Disappointing Kopi Club

It has been few months back since I last visited Kopi Club, a cafe restaurant located in Plaza Lowyat that serves local delights. I normally go for their 'nasi ayam goreng panas with coffee'. I like the taste of their fried chicken, big whole leg serving and a choice of coffee or tea for only RM12.90 (excluding service charge).

Today, I feel like having fried chicken and went for the it. Such a disappointing decision made. The service was bad, price gone up and portion shrink. The staffs, most of them were arrogant and ignorance to the customers. The price for my 'used-to-be' favourite nasi ayam goreng panas with coffee is now RM14.50 before service charge (have to pay for that kind of service?!); and lastly, the fried chicken...much smaller and it doesn't taste like how it used to be.

Well, we don't mind if the price increases due to costs, but can they maintain the quality or, at least more pleasant to the customers?! What say you?

Fine Dining, Anyone?

Do you like fine dining? 

Before you answer this question, let's have a better understanding of what is fine dining.

Fine dining restaurants offers full service restaurant with very specific meal courses. The restaurants normally feature high quality materials, well-trained wait staffs and even a complete cutlery for dedicated food. The physical evidence of a fine dining restaurants are much more eye-catching with unique interior design, specifically crafted by the restaurateur.

Sounds good? 

To enjoy fine dining, you will need to follow certain rules of dining which guests are generally expected to comply with, including a dress code and dining etiquette. I think all these are the unique proposition of fine dining and the worthiness of it as being served exclusively in a distinctive restaurant.

How about the food?

This is the most subjective question to answer in fine dining. The food served in fine dining are normally categorised as culinary art. Yes, it is an 'art' where the food portions are usually 'visually' appealing.

Risotto with Lamb

Actual portion.

What say you about Fine Dining - the culinary art?

Dinning, Socialising or Watching Drama?

The advancement of information technology is a breakthrough in improving our social lifestyle and productivity. That is why hardware manufacturers keep on investing and introducing more powerful processors to support multi-tasking environment. Hence, these technologies has change our lifestyle and allowing many of us live in the world of multi-tasking.

Try to observe around you the next time you go for lunch or dinner. You may easily spot a family or couple like this: A couple having their dinner in a local restaurant, didn't talk to each other but started to watch something on the tablet after ordering their food. Both were doing something on their devices throughout the entire dinning process (multi-tasking).

What is Plane Water?

We all make mistake; there is nothing wrong about it because nobody is perfect. However, we cannot give ourself excuses and accept mistakes. Some mistakes can be drastic and could trigger big problem in some settings. Therefore, we need to always remind ourself to minimise our mistake and to reduce the damage of our carelessness to the lowest; for your work or personal life.

As a student, you may think why your lecturers always ask you to check and check and check your work before submitting it. Well, this is to train you to be more careful and meticulous; and be responsible for your own work. The moment you graduated and started working with any employer, your carelessness may cause severe problems to the organisation performance (directly or indirectly).

See what happen when a Hong Kong style restaurant in Kuala Lumpur charging RM3.00 for a glass of 'PLANE' water! I wonder what is so special with this beverage.

Thanks to Ms Eunice Tai for allowing me to share her first experience of consuming the very special 'Plane' water

 

Computer Breakdown, Restaurant Closed

Do you know what is the impact of Information Technology (IT) can have on your business? I think the impact could be very drastic because I saw this pizza restaurant at Berjaya Times Square closed since yesterday. All the staffs are there, but there is this A4 paper placed at the center to the entrance saying 'Closed, Computer Breakdown'.

Could't take a clear shot on the notice at the center because the staffs are looking at me...anyway, it says ' CLOSE, COMPUTER BREAKDOWN'

Today I saw some technician fixing something near the cashier.

See how important is IT in business, even a pizza restaurant that serves food and beverages, cannot operate because of computer breakdown. I wonder what roles does a computer does, that can caused the entire restaurant to come to a standstill.

Is this a norm to all the F&B outlets to close if there is a problem with the Point-of-Sales (POS) or 'computer'?

Cultural Diversity

While I was having dinner at Madam Kwan restaurant in Pavilion shopping mall, I saw a couple came in and seated next to my table. Immediately, the guy took off his shoe and put his leg on the chair while going through the menu. People around, including the staffs were shocked.

Minutes later, when their orders came, the girl also did the same thing; took off her slippers and put her leg on the chair too. While she was eating, she starts to shake her legs (sorry, I didn't take any photo because my Lumia cannot take it). I guess she was enjoying the food while satisfying her self-actualisation needs.

At this point of time, you may be wondering where do they come from. Very obvious, they are not Malaysian. Surprisingly, this couple is from Korea. I do have Korean friends and taught some Korean students before but I don't think anyone of them will sit and shake legs like this couple. Dealing with international culture and diversity are always challenging. There are a lot for us to understand and to study in order for us to deal with the international stakeholders in business.

For some, this behaviour might be acceptable; but for others, they may get offended. I can 'simply say' that we all should respect and adapt to the local culture or practices wherever we go. Even when someone tells you to make yourself like home, that doesn't mean you can do anything you like. Having some sense of respect and courtesy to learn the local customs may helps to create an esprit de corps environment.

No offence to this couple, but it is something good for all of us to ponder on.