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Lazada purchase experience

I decided to try online shopping for large items a few days back (19/01/2013) and purchased an oven through lazada.

Only after that I started doing more research and it seems that lazada has a lot of customer service and order fulfillment issues. There are so many complaints on blogs and facebook about them. Oh boy.. I hope I didn't make a wrong decision about them.

Particularly interesting was a blogger who ordered an IPod and didn't get it till after 73 days. Check it out here.

As of day 3 the status has been stuck as Processing even though the item was already paid. I thought it would be in Paid, not shipped state. Their product page stated that the item would be delivered within 4-6 working days.

Fingers crossed!

Update 21/01/2013: Lazada sent an email requesting for a picture of the credit card for verification purposes. A couple of hours after that then the status was updated to Paid, not shipped:

Update 25/01/2013: Lazada updated their status to Shipped! but by that time its Friday night. Next Monday is a holiday.. haiz.. means gonna get it on Tuesday.. so long.. I just hope their delivery service works on Saturday hehe..

Update 26/01/2013: Got a call from security saying a courier is here!! Yay!!! They do work on Saturdays hehe.. Found out they use GDex as their courier service. Well the box was pre-opened (because i noticed it was resealed), I'm guessing by lazada because there was an lazada invoice in it. Hopefully they were checking whether the item works?

Lazada had promised on their website a delivery deadline of between 4-6 days. I received the item in 4.5 days (considering saturday is half day work hehe..). So I would say they fulfilled their delivery promise there.

Overall Experience: 

Seeing so many complaints on lazada I was very worried about whether they would deliver the item on time or what would happen if the purchased item had a fault in it. The whole experience honestly did make me lose a little sleep.

Despite all the problems reported in blogs and forums on order fulfillment issues, poor customer service and poor after sales service. At this point in time, I'm just relieved that I managed to receive the product and hopefully I do not experience any problems with the product and need to deal with the after sales.

My advice, if ordering from lazada, be prepared for some issues along the way as I believe they have only been operating for less than a year (as of this post) and I guess they still need time to work out the kinks in their system and customer service training.

I would still order from lazada but I would be really cautious when ordering again. Best of luck if you do  decide to order anything from them :)

Dubu Dubu Midvalley Review

Heard good things about Dubu Dubu korean restaurant. Everytime we went there for lunch it would always be full. So this time we had an early lunch so we could secure a seat.

Place was quite empty at 11am

I had a hot barley tea which tasted like brown rice tea. Imagine soaking brown rice in water for a while and drinking that. This was refillable.

Wife had the citrus tea which had a sweet and sour flavour. The bottom looks like citrus skin which was mostly sweet and mildly bitter (in a good sense). This was nice, I should have ordered this.

Citrus tea

The Toboki was not very good, it tastes much better at Food Garden, a food court located at The Gardens mall. Found the rice cakes were too soft till a mushy like texture but yet very chewy. The sauce was nothing to shout about, spicy, sweet and watery.

Toboki

Can't say much about the side dishes they gave, pickled vege, kimchi, bean sprouts, kosong soup. Not worth the extra ringgit for the set. However, I quite liked the Dolsot Bibimbap. The presentation wasn't really that appealing, the colors were dull but after mixing it all up, it tasted quite good. Probably the best bibimbap i've ever had (I've only had bibimbap at maybe 3 other places).

Dolsot bibimbap

Bulgogi was extremely generous with onions, not sure if bulgogi is suppose to be that way. Anyway, the beef was not carmalised enough, we are normally use to beef being browned so they have a slight crispyness to it.

Bulgogi rice

Won't be returning too soon, maybe just to try the Korean spicy wings set which is quite raved about at goodyfoodies. I would rather head to my favourite korean place at Amcorp Mall.

Kungfu Paradise Paradigm Mall Review

Went to Paradigm Mall for lunch today and ended up in Kungfu Paradise. They have several set lunches (or power lunches as they call it) during weekdays. Basically its one of the following:

• Rice sets from RM10.90++
• Noodle sets at RM9.90++
• Burger(or they call it bumger, no idea why) sets from RM9.50++

Rice sets

Noodle and bumger sets

Their menus are very 'kungfu' themed.

Rice warriors anyone?

If you don't mind ordering instant noodles, at least you know they are using Nissin brand hehe..

Nissin Noodle Power!

I had the bumger set.. why did they name it like that? It doesn't even sound appetising. Anyway, I chose to have the mashed potatoes instead of french fries. Never had kungfu mashed potatoes, who better to mash potatoes than a martial arts expert. Well the mash was chewy, it was probably over mixed. The gravy was very nice though. 

Kungfu Bumger Set

What can I say.. Its probably the best bumger I ever had.. and also the only bumger I ever had :p To be fair, lets compare it to burgers..  If I were to compare a bumger to burgers I've eaten, this would probably be on the average. I'd probably order this again if that was all they served, but it wouldn't be anywhere on the top of my list. 

So thats what a bumger looks like

The rice sets came with a lemongrass drink, soup, a choice of fried sotong balls or wantons. I took a sip of the lemongrass juice and didn't really like the taste. The lemongrass had a strong rough like taste that didn't seem to compliment well with the tea (I think there was tea in it) that it was mixed in.

Iced Lemongrass Juice

Soup was a typical kosong soup, if your lucky you might get some chunks of vegetables in it. 

Kosong soup

Yummy, can't go wrong when u deep fry stuff hehe..

Fried squid balls and wantons

The sweet and sour chicken was the best item among what we all chose. I stole a bit of this and it was crispy on the outside yet tender on the inside, just what sweet and sour dishes are suppose to be. 

Sweet and sour chicken rice with lava egg

Yang Chow Fried rice came out very yellow as if it was coated with kunyit or curry powder. Colleague said it didn't taste anything like that though and it sucks. Well sometimes food tastes as bad as it looks. 

Yang Chow fried rice

Service was quite efficient and they cleared the plates almost immediately after you finished your meal. This could be cause it was kinda empty during a weekday lunch. 

The set lunches weren't all great but Kungfu Paradise has a huge range of items on their ala-carte menu to try, so I would be back for more to try their other dishes. 

KFC Malaysia delivery

Just few days ago, we spotted a motorbike driving around SS2 with the words KFC Delivery. What?? KFC now delivers?? Woohooo.. Quickly we checked the website and what do you know.. They now have a delivery menu.

Family Meals on the Delivery Menu

As expected, the delivery menu is slightly more expensive than dine-in or takeaway. Also there is a minimum order of RM15 and delivery charge of RM3. Sure beats having to drive out, get stuck in traffic and look for parking.

So today I finally decided to try the delivery service. Looked up the number on the KFC website and dialed 1300-222-888. They took down, my phone number, name, address and order details and done. Waited about 30minutes and ring ring KFC is here!

KFC arrived!

I really like that it comes in a special delivery box that kept the chicken nice and hot as if I was ordering directly from the counter. Taste test time! (since its the first time having kfc delivery), Wow! its really as if I was ordering from the counter! my first bite caused a loud crunch followed by the slow leaking of kfc juices hehe.. Its goood... Definitely will be trying out delivery again.

Hot chicken

 Well, it has been a very good experience for my first time with KFC delivery. There will definitely be a second time after this and I hope they are able to maintain this standard in the future.

yes.. so good..

High speed photos with the Samsung NX100 #1

I have been wanting to post some experimental photos with my Samsung NX100 to showcase that Samsung cameras actually produce pretty good photos. If I were I asked what camera do I use and if I were to mention that I'm using a Samsung camera, the typical response would be.. "Samsung, really?" with a wild bewilderment in their face.

Anyway, this post has been way overdue. Photos were taken in November of 2011 and its about time I start posting some of them.

All photos below using the slow shutter in the dark technique. I first got the idea from hiviz which hosts some tutorials and explanations on how to do high speed photography without the need for having fancy equipment. This technique required the whole room to be completely dark and the shutter left open during the photo shoot. A single burst of flash during that moment simulates a camera capturing at a high shutter speed without the need for a lot of light. Therefore the duration of the flash behaves like the duration of the shutter.

Coming from an electronics background, I decided to get some help from technology to be able to make more precise shots. I used and modified the circuit diagrams from glacialwanderer which sells a great kit called Camera Axe which has a whole bunch of different sensors that can be used to trigger your camera or flash.

There wasn't any documentation I could find about how to trigger the Samsung NX100 shutter. So had to experiment myself. The shutter and focus can be triggered by shorting the wires connecting to the external trigger of the NX100. I'll post some wiring diagrams in future.

The photo below was taken using a sound trigger. As the coins were dropped and collided on the floor the noise would be picked up by the microphone and trigger the flash.

Coin drops

The next few photos are one of my favourite's, as I have been wanting to take this type of shot for a very long time. These were also triggered by the pop of the balloon.

Water Balloon Burst 1

Water Baloon Burst 2

Here's some shots of the setup for the coin drop shot:

Behind the scenes of the coin drop

Wiring the flash to the microcontroller

I know.. as of today they have already announced the NX300 with all its great new features.

Damansara Hokkien Mee Review

Felt like having a greasy dinner today. What could be more greasy than hokkien mee? Noodles fried in oil and lard.. yumm lard... haha

When we arrived (around 7pm), all the seats outside was already taken. Plenty of seats inside though. As soon as we stepped in, you could feel a wave of heat coming at you from the kitchen behind. Seems  they cook the hokkien mee in front and the rest of the stuff at the back. Also there is a Chef Onn Roast duck stall there and I think they were also roasting their ducks at the back. There was a huge queue a couple minutes later after I took the picture below.

Got here while the sun is still up

So.. what to order? Hokkien mee of course! Added an extra plate of fried lard too and tried a single portion of fried rice. Seems every table was ordering it so decided to try it out. 

Menu

Ordered an orange juice to make myself feel better for ordering a greasy carbohydrate meal. 

Orange Juice (RM3.50)

A little after serving the drinks, they dropped of a big cup of chilli, guess the hokkien mee should be arriving soon hehe..

Chilli!

Well the fried rice came first, guess this was cause there was a long queue of people waiting for their hokkien mee takeaway. Hope the huge amount of people doesn't affect the taste. 

The fried rice was fragrant mildly smokey, laced with bits of char siew, long beans and topped off with what looks like a scrambled fried egg. If an egg looks like that, it can only be that it was cooked in a very high heat. High heat normally equals great fried rice in my books! Now for the taste test, no smokey flavour only the fragrance, no sweetness from the char siew, just a tinge of saltiness, light garlicly and cooked in lard? Hehe.. thats the secret to the taste. I'm sure there is lard somewhere in there. In short, loved the fried rice, but could have been better if the charsiew still had some taste in it (a little sweetness would have complimented well).

Fried Rice (RM7.00)

Finally the main dish arrived. Hokkien mee! Ordered a bigger portion of this since this was suppose to be the star of this place. I grabbed a bite and.. oh no.. the noodles were so soggy.. disappointing, seeing that there was a huge crowd, they probably cooked a big batch of hokkien mee together and probably thats why it ended up like this. The taste was right, but went wrong in the texture. Oh well.. all I can say is that I was glad I ordered the fried rice as it probably tasted better than this. 

Hokkien mee 2 person serving (RM14.00)

Overall, disappointing experience with the star dish (hokkien mee) but would still return maybe during an offpeak time if possible to get a properly cooked hokkien mee, if not i'm gonna return to the charcoal hokkien mee in section 17. 

Chatterbox One Utama Review

Ended up in One Utama for lunch today as a colleague volunteered to drive everyone out hehe.. Chatterbox has 3 choices of set lunches available on weekdays with a rotating daily menu (according to the staff).

Set Lunches

Most of us got the set lunch, which comes with a main meal, soup and a drink. Colleague recommended the Yin Yong (Coffee Tea drink). The dirnk was really nice, but still doesn't beat papparich though.

I ended up with Set C which is the Cheese Baked Rice with Fish Fillet in White Sauce. A little story about cheese baked rice, initially I was weary when I ordered my first cheese baked rice. I always thought, what!! cheese and rice?? how does that go together?? A friend once explained to me that rice was just like pasta and then it started to make sense to me hehe..

Anyway, back to Chatterbox. The cheese baked rice didn't disappoint, crusty cheese on the top, soft ooey cheese at the bottom followed by crunchy fillets of fish and slight saltish grains of rice. YUM! Will always be back for more of this.

Cheese Baked Rice with Fish Fillet

Two colleagues of mine had the fried rice, the presentation was too appealing and well.. the taste matched the look. Quote my colleague, "Better at a mamak stall". Will be staying away from this.

Chatterbox Fried Rice

One colleague decided not to have the set lunch and ordered the pork chop cheese baked rice (RM15.50) of the standard menu. Again a great dish which could only get better by topping up with chill oil! hehe..

Cheese Baked Rice with Pork Chop 

I'm a big fan of the cheese baked rice and would definately be back for more probably only on the weekday because of the savings with having the set lunch. 

Cinnamon Cafe, One World Hotel Review

Its about the time of the year where our company holds our annual company lunch. This time instead of heading to Eastin Hotel, Phileo Damansara, we are trying out a new place called Cinnamon Cafe in One World Hotel.

Arriving at One World Hotel, finding the Cinnamon Cafe was difficult and we eventually ended up asking one of the service staff to show us the way. We headed down to the basement floor and was greeted by a small entrance to the cafe. No person stationed in front and we walked right in browsing the food. 5 minutes later somebody finally approached us to ask if we have a reservation and showed us our table.

The place was basically empty and we had the whole place to ourselves.

Main Entrance

Inside though was a huge dining area nicely laid out with a semi outdoor area (presumably for smokers).

Compared with Eastin Hotel, there were probably 5x more choices available and for almost the same price.  You have the usual salad counter, roast meats, pasta corner, western food, cakes, sushi station, tempura, dim sum, local food, yong tau fu, laksa terengganu etc. Not so usual would probably be the satay, which was mostly cooked on the spot. Most of the food there is freshly cooked or cooked on demand.

Fresh satay

Desserts were the usual mixtures of cakes, crepes, kuihs, a chocolate fountain, unbranded icecream. There were two flavors of Potong icecream to choose from. Red bean and something else which i forgot.

Well I started out with a bit of everything. a little caesar salad with plenty of cheese, a touch of anchovies and sprinkles of turkey bacon. Yum.. the caesar sauce is definately made in house.

First round

Unfortunately, after the first round I forgot to take more pictures of the actual food. Well I'll post some of the pictures of the food stations below:

Salad bar

Frying and Cooking Station

More deep fried stuff

Healthy Yong Tau Fu

Satay Stand which also had lots of indian style cooking

Sharwarna Corner. No idea what this is.

For Sushi and seafood lovers

Pizza! Beef pizza was nice, next door was a western food stand

Bread Rolls, soft and chewy, didn't like it. Expected a crusty crust

Roast Beef and Pasta station

 Stole a bit of aglio olio spaghetti from a colleague. Spicy and tasted great! Too full to eat anymore carbo's though.

Desserts! ABC, crepes and the delicious cakes

Some dessert porridge and Peach crumble

The american chocolate cake at the dessert station was amazing, you could really taste the chocolate with every bite, not in a sweet sense but a true almost dark and mildly sweet chocolate taste. Went well with a cup of coffee. I went for second helpings of that. Again.. sorry no photo haha.

Hope to have another company lunch/dinner here again next time. Sure beats Eastin Hotel.