Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Milford Plaza New York, USA by guest contributor singaporean


For those who have been there during this time, you would probably know that New York over Christmas and the New Year can be a truly amazing experience. New York during this time of the year can also be prohibitively expensive. Which is why I was pleased to have found Milford Plaza (on the edge of 8th Ave and 45th Street) on the Internet when I recently went to New York.
The costs of a standard room with Club lounge access (US$120 or so per night) is one of the most competitive and value-for-money in New York's uber expensive accomodation scene (where $200 and over a night is more the norm). The location of the Hotel is also very much central: being only about 5 minutes walking distance from both Times Square and Broadway, visitors would have quick and easy access to some of New York's most famous landmarks.

When I first arrived at the hotel, I found the room to be functional, if a little antiquated. That said, there was definitely a certain rustic charm to the room. One little matter though was that the walls appeared to be somewhat thin, which allowed me to eavesdrop on conversations that took place in adjoining rooms if the visitors in those rooms were too loud (and presumably, for them to listen in to conversations that I had if I were too loud). This was of course, part of the charm of the place, and can be easily overlooked, though I can imagine how disconcerting that might be if you were attempting to sleep at night and you were beside a particularly noisy neighbour (I was blessed with early sleepers as neighbours). There was a view of New York from my hotel room - while nothing spectacular, it is easy to forget that given the hotel's considerably lower-than-norm charges, the fact that any view is available is, in and of itself, quite a bonus. The lift-allocation-system is also structured in such a way that in most instances, you'd be given a dedicated lift to go to the level that you need - while some find the system inconvenient (and to be sure, it is, to some extent), I loved it since it means there is no need to engage in small talk with other guests.

That is not to say the Hotel is not without its faults. For one, it did appear during my stay that there were too many people who had access to the Club lounge, making it impossible to get seats in the Club lounge if you are not an early riser (whenever I went to the Club lounge at 9:30 am, for example, it was impossible to get seats, though it was much easier to get seats whenever I went earlier than 9 am). The Club lounge is also separate from the level the hotel room is on, which does mean the little inconvenience of taking the lift whenever you needed to go to the club lounge.

In short, Milford Plaza is not perfect, and definitely no big-name 5-star hotel, but for its costs and central location, is extremely value-for-money, especially in the festive season where most other comparable hotels charge almost double what Milford charges.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Reply from Traders Hotel KL

A few weeks back I did a review on Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur and I did give the management team my honest feedback. Today I receive a reply.

Greetings from Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur!  Appreciate the feedback provided via our “We Value Your Opinion” feedback form.
It is always encouraging to receive positive feedback about our service and I am indeed very proud of our employees and firmly believe that they are our most important asset.  I have shared your kind compliment with the team and they are most appreciative of this. 
On a separate note, thank you for highlighting the mini bar price list issue to our attention.  Our associate has overlooked this replacement from the previous departure hence our apologies for the lack of attention.  Our Executive Housekeeper has ensured necessary steps are in placed to prevent similar recurrence in the future. 
In any case, we appreciate you taking the time in sharing your insight from a customer perspective.  We greatly appreciate your thoughts and recommendations as it is through such avenues can we further improve and refine our service delivery and product going forward. 
Thanks again for sharing. Hope to see you back in the future and in the meantime wishing you safe travels. 

Best regards 
Ed Brea, General Manager
Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I really appreciate when hotels' management actually value customer feedbacks and they make an effort to reply back to the customer. 

Keep it up Traders Hotel KL!!!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Sarawak part3

I am not a fussy traveller. Seriously I am not.
I do not demand exceptional service and never have I asked for a complimentary upgrade in any hotel that I have stayed. Basically I am a fuss free nice traveller.
But when a restaurant/service/product really disappoint you - you just have to blog about it so others who have tried/used it can agree or disagree and others about to try can have the choice to attempt it or otherwise - do I make sense?
Anyway, since my travel in Sarawak consisted of only the city of Kuching - it will be helpful for you if you happen to have a map in which case I do have a link for it - its in pdf and accurate by the time of this blog write up.
Now, the thing I am upset is in regards to a restaurant in Kuching(City Centre) Sarawak called Moly's Place. It is located behind Harbour View Hotel which you can find on the above map. Why am I telling you the location of the restaurant if I am upset with it? - The answer is simple - you may or may not agree with my opinions so you have to judge it for yourself. Let us maintain this harmonious interactions despite our disagreement. Feel free to comments if you have been to the restaurant before.
The reason I visited this open air restaurant is because it was noted as very good by Sarawak standard by a site I Googled. The restaurant is halal.

They have a nice concept of having different tables with different flowers thus instead of table numbers the waiter can simply say - "Two Chicken rice for Bunga Seri Pagi"

After ordering, the wait is super duper long(Will require 20 to 30 minutes to wait). Whats worse, there is only one other person beside my orders.

This is their Chicken Rice. Taste wise - just okay.

This is Pattaya Rice (its origin is actually Thais). Taste wise - just okay.

This is their Ayam Penyet (literally translated as Pounded Chicken). Taste wise - Very good!


This is their fried rice. Taste wise - Okay but what makes it worse is the absence of (or super duper little) meat.

The food above that I have shown is not the delicacies of Sarawak so the restaurant was not to be blame for its sub-standard taste but I expect the restaurant to whip up a rather delicious local delicacies. Unfortunately this was not the case.

A local delicacy - Laksa Sarawak. The gravy was not thick - tasted watery and the flavours were super diluted. (Maybe this was how it was supposed to taste - but after trying from other sources, that was not the case) Horrible horrible horrible.

You cannot say you have been to Sarawak without tasting their Mee Kolok. Again as a local delicacy I expect better but unfortunately I was wrong. The mee tasted like Maggi instant noodles and again there was an absence of meat. Even with the sauce and soup, there was no denying this is comparable(or even worse) to instant noodles stuff.

So my final verdict on Moly's restaurant is this :- only go if you really want to have a good Ayam Penyet meal, otherwise skip it.

Thankfully, I manage to find better food located within an open air cafe. This shope is located at Jalan Gartak - also walking distance from Hilton Kuching. It is actually near the Jalan India area right after the Main Bazaar. You can find it better if you come via Jalan P.Ramlee (the museums are located along this road) and head North.


Then I saw the sign!!!
MEE KOLOK - and after a disappointing taste the day before - I hope this stall can give me a better conclusion to Sarawak food delicacies - if it tasted the same then I have to admit that my tongue just ain't suited to the food and MEE Kolok is an acquired taste.

I always say the Laksa Sarawak stall and without further ado, I ordered both.


This is what the stall MEE KOLOK looks like - different from Moly's Place don't you think so? Taste wise - DELICIOUS!!! The soup and noodles are just fantastic - this is how local delicacy should taste like.

I totally forget to take a picture of Laksa Sarawak because when it arrived, I was still eating the delicious Mee Kolok and totally forget about it. The gravy for Laksa Sarawak in this stall is just superb. It is thick and full of flavours. Those on a healthy diet beware though - the gravy is made from squeezed coconut pulp. But the taste is just SUPERB.

Of course, it is not complete without tasting Sarawak infamous fast food restaurant namely Sugar Bun(Halal). It is located just about everywhere where there are malls. If you are from Hilton all you need to do is visit the neighbouring hotel Crowne Plaza which is joined to Parkson and you can find one outlet over there.


This is Sugar Bun beef stew - the tapioca is of the wild variety so its really an acquired taste. Not too bad though. Rather nice.

This is Sugar bun latest menu - Freshwater Fish Head Assam Pedas (you can ask for the fish tail if you do not eat the head). Verdict - simply mouth watering! Must try if you come to Sarawak and have a chance to sample. Not too spicy unlike the West Malaysia & Singapore version so very good for those who cannot sample spicy food.

Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy!