I Have An Announcement to Make...

I had one of the loveliest new year eve’s eve dinner. We decided to celebrate a day earlier as a few of us will be travelling on the 1st, hence they need some time on the 31st. Although the dinner was not the ideal (that would’ve been impossible) but it had to be one of the better one for me at least in the past couple of years.

The best term to describe that dinner session would be ‘One Client & 4 Agencies’. There are five of us, one working in the client side, two from competing agencies and another two are currently freelancers.

The place was Italianies, in Gardens, one of the new shopping mall next to Mid Valley. We were seated at the corner with a very good view especially when the large drain outside looked like a small river at night. LOL!

The food was great. We had Caesar salad, which to be is pretty standard, the Bruschetta was very good and so was the Roasted Red Pepper, juicy and sweet. Perhaps we were relatively late that the restaurant ran out of a few items on the menu. For main, we had Magharita Pizza, which was quite good. The taste was just right. The spaghetti came with a real huge portion and everything just went well with the 2007 Sauvignon Blanc white wine.

The only weak point came from the Service. The crew who serve us was quite good initially, being very patient with our indecisiveness but he soon turns out to be quite unreliable as a few of our requests were repeatedly ignore. I don’t really blame him as he was also serving a few other tables, which indicate the lack of resources. A very common issue in KL. Here’s some of the few things he did that annoy our ‘Client’.

We asked him to set up for our fifth member who came late, fashionably as always, a few times but was very much ignored. The complimentary bread which was supposedly and had to be the first appetizer to be placed on our table was somehow one of the last one. All we had was the plate of olive oil to stare at. We did inform him about it but again was repeatedly ignored.

Opening the wine was another near disaster. For a restaurant who serve wine, I would have expected the crew to be well trained. Bringing the bottle with one wine glass to our table, and then return later with the other three somehow reflected the staff lack of knowledge. Took a while for him to open the wine and probably nervous, he ended up serving the wine to three out of the four glasses. Hmmmmm……..

Our friend, the Client, decided to behave like a Client and make some bitchy complaints to the Manager while the four Agencies, behaving like Agencies just kept quite and listen to the Client complaints.

The Manager behaving like a well-trained Manager, did make sure our evening was not totally ruined as he switched an experience crew to our table and offered us two lovely desserts. Both the Cappucino Pie (which was an ice-cream cake) and the Cheesecake were really good. And we had a good time that night.

I don’t mind returning to this restaurant again. And so is our ‘Client’.

p/s ATO, wish you were here.

Entering Bates Motel…A Series of Unfortunate Meals

Well, I normally do not do this, i.e writing this review after a few days of the visit but I had no choice since I was down with food poisoning. Not that I’m pointing fingers at any parties since food poisoning is kinda complicated when you have so many touch points across the day and it usually starts within an hour and up to 48 hours after consumption. So I have to track back my trail with a few possibilities came up. Again not naming names.

But anyway, this is supposed to be about FoodWave. It’s my second visit to this restaurant. While I’m not trying to be bias but one just can’t stop me from comparing my recent experiences with FoodLoft back in Bangkok.

One thing that I like about this restaurant is its seaview, especially when it’s not too bright and windy, that it kinda give you that calm peaceful moment that one would enjoy. Sadly, the positive part of this restaurant stops here.

As I reached the entrance, the male staff after giving me the standard ‘wai’ greeting but with a straight face, passed me a card without saying anything. Or perhaps I looked like a local, that one would assumed I knew how the system work. Since the sun has yet to set, both my friend and I decided to find a table at the open air section.

It actually took us more than 5 minutes before we realized that the staffs don’t really bother patrons at the open air section. We had a debate if we should switch to the indoor or to wait. Fortunately, a staff came out to serve a table nearby that we managed to get her interest. And this is how it went:

Us: Hi. What’s the table number?
Staff: HUH?! (mouth kinda widely open, with a WTF expression)
Us: (slowly and clearly). Table number.
Staff: Oh. (She scribbled something at the back of our card and left).

Time for food. Went to the Chinese stall. The staff there was okay, trying to check if I need help. Ordered the Egg Noodles with Barbeque Pork. Sadly the Taro Dumpling was not available. So I had the Fried Prawn Dumpling. Also had the Jasmine Tea but again, it doesn’t come in a pot.

The noodle arrived shortly after. Looked okay but as the saying…never judge a book by its cover. It was bloody salty. Nothing but salty. And the worst part, the vegetable is cold. I’m awared that most restaurants will normally pre-cooked the vegetables but at least have some sense in putting it back into the boiling water for a few seconds before serving. The prawn dumpling came much later. Hot and crispy it was, but salty it was too. Is salt getting cheaper these days?

The rest of the experience is something that I don’t truly enjoy mainly due to the food poisoning taken into effect. But then, it’s not really the restaurant fault.

Overall, excluding the latter part of the evening, there’s one feeling that I got throughout the visit. And funnily, it’s unexplainable. It’s like something is not right with the place but you just can’t point it out. Imagine we were in those horror movies, that when we reached the haunted house or hotel, we had that creepy feeling that something is amiss but we can’t clearly figure it out. To use the word ‘Creepy’ is a bit exaggerated but then again, I just can’t find any better word to describe the staff, with the relatively unwelcome yet not disinterested facial expression.

I did mention about comparing with FoodLoft earlier. While the price is much more premium but the service is really excellent. The staff was attentive, put a ‘reserved’ sign on your table straight away, so that we could leave the table and order our food without worries. And if the staff noticed that we were walking with our food, he/she will make an effort to assist us. But then again, perhaps I shouldn’t compare since it’s unfair to tell a tangerine to act like an orange.

Brunch A Munch!

Sunday morning...no food left for breakfast...still felt mentally retarded...need BRUNCH!

That need kinda scared me considering my new place here is quite a boring place with not much nice restaurants to go for. Well...Tesco sucks. Emporium is too far and need proper dressing.

Luckily, there's this cafe about 15 minutes down the road...it's located at the much happening side of Phra Kanong. My condo is located in the so not happening side while there are more shops at the other end.

This cafe is called M-Coffee and Bakery. Nothing special but at least acceptable ambience, small but not really boutique-ish...but the cafe do have a full fledge of varieties of F&B. Wanted a cold drink, so I order the Ice Hazelnut Latte and a Waffle with Strawberry Ice Cream since they ran out of Blueberry ice cream. Overall not bad but I had taste better Waffles in Bug&Bee and I believed Black Canyon Coffee taste much better.

But...considering it's the only cafe around here, I guess it will have to do to enjoy a quiet Sunday brunch. Cost me 135 baht...not too expensive but not cheap either. Very the McCafe price. But I think i will make this my regular Sunday brunch outlet...continue to try out more of their menu and then come back and complain about it here.

I so miss the Cafe in Pnomh Penh...

Of Beauty, the Beast and the supporting characters

Few weeks ago, i've been invited to visit Pattaya to check out a famous restaurant there and I automatically agreed and took it as a paid-holiday assignment. Since it was a dinner assignment, there was a little dilemma of what time should that be but in the end, we decided to give 6pm a go as we were quite tired and hungry after the 4 hours travelling from Bangkok.

As we reached our target venue, we were 'greeted' by the host, which her role seemed to only pass out the card to all patrons without really advising them what to do with it as if we can read her mind. Well, being in Bangkok for a certain period as well as having experience with Food Loft, we were quite aware of such concept.

To our surprise, the restaurant was quite empty and quite. And because the day was getting dark, we couldn't really enjoy the seaview, hence we decided to sit inside the main hall. Overall, the ambience was literally quiet and cold. We believed the total patrons during that time were less than 10. Despite that, it took the staff sometime to come to our table and put the table number onto our pre-assigned food card.

Without much further ado, we went our different route to explore the restaurant of its food offered. A few visits to different stalls, we decided to go western and Vietnamese. I took the liberty in order the Chicken chop while my companion ordered the infamous Vietnamese pancake. Both orders seemed to went smoothly without much problem though the staff manning the counter could have be a bit more welcoming, at least with a smile or a 'hi'.

However, the most interesting part of the evening had to come from the beverage counter. Since it was relatively cold, i was thinking of getting something hot. And since the menu are mostly cold drinks, I asked a simple question of "Do you have something hot?" to the staff and all I got was a 'What?' response. Perhaps the question was a bit lengthy for him to digest, I shortened it to just one word "Hot?" but still failed. Finally, I went more specific and said 'Hot tea' of then he asked me to go to the opposite counter to order. And i thought this was supposed to be a beverage counter. Should be much appropriate to have a sign that said 'Cold Beverage Counter'. I decided to change my mind and order a Fresh Coconut instead. Until now, I still could not understand how could the word 'Coconut' could possibly become 'Chocolate' considering the pronounciation is relatively different. I already had some doubt when he asked me if I wanted Ice to go with my coconut, which I said no. He came back with a glass of cold chocolate. Not sure if I should laugh or cry.

After finishing our meal, we decided to order again, this time we went to the 'dim sum' counter. Perhaps the best out of the three as the female staff was all smile and welcoming. Sadly, it took more than 15 minutes for our three plates of 'dim sum' to arrive and it's quite salty too, especially the Fried Prawn Dumpling.

As the time reaching 7'o clock, the restaurant start to get busy with customers and this is where the service, I believed started to deteriorate. While the Supervisor was very focus and busy attending customers, however, her face was quite serious and at times including the way she stands while assisting the customers. I'm not going to explain how one should stand but perhaps the management could treat their staff to a nice restaurant in Bangkok and observe how professional staff actually service the customers.

And the presentation of the food, it's just too oily. When the Vietnamese pancake arrived, we can clearly saw drips of oil splattered all over the plate and as I picked the plate, my finger easily touched the oil. Similarly the Chicken Chop, I believed, the chef could have absorb the oil from the chicken with those kitchen towel before sending it to customers. Currently, it's as if it's dip into hot oil, pick it up and drop onto the plate and send it out. And let's not go to the french fries. It's unmentionable.

And coming back to the topic of the service deteriorated, it was the cleaning part. With more customers leaving, most of the tables were left uncleaned for more than 10 minutes. And when the staff decided to clean it, all they did are to transfer all the dirty plates and tissues into one table. And that table had to be the table in front of me. Imagine enjoying your meal while facing a stack of dirty plates and used tissue. Speechless.

Oh...and coming back to the title of this entry. In Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the Beast at the end turned into the prince charming while all the supporting characters returned to human form. And if Food Wave is the castle and the customers are the 'Belles', the Beast and the supporting characters will have a lot to do to ensure the 'Belles' finally see the beauty behind the Beast.

One simple and easy advice, please visit Starbucks next door, and learned from them, how they service their patrons and the effort they put in upselling and cross-selling.

Even Stars had its Flaws

It was Friday, the end of the work week. Crazy morning & afternoon. So when a client called for dinner & drinks, I just grab it. Can't blame me for that since she wanted to introduce me to her colleague of which I've been communicating for a potential bio-tech study weeks ago and it has been a while since we last went out for dinner/drinks. In addition, I also need to inform her about my MD's decision of rejecting her invitation for participating in her global seminar early Dec.

anyway, she was meeting with the event manager of Marriott Resorts and Spa to run through the venues and stuff, so she decided to have the dinner and drinks there as well. Initially, we planned to have it at one the main restaurant, serving barbequed seafood but it was just too packed and hot that we decided to move to another restaurant within this spacious and beautiful hotel.

It's called the Traver's Din. A very nice restaurant with quite interesting menu from Asian to western. even the drinks are a plenty, including one that called Suffering Bastard. I just go safe and order my usual Mojito, which was not bad but could have been better in terms of the presentation as well as the drink itself. Firstly the glass that it came with looks too normal and cheap, like some normal clear glass one would get in the Chinese restaurant. It should have come in a high tall glass. As I sip the drink from the straw, my tongue felt something sandy from it. Upon further checking, it's sugar. A good cocktail bartender would have make sure the drink is well mixed and prepared. Still can't beat Sirocco at that.

The event manager ordered for us some appetizers which were not that exciting or unique but the BBQ ribs is excellent. Tender meat with the right sweet bbq sauce. However, an area that the staff was careless on is the condiment plate. Although it's only a condiment, presentation of this aspect is also important considering the status of the restaurant. There was mustard on the side of the plate, some kind of stain as well. Just doesn't look proper.

As for the main meal, I have the San Francisco Prawns, price at 750baht, mind you. Since it is a fine dining restaurant, one would have expect a long wait for the main meal to arrive, which it did. As it arrived, the dish looks quite appealing, seven large prawn covered with orangie cream sauce and surrounded by asparagus and tomato. Then there's the side dish of warm white rice. Unlike Chinese meal where the rice is one of the main component, here the rice is simply thrown in as a side dish, like the baked potato or the chips when you ordered the steak.

The taste of the prawns was great. Fresh and succulent. And the sauce was just right. Not too creamy and not too salty, with a tinge of the sweet Chardonnay mixed in, just make it perfect.

Overall, I would give the experience a 7.5 out of 1o. 1 point for the loud music. I mean people are dining and chatting and we have to really shout to one another. 0.5 point for the condiment presentation and 1 point for the Mojito.

Well, we finally left the place at 11pm feeling well-fed and a good social session.

Next up, a restaurant in Pattaya. Beware, cause this heartless auditor is coming to town!

Generation Laptop-ers

It was kinda late, and I have yet to finish watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3, which was quite a lengthy movie, indeed. And then my friend arrived. To find a relatively nice place to hang out at night around my place is not that easy but also not too difficult. And since I’ve been planning to make a visit to this restaurant called Old Town for some time, I made it a point to take my friend there.

As we reached the place, we found that the ground floor was already crowded with people, young and old, properly dressed and ‘jinjang-ish’ dressed. Fortunately, the first floor still has some empty tables, but not a lot.

To my surprise, there are people with their laptops in this place. I mean, one will normally find these people in Starbucks…but a modern ‘kopitiam’? Hotspot available? I’m impressed!

Come to think of it, was it the place or was it the trend? Generally, to support the trend of the ‘laptop-ers’, the place need to have the right ambience and image, else one will be quite standout. But then, when the trend setters make it an acceptable place, then the trend will just simply be adapted.

Old Town White Coffee (the name of the restaurant) is not really a bad place but with its modern ‘kopitiam’ image, I still couldn’t accept it to be a place for us, the laptop-ers. Being a modern ‘kopitiam’ doesn’t mean it’s Starbucks. Or was it that I’ve been staying in Bangkok for the past few months, that I’m just getting outdated with the KL trend?

So, when has a modern kopitiam becoming a trendy, technology-friendly café? When has Old Town became the New Town?

Curiously Ridiculous

Was trying to find a word that ryhmes with ridiculous and the only one that came on top of my mind was curious...hence the aptly inappropriate title.

Anyway...don't ask me where I have been since it's been weeks since i've updated this blog. Anyway, this entry is about my favorite fast food restaurant. Unfortunately, this is a negative feedback.

Recently, McD begin changing a number of its outlets into McCafe outlets, which is a combination of the beloved fast food restaurant and a upmarket cafe. Imagine Starbucks+McDonalds (McBucks? StarDonalds?). Anyway, while the concept is good and supposed to expand its consumer base to cater for the yuppies but I just find the ordering of its products a bit annoying and ridiculous. Or am I the one that's being ridiculous?

Perhaps I was being spoilt by Starbucks that i would prefer a big mug of Coffee rather than a small shot (i.e the McD gourmet coffee). But at the same time, I like the McD burger menu. Therefore, I will end up ordering a burger or a McMuffin and then the a regular latte.

As a consumer, I would expect to just place the order with one cashier counter. But the McD management (at least here in Bangkok) have a different idea. They decide to separate the McCafe adn the McDonald's counters. Therefore, I will need to queue and order the latte from one counter, then move on for anoter queue and then order the burger from another counter. I really do not care what was the rationale behind such concept but from a consumer point of view, it's totally ridiculous.

I recalled in Malaysia, there's this McD outlet of which you have to order the dessert from the dessert counter, which is actually another ridiculous idea. The concept behind the Dessert Counter was to cater for On-the-Go consumers who just want a Sundae Cone or a McFlurry while those who want the full meal could go for the main counter.

Imagine if McD in Thailand applied the same ridiculous (have you counted how many times i have used the word 'ridiculous'?) concept, I'll will have to end up going to three counters (queue three times) just to have a burger, a latte and a dessert. It's RIDICULOUS!!!

And for the McD management who happened to be reading this, your McCafe concept kinda suck. Firstly you are no Starbucks, so don't go there. Offering WiFi means you encourage people to visit your outlets and used the laptop to surf the net for hours...but you don't provide plug points. Isn't that RIDICULOUS? It's like offering French Fried but no Ketchup. RIDICULOUS!

McD coffee at Starbucks price...RIDICULOUS!

Making People Happy Through Food

Yes, that is the tagline of the restaurant that I just had lunch in. Mountain Ocean Sun or better known as MOS. Finally making its entrance into Bangkok, MOS Burger is currently creating some buzz with long queue noted outside the restaurant. The long queue was due to the fact that it's like a fast food restaurant where one has to order and paid first. In addition, with only two counters, this will easily create a long queue. But a good strategy considering this will raise people's interest to visit the shop. Just like when Roti Boy first started.

A quick glance seems to indicate that around 25% of its patrons were Japanese. Not a suprise since MOS Burger is a Japanese restaurant (as one it describe, Fine Burger and Coffee) and it is located in Central World (of which Isetan is), easily catering for the Japanese tourist, expats and families.

So, here's my experience. I reached the shop at 12.30pm. The queue was about 15 minutes. During the queue, I was quite worried that there will not be any seats/tables available since quite a number of customers are still waiting for their order to arrive. Fortunately there are also people leaving.

I decide to sit at the back of the restaurant (which is kinda like outside of the shop). Even though this is a new shop, I'm annoyed by the fact that the table was not in a very good condition at all. It's like the table was not in a flat ground, easily sway in all N.E.S.W direction. I'm sure the staff are aware of the condition and yet they took no effort to stabilize it.

After waiting for 10 minutes, my glass of Coke arrived. And after another 10 minutes, my burger and fries arrived. Since this is a made-to-order concept, a 20 minutes wait is consider to be acceptable. Though a 10 minutes wait for the glass of soft drink is not. The fries is quite good, large pieces (unlike McD's tiny thin strips), reminds me of Nando's; and lightly salted (unlike McD's we-are-very-generous-with-our-sodium's). The burger was also quite tasty. Mustard was applied to the bun. Instead of the boring Mayo found in most burgers, MOS burger provide a unique tomato-onion paste. And the piece of thick fresh tomato was just excellent.

Generally, quite worth it for a price of 119 baht. Some quick recap:
Food: Great.
Service: Good except for that 10 minutes to prepare a glass of Coke.
Layout: Okay but not consistent. Please ensure all your tables are in good condition.

If you came alone, make sure you have some reading materials with you such as a book, magazine or newspapers. If you are on a rush, please visit McD which is located somewhere in the building or Toast Box, just a few steps away. Or perphaps try to visit during non-peak hours (i.e 3 or 4pm).

Talking About the Bread

After more than a year in Bangkok, I finally found a restaurant that provides Teh-C Ice. Not surprise since the shop originates from either Malaysia/Singapore. Located in one of the trendiest shopping mall in Bangkok, BreadTalk, perhaps is one of the trendiest bakery in town. Besides being a bakery, BreadTalk also operate a cafe like place, called Toast Box.

If you happen to be in Central World on the 3rd floor, you may notice a few banners indicating that ToastBox is now open with some very vague arrow guiding you to the shop. However, one you arrived at the area, you will not able to see a restaurant or cafe with ToastBox sign. Since I did not realise it was operated by BreadTalk, it took me a while to find it, after criss-crossing the arrows on the banner. The ToastBox sign is actually inside the shop, made of glass/plastic. If the shop intend to create awareness, it clearly fails. The management definitely need to firm up with its Marketing 101 knowledge.

The main menu in this shop is all about toast. For set menu, there are 3 sets, covering the Thick Toast set, the Traditional Toast set and the Soft Bun Toast set. Each set came with a Toast, 2 half-boiled eggs and a cup of hot beverage (i.e coffee or tea). And I'm quite impress of its flexibility of allowing me to change the hot drink to a cold one with additional of 10 baht only.

I ordered the Thick Toast set, with a thick piece of toast with peanut butter. the set cost me 100 baht. If i'm to order a similar set in a Kopitiam in KL, it would have cost me about RM5 (around 50 baht). Considering the shop is air-conditioned, nicely decorated, 100 baht seems quite okay for a brunch. Anyway, let's get to the food. The toast is quite nice, nothing extraordinary but nice. And they even cut the toast into squares so that you need not to use your hand or required a fork and knife to eat it. The amount of peanut butter is also quite generous. The only weakness maybe, it need to be toasted a little longer to have that crunchiness.

The eggs were okay. Not too rare and not too cooked. However, it was lukewarm when served. Perhaps the management could think of something to ensure it is hot. And please provide us with a bigger plate/bowl. I'm not sure how Thais eat their half-boiled egg but most Malaysian will scrambled it and dunk their toast in it. That's how we like it. And how can one not have the critical and compulsory Soya Sauce. Instead a dark vinegar was provided. Totally disappointed with this fact.

The Teh-C was okay. Taste just like one in kopitiam.

I'm definitely going back especially for the toast and Teh-C. Half boiled egg? I'll think about it.