Singapore Food Blogger Pwned!

ayamkambing — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:07:06 +0800

Food blogger who demands free meal sparks outrage online

QUOTE

A young food blogger who demanded that he and his three companions be given free meals at an upscale restaurant in the Joo Chiat area has sparked a huge furore online.

The group of four had walked into Private Affairs, a small but exclusive eatery in Joo Chiat, for its Sunday champagne brunch promotion that costs S$68++ per person.

The blogger in question, Brad Lau, who runs a food blog called Ladyironchef, had informed the management on Friday that he would be coming down to review the Sunday Brunch promotion.

On the day itself, he and his partner came down at about 130pm, followed by his two other companions, each of whom came down half an hour apart.

The four of them had brunch until 430pm, even when the restaurant’s official brunch hours was from 1130 am to 330pm. Brad and his partner also enjoyed two glasses of champagne each.

When presented with the final bill of $435, the blogger initially refused to pay and repeatedly told the restaurant’s chef, “I never pay for food in any restaurant.”

The restaurant eventually offered to waive off the cost of the meal for him and his partner as well as the cost of the champagne out of goodwill, thus lowering the bill to $159.

Still upset but finally relenting to pay, the blogger then threw his credit card onto the bar counter in front of the cashier before storming out.

Private Affairs’ operations director Ross Valentine, 38, confirmed the incident to Yahoo! Singapore.

He said, “This blogger looked very aggressive and was quite arrogant. The fact that he also walked in with his friends at staggered timings created quite a bit of problems for my chef de cuisine, who has to prepare and present his food at just the right times.”

“We decided to waive off the meal and champagne cost for him and his partner out of goodwill. But when we asked him when the review of the meal would be coming out, he said he was not obliged to write anything if the food wasn’t good enough,” he added.

Yahoo! Singapore emailed Brad Lau for his reaction but has yet to receive a reply.

The incident, however, has enraged the local food blogging community.

Glenn Lee, who runs popular food blog Hungryepicurean.com since late last year, posted an open letter criticising the blogger’s behaviour for “tarnishing the good name of the community.”

Lee, 22, told Yahoo! Singapore, “We are food bloggers and I’m pretty sure the intentions of all of us in the community is to share the love that we have for food and writing.”

“But what this certain blogger has done is highly detrimental to the integrity of the community as a whole and I felt the need to stand up for what I strongly believe in,” he said.

Kaelyn Ong, 22, who posted an entry entitled ”STOP asking for free food” on her food blog, My Food Sirens II, also expressed her disgust.

“I’m surprised. It’s beyond my understanding how someone can actually request for a free meal on the house just because he’s a food blogger,” she told Yahoo! Singapore.

“Anyone can be a food blogger these days, all it takes is a camera and a blog… does that mean restaurants have to sponsor everyone for their meals?” she added.

She also apologised to restaurants on behalf of the food blogging community and said ”not all of us are such bad eggs”.

Renowned food expert KF Seetoh, who runs the popular makansutra.com, said the blogger in question lost his integrity by refusing to pay.

“The best position is to be invisible, pay for your own food. When you pay for your own food, you don’t take any prisoners when you write,” he said.

But what if the restaurant offers to give bloggers a free meal?

“Then I won’t write about your restaurant. Even if they offer me 50% off the total bill, and if I write about it, they will take my review with a 50% pinch of salt. Some of them, after eating, they call the chef out and ask him to change this and that on the menu. Some would then say, let me do a consultancy role for you. You do what I say and I write nice things.

“My stand is, be neutral. I pay, I say and then I rate,” he concluded.

http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/08/23/fo...outrage-online/

NOTE:

Ladyironchef blog has been suspended!!!
Google cache reveals..

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/sear...n&ct=clnk&gl=my

QUOTE

This is freaking me out, I have no idea how this could be possible, but according to the date on my calendar, it says 29th March 2010 – which is exactly three years since the start of this Singapore Food Blog.

Three years!

Over the past three years, I have received so much love from every one. Many of you have graciously left me with such kind words and encouragement. Considering that there’s barely ten friends who read my blog back then, it is surreal to know that ladyironchef is getting 7,000 hits a day now. The only thing that came to my mind was, Wow! And THANK YOU!

All along, people have always asked me about how my Singapore Food Blog – ladyironchef actually came about. I’m not going to explain the part about ‘why lady’, you can read about it here. When I created ladyironchef, I had no intention to write it as a proper food blog – if you get what I mean. iI was meant to be more like a personal blog about my daily rants. Naturally, I have never expected it to be what it is today. I am very fortunate to have a bunch of folks who enjoyed reading my blog in the early stages, and it slowly evolved to what you see now.

Back when I started this food blog three years ago, there wasn’t so many food blogs in Singapore. And since then, we have seen the explosion of the local food blog scene with so many new additions each year. Looking back, it still amazes me sometimes that I actually lasted so long. Writing a blog involves much more effort and discipline than you can possibly imagine and it is sometimes a lonely process, but at the same time, I got to know so many amazing people who are passionate about what they do and it really makes everything feel worthwhile.

One of the commonly-asked question that I received: What is the secret to the success of my food blog? Frankly speaking, I have no idea at all! Personally, I felt that there’s no secret to food blogging, always stay true to yourself, take good photographs of the delicious food, and write in a descriptive manner so that others can feel the taste of the food through your words.

The best part about life is – you will always have no idea what will happen next. And one of the best thing that comes together with the blog is photography. many people seem surprised to hear that I have never attended any photography lessons. They always thought that I was firstly a food photographer before I started my food blog. I just stumbled my way around with the help of some pointers from friends, and even till today, I feel so lucky and fortunate every time I use my camera.

Anyway, I’m really grateful for all the opportunities that I have received from the blog, and all the lovely people that I got to know in the process. There are so many awesome things that it’s impossible to say everything in one post. Food-wise, life has really been good to me.

I have no idea what will happen in the future, but I know that right now, I really enjoy what I’m doing, the food blog has become a part of me, and I like it that way. My greatest satisfaction lies in getting people hungry, and I find joy in doing that.

And just in case you are still wondering, yes ladyironchef is a guy. My name is Brad.

ANY FOOD BLOGGERS HERE???

UPDATE:

LAU FENG KAI!!! HAHAHAHHAHAA

Prawns

ayamkambing — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:52:41 +0800

I was chatting with my friend earlier on the best place to eat prawns

Then one of them mentioned about saunaing the prawns with beer.

then I google for sauna prawns and i got this website

http://www.vkeong.com/2009/food-drink/saun...nt-subang-jaya/

Its near summit USJ i think

anyone tried this?

it looks yummylicious!

Gonna try it.

Anyone went to this place before? The food ok?

Where to buy the nicest bak zhang?

ayamkambing — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:54:16 +0800

Any ideas?

Preferably somewhere in PJ

thanks

Where is the nicest

ayamkambing — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:36:27 +0800

Seriously

Any nice place recommend this awesome dish? Nice one la. Dont want those cacat tasting ones.

Sample

I like those with prawn paste. It taste like prawns in paste. Very good.

I have ayamkambinged

ayamkambing — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:30:15 +0800

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1443379

Please support this lady. She is very pretty with her make up.

Thanks.

Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by ayamkambing

Singapore Food Blogger Pwned!

Prawns

Where to buy the nicest bak zhang?

Where is the nicest

I have ayamkambinged