I have not been having pizza at your outlets nor ordered delivery for a very long time. One reason that I have stopped eating at Pizza Hut is that the cheese-in-crust creations just comes across as a rip off.
Every time I walk by your restaurant, I see patrons with those cheese-in-crust abominations. I would always notice a circular race track wide enough for F1. That race track incidentally takes up half the surface area of the pizza, meaning the remaining half is occupied by toppings.
Referencing good pizzas from other pizza places, the average ratio of edge crust area to toppings area should be something like 1:12 or better. However, Pizza Hut pizzas have an atrocious ratio of 1:1 for your stuffed-crust abominations and 1:3 for your regular crust-without-stuffing pizzas.
Also referencing the same good pizzas from other pizza places, the average density of toppings per square inch, excluding cheese and tomato sauce is 4, compared to Pizza Hut's 0.8, with cheese and tomato sauce. This kind of standard is absolutely unacceptable.
Lastly, the price of your pizza is extremely unacceptable by global standards. You may argue that comparison should not be made at a grober level. But hey, that's how the the government likes to compare Singapore to the rest of the world. Back to the pricing. Pizzas in our western counterparts are sold at half the price and taste twice as good because there is double the toppings.
As a consumer, I am concerned that the future generations will never get to taste truly good pizzas because of the sub-standard food Pizza Hut makes. As such, I urge Pizza Hut to:
1. stop thinking about those stuffed-crust rip-offs 2. stop cutting costs on toppings 3. start slashing prices for their pizzas to be competitive groberly
Thank you for reading. I hope the management will seriously reconsider their strategies for Pizza Hut while finding humour in this letter.
For those who still don't get it: The numbers and statistics are a joke, but the lack of quality is real. This is how my mockery letter to Pizza Hut might look like, if I ever send it.
First of all, I really like the food from the Ya Kun fanchise. It is probably the only franchise that is consistent in the quality of food. Set A always makes my day with the soft-boiled eggs always done up perfectly by the server along with the crispy, wafer-thin toast and the aromatic Hainanese coffee.
And I want to share the way I have them. Though it may irk some readers, I find that I enjoy Set A the best this way.
Step 1: Break one yolk of the sof-boiled eggs and mix with the rest of the egg whites. Add pepper and dark soy sauce to taste.
Step 2: Dip the kaya toast in the soft-boiled eggs before eating.
Step 3: Sip some coffee. Then have the items on their own.
Step 4: Add some coffee to the second egg yolk to rinse the saucer of the egg clinging to the surface.
Step 5: Slurp the coffee and egg yolk down in one fluid motion.
But to end this entry, I must complain! The price hike just sucks and the press release just looked like a templated write-up with vague excuses. And now that Set A costs 20 cents more, I will patronize it less often.
As mentioned by the shop owner, this place sells many items imported straight from Italy. It has a wide variety of products, ranging from jewellery to clothes to little accessories for your house like runners for consoles etc.
I thought the jewellery in this shop are quite different from what you can find outside. They sell jewellery with jade pieces, as well as pearls and what looks like semi-precious stones. Also, they have clothes of quite unique designs hidden in a corner of the shop (going at around $200 for a 3/4 length skirt). I don't think you'll be able to find anything from other shops that are really similar to the clothes and jewellery they sell. They also have beautiful eastern-design runners of various lengths and colours, plus small little (embroidery I think) pictures that you can frame and hang up to beautify your home.
There are really quite a lot of interesting and unique things in this shop. Too many to list. But be warned, be prepared to part with quite a large sum of cash if you intend to shop there. I don't know if I should say it's over-priced, since it's imported from Italy and I haven't really seen anything similar around before.. But it's definitely too expensive for me.
I remember going to this place for a hair cut once, because a friend of mine told me that it's not bad. I spent some time trying to locate the shop at far east plaza level one, as this level is pretty much like a maze to me.
I was not very satisfied with the service as the hairdresser did not pay much attention to what I want. Instead, he did things based on what he felt was good, and not what I felt was good. In the end, I was not very satisfied with my hairstyle and felt very unwilling to part with my money.
Although it is quite a popular place for haircut, I don't think I will want to go back again.
I don't go to this place a lot, because of the large serving and slightly-higher-than-my-budget pricing. But nonetheless, I leave the place satisfied each time because the food is worth the price you pay.
I'm not that into the chicken when I go there, as compared to the side dishes, but I still think their meat is very nice and tender. It's not very hard to eat also, even if it's one half of the chicken or a plate of ribs. And that's because the meat is.. well tender! It makes it really easy to cut out the meat (or you can just use your hands). I like the side dish they have - corn, potato salad and that.. cheesy macaroni thing. I think the macaroni is a must try. Really good! (Unless you totally don't like cheese.)
But one thing bad about the shop is that it's really small. There isn't enough seats to cater to the overwhelming crowd they meet everyday. Because the shop is too small and there are more tables and chairs than they can take, it makes it hard to move around comfortably also. I think at the moment, they are undergoing renovations to improve on the place. So hopefully after renovating, the place would be able to accommodate more people!
Located at the basement, I thought it was quite a secluded area as there were not many people walking around, but I was surprised when I saw the place at least half full.
I like Han's because of the good price they offer, along with a reasonable amount of food that would fill my stomach. Of course this good price would apply more to the set meals they have, which comes with a drink, soup, main course and a dessert.
This place has a mixture of both chinese and western food, which I feel is good as it caters to most people's taste. So you can have a big group of people going there to eat, and everyone would probably be able to find something they like.
I just went there recently and I ordered a Black pepper chicken. I thought the meat was quite chewy, not over cooked but nothing too great but it was good enough. But one thing bad was that there was this whole layer of fat on the chicken and some at the side. Effectively, your chicken was only 3/4 the size. And the dessert that came with the set meal was just one slice of watermelon, whereas elsewhere serves one slice of cake instead. I was quite disappointed and decided to get something else as dessert. I ordered a peach tart and I must say their peach tart is GOOD!
The tart itself is not too hard, just right, and has a sweet taste to it. Then there's a really big piece of peach on top of the tart, with a layer of sweet cream below it. It would have been better though, if there were more cream in the tart. But other than that, the peach tart was really good!
eBlackboard is just a stall in a coffee shop. Don't be fooled by that cool name. It's not all that cool after all. Basically, this is a stall that sells western food. Only somehow, I don't know why, they chose to adopt this restaurant-like style. There are too many workers around, with more than 2 chefs, 1 cashier and at least 3 waitresses. It's not hard to spot them because they're all in uniform. I would say it's a good effort to try to be different from the others. Nonetheless, the (coffee shop) ambience just spoils the whole "restaurant" feel.
As mentioned above, they have too many workers. And when I say this, I really mean it. Why? Firstly, they do not really have a big restaurant to manage. With so many workers, what are they trying to improve on? Efficiency? No, because my second point would tell you, their service is bad. Perhaps it's because I expect them to be more efficient with so many workers around, thus end up being more disappointed.
I don't really think too highly of their food too. Their coleslaw tasted weird, along with some weird tasting sauce they had over the chicken that I ate. Maybe others would beg to differ. But this is not a place that I would recommend you to go too many times, because their food is not cheap. Fish and chips costs $6, when you can get it at around $4.50 at any hawker centre/ coffee shop. You can imagine the price of other things (they have a price range of about $6 to $15) . Though they have really good(-sounding) stuff like Salmon, the price of it is far more than anyone would be willing to pay when at a coffee shop.
I've heard that this place was really popular many many years ago. Unfortunately, now, it's not as popular as before. It is located at a pretty secluded place in Shaw Centre (the building near Lido, with that Macdonald's along the way to Pacific Plaza). However, when you manage to find the place, this "ulu" location might just serve as a good reason why people choose to go there. It has a nice and quiet (during weekend's dinner time at least) ambience, and quite a nice interior decor with interesting pictures around the place.
I've been to this place quite some time back, and I like it because the food were at quite a reasonable price and the service was good. This place sells not just western food, but some chinese food too. I was told that they sell pretty good chicken rice, and people working in the vicinity would go down during lunch hours for the pretty cheap set lunch.
I would suggest that those who intend to go, go during dinner time when it's less noisy (unless you don't mind).
This is one of those really high-class Japanese restaurants that shows you how real Japanese food should be like. But be warned, everything here comes at a premium.
The chawanmushi here is in a league of it own. It has plenty of ingredients that you never see in those of franchise chains. On top of the steamed egg, this one even has a layer of a clear broth for an extra oomph.
Also, the sushi and sashimi you get here taste and look different too. Ingredients are exceptionally fresh, probably air-flown over from its origins. This, of course, is on top of the fact that everything is arranged in exquisite detail. It is not everywhere the carcass of a sea urchin can look so darn good on top of a bed of ice.
But probably the best thing here is the beef that you cook by yourself on a hot stone. Ordered by weight, you get choice between those exclusive beef from Japan (where cows are fed beer and given massages, resulting in those beautifully marbled meat) and tenderloin (which is just, well, tender). I definitely recommend the Japanese beef after comparison as it is firmer, juicier and taster.
So if there is a need to make an impression, come to this restaurant. With lots of money, that is.
For a complete Indian meal, get a rice (plain or briyani) with vegetables set along with a meat dish. My personal favourite is the masala chicken, which doesn't hold back on the spiciness. I sort of get a kick out of the red hot masala.
If you are dining in a group, try their fish head curry served in a claypot. Hot and spicy, perfect for communial eating.
You will find this place in Food Loft at Marina Square.
I used to lunch at Samy's quite often as it serves up generous portions of rice, vegetables, papadum and curry gravy. There was also a great service champion by the name of Kumar. Unfortunately, he left, and I feel is a great loss for regular customers.
I had to cut down because the good meals kept me from staying awake in office and of course, I was developing a spare tire.
Anyway, to get your money's worth here, take a seat in their dining area. When you do that, you get better service, food is served at your table. Out of the dining area is the rest of the food court, so everything becomes self-service. Inside, you can request for extras for the vegetables, rice, papadum and gravy. Or at least that was the case in the past, when Kumar was around. As for their "mains", i.e. meat dishes, well, the portions are large enough for you not to ask for more.
One quirky thing that probably came from its restaurant origins: Samy's serve beer and wine.
Lastly, to forewarn any of you interested to give Samy's a try - DO NOT wear white or any light coloured clothing. The gravy will stain and stay. DO bring an empty stomach DO prepare for very hot stuff DO be patient with the Indian uncle with grey hair. He is loud (which consequently perceived as rude) only because he is a bit deaf and does not understand English very well. If the situation is hopeless for you, ask another person at the counter.
1=SGD 0.0587
Dear Pizza Hut,
I have not been having pizza at your outlets nor ordered delivery for a very long time. One reason that I have stopped eating at Pizza Hut is that the cheese-in-crust creations just comes across as a rip off.
Every time I walk by your restaurant, I see patrons with those cheese-in-crust abominations. I would always notice a circular race track wide enough for F1. That race track incidentally takes up half the surface area of the pizza, meaning the remaining half is occupied by toppings.
Referencing good pizzas from other pizza places, the average ratio of edge crust area to toppings area should be something like 1:12 or better. However, Pizza Hut pizzas have an atrocious ratio of 1:1 for your stuffed-crust abominations and 1:3 for your regular crust-without-stuffing pizzas.
Also referencing the same good pizzas from other pizza places, the average density of toppings per square inch, excluding cheese and tomato sauce is 4, compared to Pizza Hut's 0.8, with cheese and tomato sauce. This kind of standard is absolutely unacceptable.
Lastly, the price of your pizza is extremely unacceptable by global standards.
You may argue that comparison should not be made at a grober level. But hey, that's how the the government likes to compare Singapore to the rest of the world.
Back to the pricing. Pizzas in our western counterparts are sold at half the price and taste twice as good because there is double the toppings.
As a consumer, I am concerned that the future generations will never get to taste truly good pizzas because of the sub-standard food Pizza Hut makes. As such, I urge Pizza Hut to:
1. stop thinking about those stuffed-crust rip-offs
2. stop cutting costs on toppings
3. start slashing prices for their pizzas to be competitive groberly
Thank you for reading.
I hope the management will seriously reconsider their strategies for Pizza Hut while finding humour in this letter.
For those who still don't get it:
The numbers and statistics are a joke, but the lack of quality is real.
This is how my mockery letter to Pizza Hut might look like, if I ever send it.
Rating given:
But really pissed with price hike
First of all, I really like the food from the Ya Kun fanchise. It is probably the only franchise that is consistent in the quality of food. Set A always makes my day with the soft-boiled eggs always done up perfectly by the server along with the crispy, wafer-thin toast and the aromatic Hainanese coffee.
And I want to share the way I have them. Though it may irk some readers, I find that I enjoy Set A the best this way.
Step 1:
Break one yolk of the sof-boiled eggs and mix with the rest of the egg whites.
Add pepper and dark soy sauce to taste.
Step 2:
Dip the kaya toast in the soft-boiled eggs before eating.
Step 3:
Sip some coffee. Then have the items on their own.
Step 4:
Add some coffee to the second egg yolk to rinse the saucer of the egg clinging to the surface.
Step 5:
Slurp the coffee and egg yolk down in one fluid motion.
But to end this entry, I must complain!
The price hike just sucks and the press release just looked like a templated write-up with vague excuses. And now that Set A costs 20 cents more, I will patronize it less often.
Rating given:
As mentioned by the shop owner, this place sells many items imported straight from Italy. It has a wide variety of products, ranging from jewellery to clothes to little accessories for your house like runners for consoles etc.
I thought the jewellery in this shop are quite different from what you can find outside. They sell jewellery with jade pieces, as well as pearls and what looks like semi-precious stones. Also, they have clothes of quite unique designs hidden in a corner of the shop (going at around $200 for a 3/4 length skirt). I don't think you'll be able to find anything from other shops that are really similar to the clothes and jewellery they sell. They also have beautiful eastern-design runners of various lengths and colours, plus small little (embroidery I think) pictures that you can frame and hang up to beautify your home.
There are really quite a lot of interesting and unique things in this shop. Too many to list. But be warned, be prepared to part with quite a large sum of cash if you intend to shop there. I don't know if I should say it's over-priced, since it's imported from Italy and I haven't really seen anything similar around before.. But it's definitely too expensive for me.
Rating given:
I remember going to this place for a hair cut once, because a friend of mine told me that it's not bad. I spent some time trying to locate the shop at far east plaza level one, as this level is pretty much like a maze to me.
I was not very satisfied with the service as the hairdresser did not pay much attention to what I want. Instead, he did things based on what he felt was good, and not what I felt was good. In the end, I was not very satisfied with my hairstyle and felt very unwilling to part with my money.
Although it is quite a popular place for haircut, I don't think I will want to go back again.
Rating given:
I don't go to this place a lot, because of the large serving and slightly-higher-than-my-budget pricing. But nonetheless, I leave the place satisfied each time because the food is worth the price you pay.
I'm not that into the chicken when I go there, as compared to the side dishes, but I still think their meat is very nice and tender. It's not very hard to eat also, even if it's one half of the chicken or a plate of ribs. And that's because the meat is.. well tender! It makes it really easy to cut out the meat (or you can just use your hands). I like the side dish they have - corn, potato salad and that.. cheesy macaroni thing. I think the macaroni is a must try. Really good! (Unless you totally don't like cheese.)
But one thing bad about the shop is that it's really small. There isn't enough seats to cater to the overwhelming crowd they meet everyday. Because the shop is too small and there are more tables and chairs than they can take, it makes it hard to move around comfortably also. I think at the moment, they are undergoing renovations to improve on the place. So hopefully after renovating, the place would be able to accommodate more people!
Rating given:
Located at the basement, I thought it was quite a secluded area as there were not many people walking around, but I was surprised when I saw the place at least half full.
I like Han's because of the good price they offer, along with a reasonable amount of food that would fill my stomach. Of course this good price would apply more to the set meals they have, which comes with a drink, soup, main course and a dessert.
This place has a mixture of both chinese and western food, which I feel is good as it caters to most people's taste. So you can have a big group of people going there to eat, and everyone would probably be able to find something they like.
I just went there recently and I ordered a Black pepper chicken. I thought the meat was quite chewy, not over cooked but nothing too great but it was good enough. But one thing bad was that there was this whole layer of fat on the chicken and some at the side. Effectively, your chicken was only 3/4 the size. And the dessert that came with the set meal was just one slice of watermelon, whereas elsewhere serves one slice of cake instead. I was quite disappointed and decided to get something else as dessert. I ordered a peach tart and I must say their peach tart is GOOD!
The tart itself is not too hard, just right, and has a sweet taste to it. Then there's a really big piece of peach on top of the tart, with a layer of sweet cream below it. It would have been better though, if there were more cream in the tart. But other than that, the peach tart was really good!
Rating given:
eBlackboard is just a stall in a coffee shop. Don't be fooled by that cool name. It's not all that cool after all. Basically, this is a stall that sells western food. Only somehow, I don't know why, they chose to adopt this restaurant-like style. There are too many workers around, with more than 2 chefs, 1 cashier and at least 3 waitresses. It's not hard to spot them because they're all in uniform. I would say it's a good effort to try to be different from the others. Nonetheless, the (coffee shop) ambience just spoils the whole "restaurant" feel.
As mentioned above, they have too many workers. And when I say this, I really mean it. Why? Firstly, they do not really have a big restaurant to manage. With so many workers, what are they trying to improve on? Efficiency? No, because my second point would tell you, their service is bad. Perhaps it's because I expect them to be more efficient with so many workers around, thus end up being more disappointed.
I don't really think too highly of their food too. Their coleslaw tasted weird, along with some weird tasting sauce they had over the chicken that I ate. Maybe others would beg to differ. But this is not a place that I would recommend you to go too many times, because their food is not cheap. Fish and chips costs $6, when you can get it at around $4.50 at any hawker centre/ coffee shop. You can imagine the price of other things (they have a price range of about $6 to $15) . Though they have really good(-sounding) stuff like Salmon, the price of it is far more than anyone would be willing to pay when at a coffee shop.
Rating given:
I've heard that this place was really popular many many years ago. Unfortunately, now, it's not as popular as before. It is located at a pretty secluded place in Shaw Centre (the building near Lido, with that Macdonald's along the way to Pacific Plaza). However, when you manage to find the place, this "ulu" location might just serve as a good reason why people choose to go there. It has a nice and quiet (during weekend's dinner time at least) ambience, and quite a nice interior decor with interesting pictures around the place.
I've been to this place quite some time back, and I like it because the food were at quite a reasonable price and the service was good. This place sells not just western food, but some chinese food too. I was told that they sell pretty good chicken rice, and people working in the vicinity would go down during lunch hours for the pretty cheap set lunch.
I would suggest that those who intend to go, go during dinner time when it's less noisy (unless you don't mind).
Rating given:
Exquisite Japanese Fine Dining
This is one of those really high-class Japanese restaurants that shows you how real Japanese food should be like. But be warned, everything here comes at a premium.
The chawanmushi here is in a league of it own. It has plenty of ingredients that you never see in those of franchise chains. On top of the steamed egg, this one even has a layer of a clear broth for an extra oomph.
Also, the sushi and sashimi you get here taste and look different too. Ingredients are exceptionally fresh, probably air-flown over from its origins. This, of course, is on top of the fact that everything is arranged in exquisite detail. It is not everywhere the carcass of a sea urchin can look so darn good on top of a bed of ice.
But probably the best thing here is the beef that you cook by yourself on a hot stone. Ordered by weight, you get choice between those exclusive beef from Japan (where cows are fed beer and given massages, resulting in those beautifully marbled meat) and tenderloin (which is just, well, tender).
I definitely recommend the Japanese beef after comparison as it is firmer, juicier and taster.
So if there is a need to make an impression, come to this restaurant. With lots of money, that is.
Rating given:
Got Kick!
For a complete Indian meal, get a rice (plain or briyani) with vegetables set along with a meat dish. My personal favourite is the masala chicken, which doesn't hold back on the spiciness. I sort of get a kick out of the red hot masala.
If you are dining in a group, try their fish head curry served in a claypot. Hot and spicy, perfect for communial eating.
You will find this place in Food Loft at Marina Square.
I used to lunch at Samy's quite often as it serves up generous portions of rice, vegetables, papadum and curry gravy. There was also a great service champion by the name of Kumar. Unfortunately, he left, and I feel is a great loss for regular customers.
I had to cut down because the good meals kept me from staying awake in office and of course, I was developing a spare tire.
Anyway, to get your money's worth here, take a seat in their dining area. When you do that, you get better service, food is served at your table. Out of the dining area is the rest of the food court, so everything becomes self-service. Inside, you can request for extras for the vegetables, rice, papadum and gravy. Or at least that was the case in the past, when Kumar was around. As for their "mains", i.e. meat dishes, well, the portions are large enough for you not to ask for more.
One quirky thing that probably came from its restaurant origins: Samy's serve beer and wine.
Lastly, to forewarn any of you interested to give Samy's a try -
DO NOT wear white or any light coloured clothing. The gravy will stain and stay.
DO bring an empty stomach
DO prepare for very hot stuff
DO be patient with the Indian uncle with grey hair. He is loud (which consequently perceived as rude) only because he is a bit deaf and does not understand English very well. If the situation is hopeless for you, ask another person at the counter.
Rating given: