TOMODACHI! @ Whitesands Shopping Centre

One of my favourite pastimes is to eat and one of my favourite food is Japanese cuisine. 

Unfortunately , there isn't much choice of HALAL Japanese food in Singapore. Thus, I go crazy everytime I go to KL.... always insisting to have a good Jap meal at least once. (I don't mind doing it all the time but husby is not really a fan)

There used to be Ramen Ten but that no longer exists. Since then , I have been a loyal costumer of Hei Sushi. I am definitely not an expert at Japanese cuisine but I think Hei Sushi is not bad. Their sashimi is always rather fresh , chawanmushi is soft and tasty...the only thing I am not satisfied with is the wasabi. I have tasted better and more powerful one and I just feel that the one at Hei Sushi is only so-so. 

I have been following @halalsg for quite some time now on Twitter (admin is really cool and funny!) and jumped when it mentioned that TOMODACHI at Whitesands has finally attained its official Halal cert. YEAH!

The first time I went there was with the husby.

It worked just like how the previous Mad Jack did at the same location - u tick your order on the given list and pay at the counter, before your food is served.

Located between Tom & Stephanie and the POSB ATMs on level 2

The weather is always hot so these are great thirst quenchers!

Chawanmushi - I prefer the one at Hei Sushi. This has a weird taste, in my opinion. 

Mushroom Itame - Shimeji, Enoki & Shitake mushrooms in buttery, light soy sauce.
It doesn't look that appetizing here but the photo does not justify the taste. I like this although I thought they could have eased off on the soy sauce a little. I could also have been biased because I simply love Enoki! For $13.90, this was worth the money. 

Favourite sashimi! Comparable to Hei Sushi

YUMSSSSSS..... The wasabi here is better than the one served at Hei Sushi, more 'kick'! I need lots of wasabi for my sushis so this was a favourite moment during the meal :)

Chicken Ramen - According to the husby , it is not bad. I didn't think much of the presentation though..

This looks good but no, it is not. Very dry. The only saving grace was the chocolate sauce which probably came straight from the Hershey's bottle. 

The next visit to the same place with my cousins and Aunt (otherwise known as 'Makan Kakis') involved a much wider variety of food. We had the tempura, soup, salad .... but I took no photos of all those because I was just so famished!

With Ainul - My partner-in-crime when it comes to food!

We were all trying to make my aunt (in blue)  eat some sushi as she has never had one before... alas..we failed even after much coaxing. What only!

She touched none of those..... ok , maybe one or two of those fish roe balls.

Looks pretty..and that's about it. We have tasted Rainbow cakes where each coloured layer carries a slightly different taste from one another. This tasted the same throughout , just like a normal sponge cake. The one at "I am" Cafe is definitely better. 

All in all, I still prefer Hei Sushi but that does not mean I would not patronize Tomodachi anymore. It is, afterall, near my home and it is not that bad. At least, it provides an alternative to just Manhattan or Old Town White Coffee each time we need to dine at Whitesands. I shall always try to support Halal establishments provided, of course, the food served is palatable. 

I am looking forward to my next makan outing with my Makan Kakis. We should be heading to Teppanyaki at Kembangan! (I've been to their now-defunct Thomson branch)

Happy Wednesday, everyone! 

Everybody goes awwwwwwwwww..................!

Nothing much is going on in school these couple of days because students are mainly away at camps.

I have been trying to catch up with my admin, dept and magazine work...amidst some markings here and there.....

....and secretly watching wedding proposals. HEhehe.....

I love love this one!

Wedding Deco

I am still alive!

Yes, I am .... just have been crazily busy.

And I am seriously considering if I should pursue this track at work that I have chosen. It's a different kind of stress which , ironically, I like. However, I do not know if I can.

On a more cheerful note, we are really working on brother's wedding currently.

It used to seem so far away but now it is only six months from now! We have been slowly planning, budgeting , sourcing for vendors etc but now everything has been somewhat confirmed.

I have no idea how husby and I planned everything for our own wedding, from A to Z, in just six months 5 years back. The organisational skills picked up at work must have been really useful.

Anyway, the first thing we decided on was the vendor for his wedding decor. I really loved my decor vendor back then and I told him that we have to get her (the same lady) no matter what. If we have to shift the date just so that she is available, so be it.

Here are some peeks into the kind of decor DaunDco Wedding is capable of:

This is Fairytale-themed. I love the colours! And look at how a blown-up photo of the couple peeks out in the middle of the dais. 

I am a sucker for details! Those are bubbles with teddy bears in them.

Another similar dais.I don't really fancy those hanging leaves at the dais but that's only it. I Like everything else!

This is her open-concept dais where there are no drapes above it. 

The chivery chairs make it so much lovelier. This is the wedding of an ex-student. 

Simple yet inviting

And yes, we managed to book the dates with Kak Janah! Yeah!...what theme it will be shall be a secret for now :) My parents were quite pleased with the catering menu and food (we went to her showcase last year) so brother is taking the entire package from her.Can't wait!

We have confirmed 90% of the vendors and it is getting more exciting by the minute. Of course, there is always that un-fun bit of budgeting. If only there is endless amount of money in his bank account... hahahah....

It is quite fun to be an unofficial wedding planner. I do sometimes imagine myself doing it for a living... it must be quite an enriching career, isn't it?

BRANDSFEVER RELIABLE? NEVER EVER!!!

I have been patient, RIDICULOUSLY patient with this stoooooooppiiiiiiddddddd (read: stupid) company that claims to be a reputable online seller when it is obviously NOT!

Brandsfever.com is probably a SCAM right through. 

I cannot believe I was so careless and did not do a pre-research on them, after what happened with Singsale (which in retrospect, seems so mild now)!

*bangs head against the wall a million times*

I placed an order for a COACH wristlet on Dec 27, 2013. The only right thing I did was to order only one item - I always caution myself not to do big orders on a new site. 

I am a loyal fan of Reebonz but Brandsfever.com is so widely advertised on Facebook that I assumed it must be safe. The website also looks very clean-cut like that of Reebonz and is very user-friendly. It even has the option of express delivery and an online support system. 

Oh, all the shit.

Up till now, Feb 4, I have not received my item at all.

I could understand that when I placed my order, it was post Christmas and then it was the upcoming new year - postages do tend to get delayed during festive seasons. However, I am pretty sure they do not get delayed for a month, especially when the company is based locally.

Still, the main thing that drives me soooooooo mad is how flippant they can be at responding to customer's emails and always taking the easy way out by promising to deliver by a certain date. Same trick , again and again.

I'm going to be real transparent here and let you see how irresponsible these people are.


Round 1 

My first email to them was on Jan 7  which I did not manage to capture. They had sent me an email earlier indicating that I would receive my order a week after New Year's day.
Their reply:

To this , I got no response.


Round 2 

I waited for a few days before emailing them again on Jan 15. No reply. 

I called the next day(Jan 16) and asked the lady about my order. She replied that the parcel would only reach them the week after and then it would take 3 days to reach me. 

I got really fed-up and told her that it was meant to be a new year's gift and I did not understand why they promised me 2 different dates yet, could not deliver. What kind of professionals did they claim to be? 

Suddenly she said she could put in an urgent notice and get it sent to me that Saturday, 18 Jan 2014. Oh wow... suddenly the parcel could reach them instantly . Magic, is it?

BIG FAT LIAR


Round 3 

I emailed them on Jan 19 , asking why my item still did not reach me despite them promising to deliver by the 18th.
Their reply (Jan 20):

So now it has become end of January. 

I replied, stating my absolute unhappiness about how they did not deliver what they promised and their stories kept changing. I did not, however, expect them to reply with the most 'hilarious' one ever. This takes the cake.

Dear Ms Andrea Vaguez,
Please explain how in the world could my parcel have reached me on 27 Jan when it was only 20 Jan? Was I supposed to take a time machine or something?

By this time, I knew they were probably taking me for a ride and I asked the husby if I should bring this up to the authorities. I had CASE in mind but that was Week 3 of the school term and things have started to be too hectic for me to entertain such nonsense by these corrupt people. I was ready to lose my money then. 

But for fun , I emailed back .... dying to know how they would respond.

To which I received no acknowledgement ,whatsover. Why am I not surprised? 

I had, honestly , given up at this point of time but I thought... oh well, let's just wait till the 27th.

Jan 27 came and went by peacefully.


Round 4 

Their reply

Jerna Bustamante, you did not even bother to address me by my salutation. I am sure it's because you just had too many complaints to respond to.

So that's enough evidence to conclude that they are nothing but idiots who think we have nothing to do but wait around for our items. 

I have been an avid online shopper for years and this is the first time ever that I truly feel I have been scammed. 

I am not unreasonable and I can understand if something takes a long time to reach , especially if the item comes from overseas. I have bought things from overseas and they barely take 3 weeks to arrive (shopbop.com can even deliver in 4days !). Whatever it is, their endless promises and lies regarding the many delivery dates are just too appalling to stomach.

I am hoping that my cough will go away soon so that I can call and scream at them one last time. 

I know I am not the only pissed off customer because if you just simply google, out of 10 reviews on Brandsfever.com, 9 are bad ones! Such an apt name - they give you FEVER! 

I'll update if I ever hear anything from them or if I decide to take this case further (I doubt so though...).

Meanwhile, I shall stick to the boutiques, shopbop.com or Reebonz for my designer feeds.

Remember, avoid Brandsfever.com at all costs! 

Busy and Sick

Been away for too long.

Will be back real soon.