP are offering study trip programs where you can travel to Campus open days and check out neighbourhoods and accommodations.

2. Start Applying

Next, if you have a decided a major, a course, a place to stay. CONGRATS! Now you gotta do the dirty work. Gather required documents. Once you decided to apply and contact the admission team (or through an agent). They will usually ask you to send scans or copies of your documents, which includes:*

- Passport

- Birth Certificate

- Transcripts (Grades from High School & Graduations)

- Translated Transcript

- IELTS/TOEFL Certificate**

- CV/Resume/Portofolio (if required)

*Documents that I remember, please double check with an agent or admission team.

Some campus in the UK requires you to apply through UCAS, which is another thing I have never went through hehehe.. but they would also require collection of documents, so make sure you don’t lose them when it’s needed.

**You will also have to conduct an IELTS or TOEFL Test depending on the country you are choosing. UK Universities requires you to take UKVI IELTS and it will also decide whether you will be accepted or not. The required score for IELTS in the UK are generally 6 to 6.5.

3. Announcement

Usually, they will contact you directly through email. Each campus takes varied timing on when they will get back to you. It can take about a week, up to two weeks, or even two months. SO be very patient even though other campuses have replied to you.

4. I’m accepted, what should I do next?

Congratulations! They will usually ask you to gather the rest of the document needed, and they will send you step by steps on how to pay, your place is secured once you made payments to the university.

The next superduperimportantmostnecessarysensitivematter you have to go through is APPLYING A STUDENT VISA. This might be the right time to call out for help, because it is way more complicated and more sensitive than applying a tourist visa (and also I don’t remember the required documents).

Peace out!

(Hope this helps <3)

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, by Unknown

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