Mowabi

Be amused at A’mews

Sunday, 11th May 2008 by Admin

Food standards are always hard to judge. Some reviews you take with a grain of salt, some you don’t. Recently, a lady at work recommended this small restaurant in Glebe in Sydney. She said “It’s fantastic, you gotta try it!” So with trepidation, I set off with a few friends to try this place.

It’s a hard place to miss - I walked passed it a few times before looking again! When we arrived, the restaurant manager greeted us with a warm and bubbly welcome. We were seated in the upstairs loft and were presented some mouth watering menu items! Throwing caution to the wind, we ordered the 6 course de-gustation menu determined by the chef!

The night we went scallops, quail and other delicious morsels were presented. The staff were unassuming and before I knew it, I had a glass or two or three wines and an excellent cheese board selection. The final flourish, a platter of little desserts was just a lovely highlight and thoroughly devoured.

At around $70 a head, definitely thought it was well priced and well worth the dining experience.

To see for yourself, suggest you visit A’Mews

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Do not buy chocolates from Vanderwee Chocolates

Tuesday, 25th March 2008 by aixingioro

I don’t usually get riled up enough to actually bad mouth a business – but will gladly do so on this occasion.

The whole saga began when I rang Vanderwee Chocolates to order some chocolates for a friend. The amount which I wanted to spend was not available on the website, so I thought I would order over the phone. The owner advised me to select a box and place that order through their website but specify the amount I wanted to spend and they could do so for me.

So I followed his advice. Then I received an invoice – not for the amount I specified but for the amount of the box which I selected. Concerned, I rang Vanderwee and asked about the discrepancy between the invoice and what I specified. I was told that the owner had made up the box and everything was fine.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed that they have charged the box amount and not the specified amount on my credit card.

Now this amount is very trivia – only $4. So I rang the shop to tell them it is bad business practice to advise your customer one thing and to do another.

This is where the whole incident becomes farcical. The first thing the owner said to me was well they were very busy that week and if they had taken the time out to do what everyone wants them to do, they wouldn’t have been able to get out the number of orders they did. Mind you, this was not said in the apologetic tone of voice either.

When I suggested that that it may be bad business practice to advise one thing and then do another, the owner asked what did I ordered? I said I ordered the $24 box but specified that I wanted a $20 box and if it was not possible, then to call me and confirm. This was when he suggested that it was bad business practice on MY part to do so. He said that I should have read the website more closely and I would see that it was not possible to do a $20 box (remember why I rang Vanderwee in the first place). He then went into a rant about how they didn’t charge me a delivery fee. When I mentioned that the box was being picked up, he said yes but they had to deliver the order from one store to another. Now I could be wrong when I thought that internal delivery is the issue of the business and not the customer??? …. (Check out the delivery policy on their website www.vanderwee.com).

Then the owner raved on about how if I read the website properly, I would have seen that the minimum fee charged was $25 (in which case, why do they have presents for $10?).

Finally, he said that what I am after is the $4 refund. He was not too impressed when I said no I did not want the $4 refund - what I wanted was an apology or an acknowledgement that they did not do the right thing this time. Instead he told me that I have the dubious distinction of being the first customer to complain about their services in the 12 years they have been opened. Personally I doubt that – if he treated everyone the way he treated me, there must be more complaints.

I guess my point is what sort of society have we become when we pay money for bad customer service? Now Vanderwee may have many customers of whom I am only one. But that does not invalidate my status as a customer (ex-customer now). For them to be so secure in telling me that I should be sure to get their correct details so that I can tell friends and family not to buy their stuff reeks of arrogance.

Equally dismissive was the owner’s statement that if I can’t afford the chocolates, I shouldn’t be buying it. The irony of the whole saga is that I have bought their chocolates in the past and would have continued doing so regardless of the cost. However bad customer attitude is not one of the costs I am prepared to pay. So if anyone out there agrees, do not buy chocolates from Vanderwee. After all there are plenty of good chocolate shops out there with better customer service.

Now excuse me while I brush up on my Fair Trading Act…..

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the underground

Tuesday, 26th June 2007 by Jay

When I was in London, I was always so keen to get out of the tube stations. So stuffy, dirty and just icky. I was bemused when I realised that here in Singapore I am keen to get into the nice cool MRT stations out of the stinking heat and humidity. The trains themselves are even cooler than the stations! I’m not sure why it is so different from London. I guess the tube network is much older there - and caters for a supposedly cold climate. Of course it’s not always that cold 200m underground.

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For the price of a cup of coffee

Thursday, 7th June 2007 by Jay

This morning I bought a coffee from Starbucks… scoff if you will, but trust me - I reckon that the coffee selection here in London is limited. Well, there is a lot to choose from, but the quality is some what lacking. I suspect that this has something to do with the number of franchise places that sell coffee… and partly to do with the hard water. Anyway, the reason I sometimes get Starbuck’s is because I quite like filter coffee and as long as it’s fresh - it’s much harder to stuff up than espresso.

So this morning I noticed that the price of my grande drip coffee had risen from £1.65 to £1.75. I have been here for about fifteen months and this is the second rise I have seen (when I first arrived it was £1.5– something). Now in the scheme of things, £1.75 is pretty good for a coffee in London. I reckon you can expect to pay anywhere between £2 - £2.50 for an espresso coffee in most places.

People say that I should stop converting currency in my head… but I still do. £2 is an expensive coffee in AU$ ! And yes, I do earn a lot more over here - so perhaps it’s relative.

London certainly is an expensive place. There are lots of people here trying to make a buck or two. Is London the financial capital of the world? Does it exceed say NY in that regard? There is so much money floating around here… it streches from the exceedingly wealthy investment bankers - all the way down to the street cleaners. No wonder so many people see it as a place to seek their fortune.

Anyway, I’m not quite sure what… but I think that there is something significant about the price of that coffee.

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LOTR Stage Production

Sunday, 27th May 2007 by Jay

Last week I went and saw a Lord of the Rings stage production at the Theatre Royal Dury Lane (London).

It is a musical. Before I went, i couldn’t work out if “stage production” implied “musical” or not.. but just to avoid anyone else’s confusion - there was definately lots of singing and dancing.

I’m too lazy to go into too much detail… but all in all - I don’t think that the story translates terribly well to stage.

There were contrived scenes for song and dance… and some of these were way too long (take note of the prancing pony, the ents, and the hobbits in the shadow of mount doom)

None of the characters were terribly likable, dislikable or moving in any way… and much of the epic grandeur of the story seems to be lost. The characters looked the part… but i’m not sure if it was the actors or their dialogue that made them seem just a little bit flat.

I will say that some of the liberties taken with the plot itself - were quite understandable. Most of this involved cutting out sections of story - but I do think the general flow from end to end still worked. We still had to sit there for three hours.

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Be amused at A’mews

Do not buy chocolates from Vanderwee Chocolates

the underground

For the price of a cup of coffee

LOTR Stage Production

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