Hmm...turns out that we were not able to get a seat at Kichi Kichi @ Ngee Ann City, or better known as Takashimaya. It was fully booked! What did we expect? It was after all, a Friday night! We forgot to make a reservation and we ended up at Seoul Garden instead.
It brought back memories albeit different ones. One of my Primary school friends (Karen) said it brought back memories of her polytechnic days while I remembered not liking it much when I was younger but had a memorable time at another branch last year with my new colleagues during our annual staff gathering.
We were so hungry that we dug in even before the soup arrived. Ooops! Is this turning out to be a food critique post? Well, let me just add that the cashier, by the name of Simon, was very efficient and professional too.
In a place like Seoul Garden Table BBQ, one would expect the service to be quite standard and should be nothing out of the ordinary. But I must add that they were good with making everything quite seamless and they almost felt invisible as they moved about clearing plates and adding soups. Must be their black polo shirts that did the trick.
Anyway, it was almost 8.30pm when we sat down to eat and we were so hungry that I did not take any pics. Sorry, next time!
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Next change...
Next restaurant: Kichi Kichi @ Takashimaya
Will be going there tomorrow to meet up with my Primary school friends. Will update on their service level and critique on their food then!
Will be going there tomorrow to meet up with my Primary school friends. Will update on their service level and critique on their food then!
Salad Stop! Part 2 & 3
Tuesday night, after I cut my hair at Creme Hairdressing at Square 2, I decided to give Salad Stop! a try. Service is still just as not-nice as I ordered the food from the slimmer Filipina lady, the plumper one went to roll down the shutters. Oops! I almost did not get to order my food.
The thing is, I did not order the create your own salad salad. I ordered Omega-3 Baby, which was one of their "signature salads" (i.e. if they have prescribed ingredients already. Don't need to crack your brains).
Turns out that they were running out of a lot of ingredients, but they had it in their fridge though so the lady had to go in and out of their private kitchen. I also asked whether they still had soup or not (although I know that they had probably run out by then) and the answer was "no". I was fine with that.
I became not so fine when the plumper girl started talking to my SaladStopper (that is what they call their staff who makes the salad)in Tagalog. Although I did not understand what they said, but from the tone that she said it, it seemed like she was either mocking me for trying to order soup or that she must be telling her colleague how troublesome I was to order something that made them run in and out of the private kitchen.
Or maybe, I was just being my over sensitive self as I usually try to make a point of speaking a common language whenever a foreigner was around. Either way, I found it impolite to be doing this in front of me. They took quite awhile and I had wanted to apologise to the lady next in line. Then I thought, "Why should I? If anything, the SaladStopper should be the one, for she was half chatting away and she was not very sure what to put into the salad. Half the time, she is referring to the menu!"
Finally, she did apologise, but seemingly to the lady next in line and not to me (which I felt would be a right gesture. Aww! What the heck!) Even when she was saying sorry, she looked half-hearted.
Tonight, as I needed to see my Chinese doctor at an hour that is usually reserved for dinner, I had asked my mum to buy take-away from there for me. Novena Square is on the way to Pek Kio where my Chinese doc is and so mum went to get it for me. This time, through their website, I had asked mum to buy for me "Hail Ceasar". It is actually Ceasar salad, duh!
On seeing the packaging, it felt like a lot less than what I would get if I were to eat at the shop. Deep down inside I knew it was an optical illusion as the bowls that they have are quite deep and gives one the impression that one is digging into a bottomless pit. While the plastic bowl packaging was much rounder. It would actually amount to the same thing.
Nevertheless, I still gave mum the feedback (the one I just mentioned) and she reasoned the way that I was thinking in my mind (which is the optical illusion that I explained).
Regardless of the issue of portion size, the salad amazingly made me feel full! I am just a little upset that if I were to want to eat salad from that outlet in future, that I would have to brace myself for mediocre service.
By the way, those of you who are familiar with Novena Square, Salad Stop! is just diagonally opposite MPH, erm...next to the passage way to the rest rooms... .
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Salad Stop!
Went to eat at Salad Stop at Novena Square last Sunday. I did not actually eat anything as I had a super late breakfast and was still feeling real full.
I mean salads are nothing new but then this place offers a great variety of greens, beans and meats to go with the salad. You get to choose your own stuff that goes into your salad or wrap and they will then mix it all up for you.
There is nothing special about the service. You order at the counter and then bring your own food to your table. I believe that is counter service, if I am not wrong. Except this Filipina wait staff who was very black in face and even though I tried to make eye contact with her, she was cleverly trying to avoid it. Not very nice.
According to my Dad, she did not even offer to explain how the whole system works and he ended ordering certain items that he did not really want. However, he was afraid of holding up the queue and therefore chose what came into sight and mind first. Oh well, I will eat there soon but perhaps not so often as the prices are a little on the pricey side for just greens.
Will let you know once I have tasted it.
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Lena
Let me start from the latest food adventure and if I have the time, to work my way backwards.
My girlfriends and I met up yesterday and decided to go for Italian food. We have been 'cooking' so much in Cafe World that we have funny cravings. Or at least I do. We checked out this new place called Lena at Bugis Junction. It was under the Ministry of Food (MOF) chain and had taken over what used to be Aji Tei. Aji Tei is under the Ajisen group of restaurants. This is all very Japanese, I know. It somehow just is.
I had quite high expectations of it for it looked promisingly crowded the last time I passed by that place. I was rather hungry when I arrived and my friend and I, while waiting for the final one third of the threesome, had gone on ahead to order calamari fritters and the portion was a little pathetic for $7.
Next, came our mains. I ordered a spicy Aglio Olio (they have spelt is as Agilo Olio on their menu) with bacon and mushrooms. It was an olive oil based pasta. The plate/bowl was very big (especially the rims) but the portion, not quite enough to satisfy the appetite. I don't think I was the only one who felt this way. I think my friend who ordered the chicken pesto also felt a little short changed. Well, I suppose their disclaimers about the photos in the menu being an example and may not represent the real thing is true then.
Back to my aglio olio: when it came, the proportion of the flatware and the pasta already sent funny signals to my brains telling my stomach that I will not be too satisfied after finishing the pasta.
Next, even before I stirred the pasta, I saw lots of water/soup. This should not have been. It showed that the pasta was not drained properly before being fried and/or mixed with the bacon and mushrooms. Either that, they had cooked the mushrooms for too long and it had produced water, as mushrooms tend to do. Either way, it made the already-not-crispy bacon more soggy. Well, I suppose I am picky about my bacon too, but I shall leave that part of the argument for another day.
Halfway through my pasta, I could see my friend still feeling peckish and I asked if we would like to order a pizza to share. We all agreed, ordered and waited, and waited, and waited. It felt like an eternity and I felt a little way too long, even for pizza. The least staff could do was to check in on us from time to time and not leave us on the lurch like that. We had to ask them to check our order for us before the pizza made its appearance. They were more interested in trying to sell us the membership card rather than care about our dining experience, I feel.
By then, I was full from waiting and the pizza did not go down that well as when compared to say, if I were still half hungry. The pizza we ordered was smoked salmon and it was actually not bad.
Water costs $0.50 and even though we asked for warm water, it was tepid. They were also not attentive enough to refill our water. My other friend had to call them on two occasions to come and fill up our cups. Service standards fail!
Even as one of the waitresses tried to sell us the membership card again as we were paying, she sounded mechanic and was trying to regurgitate everything that she had memorised. Either that or she had repeated herself too many times. We did not get the membership card, which was $10.
I do not think I will be going back there any time soon. Maybe for the pizzas but I think I will be able to find other choices and perhaps a better service experience?
p/s: check out the reviews of Lenas at the hungry go where website. Really goes to show that I am not that picky after all :)
My girlfriends and I met up yesterday and decided to go for Italian food. We have been 'cooking' so much in Cafe World that we have funny cravings. Or at least I do. We checked out this new place called Lena at Bugis Junction. It was under the Ministry of Food (MOF) chain and had taken over what used to be Aji Tei. Aji Tei is under the Ajisen group of restaurants. This is all very Japanese, I know. It somehow just is.
I had quite high expectations of it for it looked promisingly crowded the last time I passed by that place. I was rather hungry when I arrived and my friend and I, while waiting for the final one third of the threesome, had gone on ahead to order calamari fritters and the portion was a little pathetic for $7.
Next, came our mains. I ordered a spicy Aglio Olio (they have spelt is as Agilo Olio on their menu) with bacon and mushrooms. It was an olive oil based pasta. The plate/bowl was very big (especially the rims) but the portion, not quite enough to satisfy the appetite. I don't think I was the only one who felt this way. I think my friend who ordered the chicken pesto also felt a little short changed. Well, I suppose their disclaimers about the photos in the menu being an example and may not represent the real thing is true then.
Back to my aglio olio: when it came, the proportion of the flatware and the pasta already sent funny signals to my brains telling my stomach that I will not be too satisfied after finishing the pasta.
Next, even before I stirred the pasta, I saw lots of water/soup. This should not have been. It showed that the pasta was not drained properly before being fried and/or mixed with the bacon and mushrooms. Either that, they had cooked the mushrooms for too long and it had produced water, as mushrooms tend to do. Either way, it made the already-not-crispy bacon more soggy. Well, I suppose I am picky about my bacon too, but I shall leave that part of the argument for another day.
Halfway through my pasta, I could see my friend still feeling peckish and I asked if we would like to order a pizza to share. We all agreed, ordered and waited, and waited, and waited. It felt like an eternity and I felt a little way too long, even for pizza. The least staff could do was to check in on us from time to time and not leave us on the lurch like that. We had to ask them to check our order for us before the pizza made its appearance. They were more interested in trying to sell us the membership card rather than care about our dining experience, I feel.
By then, I was full from waiting and the pizza did not go down that well as when compared to say, if I were still half hungry. The pizza we ordered was smoked salmon and it was actually not bad.
Water costs $0.50 and even though we asked for warm water, it was tepid. They were also not attentive enough to refill our water. My other friend had to call them on two occasions to come and fill up our cups. Service standards fail!
Even as one of the waitresses tried to sell us the membership card again as we were paying, she sounded mechanic and was trying to regurgitate everything that she had memorised. Either that or she had repeated herself too many times. We did not get the membership card, which was $10.
I do not think I will be going back there any time soon. Maybe for the pizzas but I think I will be able to find other choices and perhaps a better service experience?
p/s: check out the reviews of Lenas at the hungry go where website. Really goes to show that I am not that picky after all :)
The essence of this blog
Service! It is an English word, and yet, it is also a French word. It can mean "waiter" in French and if you say it as "a votre service" in French, it means "don't mention it" or "not at all".
How polite. Yet, here in the Little Red Dot of an island called Singapore, I personally find that service is far from dandy. It really mars the whole experience of whatever we are doing; in my case, eating.
This blog was started because of two girlfriends, who are probably very fed up (by now) with my grumbles and scrunched up face every time we go out and eat. My apologies, ladies. I shall try to be more accommodating next time.
Being an ex-wait person who worked overseas and in some hotels here, I just feel that more could be done. The government themselves are trying to up the service levels of service personnels as we speak!
I would not say that I would be a 100% good if I were to do the job now (as I am a little rusty) but as long as I am a customer sitting in a restaurant/cafe/eatery, I have the right to demand for basic, if not good service.
Let this adventure begin and let's see what joys, tears, laughter it will bring. Food is very much enjoyed when friends gather around to eat. Let us just see, if the wait staff can make our memories all the more sweet.
How polite. Yet, here in the Little Red Dot of an island called Singapore, I personally find that service is far from dandy. It really mars the whole experience of whatever we are doing; in my case, eating.
This blog was started because of two girlfriends, who are probably very fed up (by now) with my grumbles and scrunched up face every time we go out and eat. My apologies, ladies. I shall try to be more accommodating next time.
Being an ex-wait person who worked overseas and in some hotels here, I just feel that more could be done. The government themselves are trying to up the service levels of service personnels as we speak!
I would not say that I would be a 100% good if I were to do the job now (as I am a little rusty) but as long as I am a customer sitting in a restaurant/cafe/eatery, I have the right to demand for basic, if not good service.
Let this adventure begin and let's see what joys, tears, laughter it will bring. Food is very much enjoyed when friends gather around to eat. Let us just see, if the wait staff can make our memories all the more sweet.
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