For many who read this blog, it is pretty evident that I do not pay for all the food reviewed on this blog. As someone who writes reviews on online, or indeed on prints, we sometimes get invited to food tasting/review sessions. I make it a point to put those posts in “By Invitation” category, there are already over 50 posts in there as of this writing.
Some insists that all reviews done via this matter shouldn’t be trusted as the writer did not pay for their food and got preferential treatments, hence they must be biased. There’s some sense of truth to it, but it isn’t the topic we’re discussing today.
Sometimes, the owner or a friend of the restaurants owner contacts myself for these reviews. Other times, it is the in house PR personnel who does the invitations. However, there’s also an increasing trend of restaurants hiring PR agencies to engage bloggers (and other media outlets) for food reviews.
In the last case, there’s money involved. Now I might be over simplifying things, but they usually goes:
Restaurant pays PR – PR gets bloggers to eat – Bloggers write reviews
The PR agencies might also have more detailed arrangements with the clients (restaurants), including numbers of free meals the restaurant is responsible for vs how many reviews (positive or otherwise) should turn up on blogs, number of unique hits, etc.
While it might sound like an awesome deal, free food and all, the reality is quite a bit different. Most serious food bloggers will haul along  their SLR & other photography equipments; trying to enjoy dinner interrupted with many photo taking sessions and talking with the PR/restaurant owner; and of course, spend hours editing photos and writing the blog post after the meal.
All these can amount to quite a bit of work, and you could probably agree that the least a writer can ask for is to have decent dining partners to go with. In my case, it is Haze, and sometimes part of #porkgang.
So a yesterday there was this article from Fit to Post (Yahoo! Singapore) titled “S’poreans outraged over ‘free meal’ blogger”, basically stating that a food blogger – ladyironchef, and I quote – “demanded that he and his three companions be given free meals at an upscale restaurant”. The article also quoted several other food bloggers condemning ladyironchef of being a “freeloader” and “bringing down the good name” of them.
Conversations on Twitter and forums this one was full of people throwing in their punches while the said blogger’s site was down.
This morning ladyironchef posted his version of the story, which came out to be something I’ve sorta suspected. While his record was not entirely spotless in this debacle ( throwing credit card on table), I think that the PR consultant did a lot worse in this case.
- The blogger did communicated the fact that he’s bringing 3 guests both on email and SMS.
- PR consultant was not there during the meal
- PR consultant did not advice the restaurant manager on the interview with Yahoo! SG
This is assuming the said PR consultant wasn’t the one who get the story out in the first place. Now that the blogger’s version is out, the PR/restaurant just made an ass of themselves, same goes with those who condemn the blogger without knowing the full story too (at least hungryepicurean put up an apology, bravo!)
Lesson from this story?
- know both sides before condemning anyone
- if an article cited blogs including those idled since 2008, read with a soup spoon of salt
- food review isn’t all pleasure and no work
- many PR consultants are awesome people, but just like bloggers, some of them are asses
p/s: for the invited reviews I find not worthy of recommendations, I usually skip the write up completely instead of writing a review on lousy food as I believe people visit this blog to look for good food and not having to sift through a lot of bad ones at the same time.
FREE BFAST LUNCH FREE DINNER FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cheesie,
hahahahaha true
FREE EVERYTHING ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
wtf guys.
I deserv it
LOL
I heard the first side of the story and was disappointed, and had a conversation with Brad’s friend, Eevon. I told her definitely miscommunication, because I know Brad may be proud but not a snob and won’t bastardize his “profession” this way.
His site is still down from my end but I got someone to e-mail me the contents, and it’s exactly as I suspected.
The news article really twisted the facts and added some extra pepper. I’m glad I didn’t make any judgment beforehand.
Marcky,
his site is back up already, the article is BS la.
I was talking to my friend this morning about it from the PR consultant’s perspective as well. I think you offered a very interesting perspective that many people hadn’t brought up. 🙂
Am working on a blog post about this too – more relating to journalism and social media for news dissemination (or reputation destroying). 🙂
Niki,
oOo interesting, I shall wait for your view too 😀
well said ! here we all love to share thru blogging whether if its a food, movie, beauty review ! how come it become so complicated nowww
Jess,
cos somewhere along the line, $$ comes in.
not that I dont’ like $$ tho 😛
mmm ini best! gua “suka”
Yatz,
*bow*
Yeah, always two sides to a story.
Huai Bin,
that is unless…. you have 3 sides! we haven’t heard from the PR consultant in question, emmm
Yeah! 🙂
First, is she in-house or external. Why wasn’t she there when she said she would be?
Mysterryyyy!
i haven’t been able to access his blog at all! KY wanna tell us what his side is ? T_T
aud,
no problem accessing here, basically his side was
– he got invited, not self invite as the article suggests
– he asked for 3 friends to go along in email, no reply
– he asked again via SMS, no reply
– he never said “I always get free food wherever I go”, but article quoted that
Yea, some PR ppl dont understand social media. Some dont belong in d industry. (Btw I’ve met PR for beer/alcohol companies dat dont drink!! Thats a major insult to the client.)
I guess if its an advertorial, then u dont have a choice, u gotta write watever shit they expect u to. Otherwise its quite open.
And if a writer/celebrity/blogger/whoever actually asks for a free meal without prior arrangement, dats plain stupid.
Deep,
yeap, agree 100%, there are dumb PR, dumb bloggers, dumb newswriter, and dumb restaurant owners too. a combination of those spells disaster.
Amazing how it all spun wildly out of control after that first article…
(Hmmm. Have to admit I had some negative thoughts in my head after reading it but still thought that it was shocking how one sided the angle was… So very tabloid-y…. )
J,
yah, all for sensationalistic journalism, blahh
But poor guy loh. I dunno him and dunno whose fault it is but what a landslide of really bad comments – some pretty abusive some more….
J,
yeah, behind the veil of anonymity, ppl can say the most horrid things, but if they’re right in front of you…
You will be wrong there, if i saw this piece of crap behave that way in front of me i’d not hesitate to tell him right off on the spot. What’s he going to do? Look at his face, this is a weakling that thrives off bullying weaker people.
I’d probably break his skull in two without breaking a sweat, i’ve told off people that were two times the man he was.
I was terribly disappointed about the fact that people who claimed to be his friend/acquaintance condemned Brad publicly on twitter. Nobody has appointed any of us judge or juror to decide on Brad’s innocence or guilt. Freedom of speech? Bollocks. 🙁
Meena,
yah, complete bullocks, this was all before Brad had a chance to say anything.
Well written indeed ! 😉
MissyCheerio,
TQ TQ
When did you start getting free meals, free vacations and free toys? I do miss the good old days of kyspeak, simple layout, simple and unbiased reviews and critical about current affairs etc. Now it just looks like a typical article in KLUE magazine where I think you are also subjected to MCMC . Sorry of being harsh where probably I am just jalus hehehe. Everything just changed ever since the 2005 pps bash where jeffooi is still in USJ, kenny and st is still skinny, kim still has her legs on the banner and huaibin is still into drugs.
I do miss your article about koi pond, collecting mandarin orange in tmn jaya and getting sht face with the likes of ST kim suan etc….
good luck
2005 reader
whatever,
I guess time passes and people changes, it’s a process of growing up and maturing. the free reviews are still tagged as such and i do believe i’m still being unbiased.
our memory is sometimes pretty selective, and the past usually looked better than it actually was. my current DIY is part of the house renovation tho. 😀
Just my opinion, dun flame me:
1. I guess you would go to a eatery when it is recommended by someone that is good in the first place, thus most of your reviews are positive??? In statistical term, reporting good and shunning the bad is what we call positive result bias.
2. You do assert a certain amount of influence over people on their choices (otherwise there are no incentives for PR ppl to looking for you). The key point is : would you risk writing a bad piece, deriding it if it is free food plus 2, and the food is terrible and expensive? Of course it would not make sense in the short run but in the long run you will get the community’s support as one of the open and honest food blogs around. There are of the likes of robert parker who hold firm to such principles in wine review and succeeded and I am hoping to see one food blogger in Malaysia.
3. There is a piece on bad eatery from you and not surprising that you actually paid for the food. I shudder to think that in the long run you will write bad opinionated pieces on small mom and pop shops serving regular food that doesn’t have a big pr arm and pays you and your gang for free food in comparison to average food in big fancy restaurant that charges 8RM for green tea to average joes.
4. Thus, the review would be much complete if you actually pay for the food you eat as the cost (of value) would also be an important judging factor. Going to a restaurant reviewing food but with complementary champagne will cloud your experience.
I have no qualms bloggers getting perks as such, only when they start to perceived that the privileged they enjoy turns into entitlement, reporting bias reviews but still say they are unbiased, and turning into aholes that relegates them to the likes of dime of a dozen “lifestyle magazine”.
cheers
whataver
PS I am still waiting for a great article like the FA picture mime…..
whatever,
1. I do agree that I exercise positive bias in this blog. The simple reason being that I do not have time to blog about every place I went, and thus it is a simple choice when it comes to choosing between writing a place that I like vs one that I don’t.
2. same answer
3. The few bad food entries I wrote about were terrible experiences that everyone should avoid, eg: half cooked chicken. On the other hand, I’ve also chose not to blog about a certain 5 star hotel’s Japanese outlet too, I guess it still goes both ways.
4. Yes it would be, unfortunately I do not have the fund to do that, and advertising revenue isn’t quite as substantial on blogs, plus this isn’t a full time job.
I agree, it is a privilege, but the same privilege should be understood on both sides too. The whole arrangement is a trade that hopefully benefits both parties, not just the blogger or the PR/restaurateur.
Thank you for the input. Great article? emm I shall think of something one of these days 😀
hehe whoever u are. those were great times!
kim,
hahaha definitely.
Yeah, good times indeed. How do you know I’m not still on drugs? ;) Kidding kidding.
HB: hahahahaha
Maybe because you’ve gain weight significantly? hehehe
whatever,
very sharp eyes. LOL
yes he did gain alot of weight….in a short time !
With respect, I think hungrygowhere and yebber.com are more reliable than food blogs.
JJ,
if it’s written by people it’ll still contain personal bias, it is what you choose to trust. 😉
Dang, there goes my ambition of being a 5-star and Island Resort Blogger and asking for my free hotel stay! LOL
Good article and definitely good way to always find out the two sides of the coin before passing judgement.
Mark,
hahaha too bad for you! 😛
WOULD there be anyone fehmes acting THAT bitchy in the first place? Won’t everyone else avoid said bitchy person and hence no more fehmes-ness d?
Anyhoo, being a food blogger not that fun. Being friends of food bloggers .. now that is da bomb. Don’t need to do anything but can go get free food hohohoho 😀
electronicfly,
you have a point, but there are people who are bitchy and fehmes at the same time too. lol
yeah. fucking alot of work after review. freeloading comes with lots of work after that.
Myhorng,
yah tell me about it, especially if you let it rust there after a few weeks…
I must say I’m ashamed that I was one of those who judged him based on the article. T_T
I somehow cannot feel sorry enough for doing that.
Yee Hou,
bad yee hou bad yee hou 😛
hmm…. then it is best just to eat, pay your own way and not be obligated to write a review 🙂 hehehe. Anyway, KY, you are still one of my fav blogs to read 🙂 keep it up!
neko-hime,
yeah of course best but why would I want to not eat expensive food for free? that’ll not be very smart. cis.
this is like the hottest topic on the food blogosphere..!
lotsofcravings,
hahaha seems like it.
Well, at least he cleared the air!!
ALWAYS double / triple check to ensure both parties are on the right track as free food is very subjective isnt it?
Anyway i still love his blog and urs of course KY! 🙂
Jo C,
thanks for the vote of confidence 😀
Well, he’s not entirely innocent. He’s just trying to save his ass by putting his side of response up.
Some issues to ponder, he was invited in early June to taste the new lunch menu, he rescheduled it until middle of August to review their brunch instead. Brought 3 friends instead of 1 and if he’s willing to pay for his 2 friends, why did he throw his temper?
I think he should have clarified his intentions to the staff there in the beginning (if the PR lady wasn’t there). Was she present?
Ehem,
didn’t say he was innocent, but he wasn’t as bad as what the Yahoo! SG article portrayed though. I think PR lady wasn’t there.
Hi,
I do agree with what you have posted. Yes, it is true that the PR agency does have a part to play in this whole saga. However, you defined your debate boundary based on the fact that Brad indeed told the PR agency that he is bringing 3 of his friends. No doubt about that, you are right.
However, I do not believe that the entire faults lie with the PR agency. By the facts that Brad threw his credit card on the cashier did give us some hint that he is unhappy with the facts that he has to be charged. There is no reason in this world that can give Brad the reason to disrespect the casher. Secondly, what’s wrong if the restaurant reject to waive off the fee for the 2 of his friends? They ate their food so they should pay. The 2 friends are not invited by the restaurant but by Brad, hence, they are not obligated to treat the 2 friends. So, what give the right for Brad to disrespect the cashier? Just pay and end of the story.
Yes, no1 in this world will reject free stuff right? Everybody like free stuff, including me (I do not mind queuing 1 hour for freebies). However, it is simply too much to ask the restaurant to pay for 2 of his friends right? After all, the restaurant is doing a business. If they start treating all the friends and family of the food blogger, I think their business wont last long.
In conclusion, I find that your post is too 1 sided just like the yahoo articles. The only difference between your post and yahoo articles is, you are siding Brad and yahoo articles is siding the restaurant.
So here is a question for you, what is the point of you posting this article? You are just another media channel like Yahoo Article who sided the plaintiff.
Btw, I do agree with what you have wrote in this article. Just… … … ….
Quote: many PR consultants are awesome people, but just like bloggers, some of them are asses
hmm 🙄 Are you? (think about it 😉 )
David,
yah the throwing credit card bit was childish, as the cashier wasn’t the right person to vent out his frustration. I agree with you in that regard.
On the other hand, the bringing 1 friends or 3 friends part can be debated. Would it be fair for a restaurant to treat a blogger with 200 hits/day the same as the other with 2000 hits/day – both get to invite 1 additional friend?
I’m not trying to side Brad, but showing the intricacies of the whole restaurant/PR/blogger arrangements and in hope, bringing a slightly different perspective to the story. Can’t fault anyone for thinking I am on Brad’s side tho for I do think the Yahoo! SG article was a piece of cowboy journalism.
I disagree with your question on the fairness of the restaurant to ‘treat’ blogger in regards to their hits. You give a hint that when a blogger gets more famous, he/she expects preferential treatment.
While in practice this may be true, it is up to the restaurant to decide. The blogger should not have an expectation or a sense of entitlement. Furthermore, shouldn’t food critic owe as little favor as possible to the subject of their review?
By asking that question, you reveal the fact that you, too, have a sense of entitlement over lesser blogger.
fairy,
ideally yes, a fair critic would be one that nobody knows you went to. but if it was through PR and money exchanges hands and all that, the number game will come into play, and in this sense i think the publications with more readership could demand for more than one with much less readership, no?
I have to agree with both David and fairy in the aspect that there’s no need for preferential treatment whether a food blogger has 200 hits/day or 2000 hits/day.
The very fact that the 1 additional dining partner gets to dine for free is perhaps simply customary courtesy, and any extension of this goodwill should come from the decision by the restaurant in question and not by the blogger’s own sense of entitlement. Wouldn’t a blogger with 2000000000 hits/day get to bring his entire family/clan and demand free meals for all then?
Nick,
yeap, it should be from the restaurant, or at least with the agreement. Brad’s problem was he never got the confirmation and assumed it was ok.
actually, a blogger with 2000000000 hits/day can buy any damn restaurant he wants, since that’s more than Google’s daily hits if I’m not mistaken.
knowing u as u r . . .trust ur review. . . .nuff said
also believed it is hype out for free ads.. . . .
foodcrazee,
ahh but you know me personally, that’s different. 😀
I don’t give a shit why the hell do people get so angry over stupid nonsense like this wtf “OMG THIS FOOD BLOGGER IS SO EVIL!!! EVIL!!!!” gosh people are dying out there, HELLO, PRIORITIES! x_x
Mellissa,
collective bashing is an online trend, unfortunately.
thats what u get for cramped up in HDB flats too long
imsohigh,
now now how is this constructive?
like most food bloggers out there, sometimes we’ll just choose not to write about bad rest/bad food. it’s a waste of time and it’s just not worth the effort because like what you’ve said, food review isn’t all pleasure!
we do accept invites (on a more selective basis), making sure that its a no string attached kind of thing (blog about it if you are happy with the food!). but i think that the general public is getting a little bit too harsh on food bloggers by insisting that we should pay for every single post/piece that we are producing. food blogger ain’t food critic, we are just a bunch of boring people that blogs about what we have for 3 meals a day where as food critic is one who will go in depth to look at the ambiance, food, service and their ratings often exude a certain level of influences. and they get PAID!
kampungboycitygal,
you’re right. well we can do that when tech reviewer buy all their gadgets and car reviewers buy every car they test?
Very well-written, KY! A lot of people do not know how much work it takes to take pictures, edit them nicely and write a proper review. 😕
As for the PR manager, I think she messed up on her part. Like you said lor…some PR managers are nice, some are just plain asses.
Bangsar-bAbE: or ignorant, oh well..
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For me, the real or professional food blogger should not accept invitation at all coz it will contain bias comment on the food for giving ‘faces’ to the restaurant…
There are some bloggers here (Malaysia) deserves my respect as they stated they will not write or go for food invitation review eg. vkeong. Of course, some will said it is their own blog and they can do all they want thingy, but they should be responsible to the readers too if they provide bias review of the foods. 🙂
Besides that, invited food review is not accurate because of the foods are presented and prepared carefully and specially as possible by the chef knowing there will be a review…But then, how will be the daily standard fare for ordinary customer which is the one we cared. Therefore, invited review is CRAP compared to ordinary walk in review as a customer. 😉
kimi_,
“professional” implies one being able to make a living out of this, but as bloggers this is usually our hobby, at best providing a little bit of supplementing income via advertisement and advertorials.
you’re right, invited food review sessions will no doubt be better than regular visits, if not for the food then at least the services. but does that necessarily means it is “CRAP”? readers should know and subtract a bit of the written experience point, so long as the article state full well that it is indeed an invited food review session.
btw vkeong does go for review session(s) too, check his article on Maria’s Restaurant and Cafe. that doesn’t make him any less a foodie in my book though. and if he had stopped doing so, then good for him, it is a personal decision.
Plese help They are running out of time,
Please sign the petition to amend & revise ‘Revised Animals Act 1953′ and forward to your friends
***http://www.furryfriendsfarm.org.my/
Miram,
I don’t agree with petition #4, sorry.
KY, you are a blogger, we can expect you fight the issue from the position of a blogger.
When you own a restoran one day. And when you invite some blogger to come and eat. And tell him to bring a partner. And he bring 5 ah bengs. And demand to eat for free, and then throw his credit card at you.
Tell me you still think he is that great.
Tingo,
if and when I own a restaurant I believe I’d know what to do. there are plenty of PR & restaurateurs who handle arrangements like this very well. at the end of the day it is a barter system.
now the throwing credit card part was uncalled for, and no, i never thought he was great. just wanted to provide my own viewpoints, i can’t pretend to say i know everything by just reading the various sources.
Food bloggers is one of the cheapest form of advertising for these restaurant owners and yet, can be very effective if they approach the right blogger. If the restaurant owner is gonna be so stingy on it, or make an issue just because extra 2 person tagged along, forget it .. it is not worth the time and effort of the food blogger to take photo, edit, write the review etc for that said restaurant.
To answer your question Tingo, the restaurant owner not stupid lah … invite any tom, dick, harry meh?
AnotherFoodie,
hahaha i think you share a bit of my sentiment. 😀
To Kimi … I know of some food bloggers whom still gets bashing for their review although they paid on their own. Taste is very subjective. Also, the quality of the food produce from the restaurant may not be consistent. Then how? I say, the PR agency is the one pocketing the major chunk of the fee from the restaurant hence he/she should do proper work, and response.
AnotherFoodie,
yah that’s one of the point most people missed on this whole issue, where was the PR consultant? what is her response?
A shame you are more on the blogger’s side but it understandable.
Why did he inform the restaurant 2 times he was coming with 4 since he made it clear in his own blog that it is normal to bring 1 person extra in who gets to sample for free anyways? Why is it so important to inform the restaurant 2 times that he is coming with 2 extra friends? He can bring 10 extra friends or 20 or 40…why not? Since only 2 get a free meal, it doesnt matter how many friends he brings. This was probably what the restaurant thought too….why does the blogger keep telling me how many ppl he is going to bring? Its max 2 for free.
The reason is because he is hoping the restaurant gives him a positive confirmation so he can provide all 3 friends a free meal but unfortunately for him the restaurant doesn’t reply. At that moment he couldn’t tell his friends that they might have to pay for their meal cos it will make him lose face so he just takes the chance and goes for his free sampling.
When it turns out he has to pay for his 2 extra friends, he gets unhappy and loses face in front of his friends. The restaurant however tries to make him feel better by giving him the bubbly wine for free. Now lets stop a moment….
KY do you order a 100 SGD bottle of sparkling wine by yourself when you are invited to a food tasting?? The restaurant invites you to a food tasting and you dare to just order a 100 SGD bottle of sparkling wine and expect not to pay for it?
After the sparkling wine was deducted from the bill, he was still unhappy and threw the card on the table. In his blog he apologised for those 3 seconds of throwing the card while this blogger has had evil thoughts from June the 2nd when he started his plan to look solid in front of his friends if he manage to get away with 2 extra guests and a 100 sgd bottle of sparkling wine!
Nice try loser!
Jack,
I think the whole thing could have been avoided had he just call up the PR consultant to clarify his intentions. I can’t say it was totally wrong for him to bring extra 2 guests tho that isn’t the unsaid “standard”.
as to ordering wine and such during reviews, I don’t do that. I am happy enough to let the host choose what they want us to sample.
as I have stated, Brad is not totally innocent but he wasn’t the only one who’s at fault.
Sure things wouldn’t be worse had the PR been there but why does a blogger need to be told by PR not to bring 3 extra but only 1 extra person and that if you order sparkling wine, you need to pay for that? I can’t imagine that a blogger always presumes everything is free beforehand and needs a PR to him/her what isn’t free during the tasting….
Jack, I agree with you, sorry KY.
Jack,
Brad should have waited for confirmation from PR, true. If either one of them calls the other the whole situation could have been avoided.
Look this guy no up. How far should the restoran bend to give this guy what he thinks he is entitled to?
This guy is the problem, not the restoran.
Brad lau, if you are reading this, I had long look down on you and your blog, reading broken english stories. Your england level is not even O level. And you have zero creativity. And you are not blogging food but ambience.
Face it, you are just a manipulator who like high class thing and treat people like S%($
Tingo,
it was a party of 3, Brad, PR, restaurant manager.
Tingo, how LOW can you GO?! Who are you to judge how good his english is? SHAME ON YOU!!!
AnotherFoodie,
From what I see, Tingo’s England level isn’t all that great either. Not saying that mine’s any good at all :X
Fuck off la KY….what divine right you have to criticise other people? A freeloader defending another freeloader….u fuckin beggars should go and jump off the building la..all food blogger sucks!
Kissmass,
I have the right to state my own opinion, and as you have the right to tell me to “fuck off”, and if you think writing food reviews = freeloader, then you are sorely misinformed.
if all the food bloggers SUCK, what ya doing here reading all this shit? It pisses me off seeing scumbags trying to act like ANGEL!
U r one of the few independent food bloggers in the country. Amen. Great post.
Wilson,
that’s way too much compliment sialll lol
Love this post, I agree with you completely. The most objective one yet.
Priscilla,
thank you, i tried :X
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Kudos to Hungry Epicurean. I suggest the readers here to go read Xia Xue´s recent post to have a better understanding of the issue instead of taking it from the SURFACE. For those of you trying to bash KY and calling food blogger names, I don´t know what to say. It is shameful that so many readers out there think that bloggers deserve less than what they contribute. Look west e.g David Lebovitz etc … whom charges. Are asian bloggers worth so much less to extend don´t even deserve a free meal for the hard work? You readers decide! As for the english part, if readers can relate (and mind you, a lot of people like his style of english and not the mighty high type some of you judge him for – remember! not everyone´s like you!), so who are you to judge?
Read XX’s blog?
Her sheer arrogance in defending her friend disgusts me to the core! Is that what you food bloggers have become? Absolutely BS from her and only half witted eggtarts buy her story.
Longkangcat,
arrogance aside, she did her research and does have her points.
This whole Brad Lau fiasco should serve as a good reminder to all you aspiring food taster bloggers wannabes out there not to act so stuck up like some sort of celebrity, gastronomy expert etc. Just because you patron some of the best restaurants in this country and write a rubbish article about it, that doesn’t qualify you as a food taster or some sort of God of Eatery you think you are!
Judging from the responses on the Brat Lau incident, i think the general Malaysian public feels the same way about current food bloggers! Bunch of snobbish and arrogant pricks who think they will achieve instant internet stardom by blogging bout food! Bollocks to that, and im surprised there are still dumb restauranteurs and operators who bought the hype by extending invitation to these bunch of lazy good fer nothing yuppies to taste their food! My goodness…i mean WTF what fecking creditbility do this yuppies have to be a certified taster??? i bet they don even fry their own eggs for morning breakfast let alone comment on food??
Wake up and smell the coffee will ya….it is just a matter of time before Malaysia has her own Brad Lau!
Longkangcat,
it is of course, up to readers to choose who they read and which bloggers/reviewers they trust. there are very reputed food bloggers such as masak-masak around here, as there are those only looking for free load.
we just have make our own judgement, after you don’t need to pay to read them, in fact, the bloggers often have to pay for their own hosting instead.
SPEAK FOR YOURSELF and don´t generalises everyone! As I know, food blogs is another alternative source of information, and DON`T BULLSHIT THE WORLD and say you don´t read them for some references. Otherwise how did food blogs became an alternative channel to restaurants to advertise? It WORKS! AND, just to remind you … like any pure, traditional advertising method, A LOT OF HARDWORK goes into producing a good blog. It is true some of them a crappy, but mind you, Brad´s blog RANKS in the second in Singapore!!! Go check your figures dude before bashing. It just shows how IMMATURE, and JEALOUS you are!
i bet they don even fry their own eggs for morning breakfast let alone comment on food?? – what is the relation dude?! Even professional food critics don´t cook! Get real!!!
AnotherFoodie,
resorting to personal attacks when discussing whole different issue shows maturity level I guess. Sad to see. haih.
AnotherFoodie, you don’t get it do you? Brad’s blog RANKS second in the SG only BECAUSE half witted eggtarts like you endorsed and supported him. Im sure as hell wont go to a yuppie with a weirdo for advise when I’m searching for food in town! Sad to say, Brad took full advantage of people of your stupidity and rise along the ranks! And now that the world has discovered the douche in him, you people start to diss hn judge him like a overzealous moralista! get outta here pls!
“What’s the relation dude? Even professional food critics don;t cook?”LOL….so now one doesn’t need to know how to cook before they comment on food? That’s what gave you tarts hope right? Yea right and all you need is good grasp of English language and how write 1119 TOEFL essays and plonk in those flowerly words? MAN YOUR ARGUMENT IS SO CRAPPY that i think you are HIGH on PCP! Get real douche!
Since you are so smart unlike the rest of us, then don´t read blogs lah. So what are you doing here? Bloggers get their content from experiences anyway, like it or not … readers read it with a pinch of salt JUST LIKE any form of other media (eg. Newspaper) and those medium are contributed by humans like you and me too! And people PAY every single day for newspaper anyway?! So if you are so righteous as how you PUT IT, then STAR AWAY from any media lohhhhh!!! Like REAL you will do it. Don´t talk crap man.
and btw, do you know Brad personally? Were you there to witness what happened? IF NOT, then don´t judge him too quickly and personally attack his english or whatsoever. THAT IS SO NO CLASS!!!
And you have judged me again. I was NEVER Brad´s reader until this thing happened. I am just speaking up because you disgrace the readership community with your comment!!!
FYI I do read blogs. I read blogs on auto. Blogs by certified mechanics and car engineers, not by some college grad or yuppie yapping about GTRs and EvoX on a Sat night kopitiam session who cant even afford a Honda Civic. I read photography blogs where contents are contributed by full fledged photographers and not by some Tom Dick & Harry with a DSLR camera.
Now you are asking me why people pay for newspaper everyday eh? Don’t digress from the topic of discussion la… newspaper has been our established veritable wellspring of information for centuries and on the other hand, blogs can be written by any Brad Lau with a computer. Look at the source first numbnuts.
Yea and pro food critics doesnt cook. Talk about maturity level?..LOL!
So Longkangcat … you are here in KY´s blog for???
Talk about maturity level .. all pro food critic cooks? Maybe where you live, whichever country you´re from! See … judging again!
Foodie o foodie…in order to be a pro food critic, you dont have to be a 5 star michelin chef but at least, u must possess some basic culinary and cooking skills la…..and i’m not talking bout maggi noodles here! Your assumption is akin to someone aiming to be a F1 driver but doesnt know how to drive! You really think all food critic do reviews based on their tastebuds? Any Phua Chu Kang can be a food critic la….if that’s the case..(which i believe so judging from current scenario)
Cheese n crackers, Foodie you will be snacking of the bottom of my shoe if with the Timberland logo imprinted on your face you ever ask me these dumb questions again.
PS: Im here hoping to hear some words of wisdom from KY on what to eat tomorrow….
PSYCHED!
Longkangcat,
by the way the max michelin star any restaurant can get is 3.
while knowing a bit of cooking might help, you don’t need to necessarily be a gourmet chef to be a food critic at all. look at Iron Chef and their panel of judges, for example.
after all if the review is to tell people how a commoner feel about the food, then the perspective from a chef might not be that useful.
kinda like wine, i never understand the descriptions from those “wine experts”. to me it’s bad wine, ok wine, good wine, excellent wine. is all.
and by the way, there’s no need for personal attacks la
cheers guys 🙂
“Restaurant pays PR – PR gets bloggers to eat – Bloggers write reviews”
shouldn’t that be “bloggers write advertorials”?
justine,
bloggers write advertorials if bloggers are paid to write advertorials. reviews like these aren’t paid advertorials, very different animal. 🙂
Just another transaction gone wrong. Life goes on, peeps! Get a life!
gnoey,
yah, people are just overreacting a bit too much.
Totally agreed with what you said. Felt it was a mis communication from the beginning. Pity that the news broke only from one side, and Brad wasn’t around to defend himself. And so many ppl so persistent in bringing him down more.
Missyglutton,
a bit of bad timing for Brad, and others mostly jump to conclusion before knowing everything.
totally agree with what you say. Sometimes we are just being nice to help promote good eating places and afterall tastesbuds varies so it’s up to you whether you want to trust the blogger or not.
eiling,
we understand Brad’s side ma, but others still think that we’re just free loaders sien.
darn it..not only does this food blogger gets free food,he 😈 also sapu all the blogger chicks..sibeh boh kam buan 😛
Bestest: good for him? lol.