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Thursday, August 31, 2006
Extremely poor experience at Le P'tit Breton
Received the below email written by my fren through buckies =) HL is a personal fren as well, so I would think that the matters reported are factual. So helping out by publishing this mail, and hopefully people will be aware of this bad service and perhaps when ppl come online to look for reviews for this restaurant, they will be warned! --- Dear all,
I regard myself as a foodie who prefers to support independent chefs and small food establishments over commercial franchised restuarants. I visited Le P'tit Breton, a French creperie at Upper Thomson Road today after dinner and suffered the worst service ever encountered in Singapore from the French chef and his waiter.
Date: Sunday, 27th August 2006.
Time: 8pm (approximate)
Scenerio:
Had dinner with my parents at the nearby Chinese restuarant and decided to bring them to try Le P'tit Breton's Brittany desserts which they have not had before.
Entered Le P'tit Breton and promptly sat down at the table near the door. 2 other tables were occupied. Mum went to the washroom. Bearing in mind the creperie's house rule of minimum expenditure of $10 per head, I started to order. I placed orders for the cider ($6), hot chocolate ($4.50), Chocolate and banana crepe ($9.80) and Apple and caramel crepe ($8.10). Total cost: $28.40. With the 10% service charge: $31.24. That would be more than the required $10/head.
I was informed by the Singaporean Indian waiter that my order was short of $3-4 after he calculated the order (which I believe was a miscalculation on his part). I asked if it would be ok to proceed with my order in any case. He asked the chef and he replied from the kitchen that his establishment is a French restuarant and there would not be any exceptions. He said that everyone should spend a minimum of $9.10 per head. (It was obvious that he did not check with his waiter what we had ordered). (Either that or he did not possess elementary mathematical skills).
Any case, the waiter asked me to order another drink and I pointed out that if anything, I was $1.60 short of their target charge and would order a fruit juice ($1.90) to make up the order. When I asked what juices were available, he turned away towards the kitchen counter and muttered 'Don't come here to find trouble'. A totally uncalled for remark which was meant for us to hear.
Despite being greatly disturbed, I still wanted my dessert and decided if it was a bigger order they want from us, so be it. I asked if I could take away and the chef replied with a loud "No' from the kitchen.
Then came the turning point, a lady emerge from the back of the creperie (my mum informed me that she saw the lady reading a book at the back when she was going to the washroom) and collected her take-away crepe!
The chef came to our table and informed us that we have to abide by their house rules and it is difficult to find a French chef making fresh French food for $10/head in Singapore. I asked him why someone else was allowed to take away and we were not. He replied with a "I do my business my way" and invited us to leave. I told him that he was being rude but he scolded us back for being rude to HIM!
By this time, I was greatly offended:
1. I had made conscious effort to abide by their rule of $10/head by placing an order of $28.40/ $31.24 post service charge but I was informed that I was still $3-4 short. (Still amazed at the poor maths and the fact that they did not bother to double check).
2. In case I interpreted their rule wrongly, I offered to order a fruit juice to bring the order to $30.30/ $33.33 post service charge but I was ignored and a rude remark about me looking for trouble was made.
3. In final effort to way exceed the minimum spending required, I offered to take away a crepe but was told that I cannot, only to see that he had allowed some else to do so.
We left the place and I was so outraged at the rude service that I left my handphone in the creperie. The Singaporean Indian waiter came out to return me the phone and I clarified with him about his miscalculation that he made (he agreed) and advised him to do himself a service to find another job and another boss. While it was a mistake on the waiter's mathematical skills, it was an even greater fault of the French Chef, Mr Christian Ley not to check, to blame the diner and to be rude.
So much talk about poor service in Singapore and one would think that Singaporeans are the culprits. This episode clearly shows that some of these expats are none the better.
I will not return to this place personally and strongly discourage your patronage of such establishment.
For your information,
HL
posted by winz at 12:11 PM
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Monday, August 21, 2006
time to say goodbye
避けることのできない 別れという場面が その度に私を 強くしてゆく あの日出逢えなければ あなたを知らなかった 当たり前だけれど そんな偶然が嬉しいの もう行かなくちゃ time to say goodbye 一番の笑顔で 別れの数だけ強くなってゆく 瞳を閉じて いつでも会える あたたかな想い出 いつまでも胸の中 純粋な気持ちを 思い出させてくれた笑顔 最後は kissで time to say goodbye ありがとうを込めて 出逢えてよかった またいつか会える 忘れないように 抱きしめあって 離れても前よりも あなた一緒に居るから 今私 前向いて 歩き出せるよ 別れの数だけ強くなってゆく 瞳を閉じて いつでも会える 最後は kissで time to say goodbye
posted by winz at 6:47 PM
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Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Un-torendii Words...
there's this article in MDN news on how some words which sounded cool when spoken in companies in japan in the 80's are out of fashion now. one caught my attention though... Horenso is the Japanese word for "spinach", but it's also a contraction of the words "hokoku" (report), "renraku"(contact) and "sodan" (consult), and it's another office word that sparks sniggers among OLs. "Just the other day, my boss told me that I had to do horenso properly. I wondered what the hell he was talking about and had a laugh with one of my friends, saying that perhaps he wanted me to have a bit more of a healthier diet," a 22-year-old OL tells Shukan Post. Guess what? the company i am in right now is still very much using the term ard, thinking that it sounds cool. heh. I had to go for this horenso training shortly after i came here, and i also asked "what? spinach training?" ;p
posted by winz at 8:51 AM
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