Sunday, May 31, 2009

Sak@e Sushi value for money?

Today I had lunch at Sak@e Sushi in 1 Utama. It was 5 minutes to opening time and the roller shutter was partway open. We knocked on the glass and spoke with the Manager about coming in to eat already. She said, I don't open until 11.30am cos my kitchen is not ready yet.

Fine, even though there was already plenty of little plates on the kaiten belt, she was very sure we would need to order from the kitchen and the kitchen wasn't ready yet.....not to mention, the very act of us getting in after the roller shutter is fully open (we aren't going to rush in by ducking under the roller shutter like neanderthals!), sitting down, them getting us our empty cups and us looking through the menu to actually decide what we want to order would have taken us more than 5 minutes - at least!

So whatever, here's a manager who plays by the books and is of the old school - customers aren't that important when I am following the rules my company sets me! Whatever......

I took a plate of inari skin filled with, of course, rice and layered on top with egg mayo. It was artfully arranged on the plate. One facing up, looking all nice and cheery and yellow with some roe and the other piece facing down. I've eaten in a lot of japanese fast food places and restaurants....I usually expect both pieces to have some stuff on it - especially when I'm paying RM3.90 and not RM2 for a plate.

Imagine my surprise, and I may be an imbecile or a really naive customer here but one piece was empty!!!!! EMPTY!!! JH said it's cost cutting to the max. I agree - do you?!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

BOOKCROSSING AT 1U!!!

i LOVE books! Absolutely! I read almost anything - except self help and religious and boring stuff! hahahhahahah.

And now I am absolutely tickled pink and gloriously happy that 1Utama has become the first mall in Asia to launch Book Crossing! What is that? Well, for the short version of it - where you don't have to click this link - it's basically where book lovers 'release' books into the wild (read: public) and more and more people get to read different books. I think it's superb in Malaysia where books are so expensive.

My only fear is that all the good books (definition by me!) are taken and never released again and all that are left are the 'Chemistry for Scientific Dummies' or 'The History of The Computer Mouse'. That is quite likely to happen in Malaysia - though I would hope that book lovers will already understand the joy reading a book brings and be expansive and kind enough to take books, give some books in return and release books they have already read!!!! PLEASE I BEG YOU!!!!!!

I'm definitely crossing some books - and I can't wait to read yours!

(P.S. I haven't actually gone to the corner yet but I will and will report back what I hope will be good news).

The Book Crossing corner is supposed to be at the Ground floor High Street near Parkson and Zara, New Wing.....

Monday, May 18, 2009

When the Big Bad Wolf comes a-calling

I spent some money at the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale this past weekend. They had advertised that they were going to throw a book sale the way it should be thrown – with real discounts and real deals to attract new readers and to reward existing book lovers.

It’s great going to a book sale – cheap books are a real treasure in a country where a slim paperback can set you back RM40 and the slimness of the book means you can finish it in one day! Some people may find this ok but I prefer to find good deals so I visit places like second hand bookstores and for a long time, I loved ‘Novel House’ available in Penang and KL but now, sadly – they’ve ALL closed down!!! WHY OH WHY!!!!!!!!

Anyway, books were mostly selling at RM8 at the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale with some special ones and children’s books too going at RM3 or RM5……The place was air conditioned and the staff were helpful. The ONLY thing I would ask for for anybody having a book sale is the arrangement of books by genre ….. but it seems a very hard thing to do – I guess cos the stock comes in boxes all jumbled up already…..

But all in all – I bought 8 books for a grand total of RM64 and I would have bought more if only I had space for storage!

Thanks Big Bad Wolf!