The Kayu wars

My big, big, big boss sent me a text message this morning.It read: "Please do a story on the 'other' Kayu'.Orders are orders, I replied and said: "Will do".This was made in reference to my column on Nasi Kandar.I featured Kayu Nasi Kandar in USJ 10 Taipan. It was done to fulfill my pork-free food quota for Ramadan which I have
pledged to my boss.So, I went on a mission to feature some makan places during my rounds and
one of those nights, I landed myself at Kayu.I ordered a plate of Nasi Kandar and paid RM13.50 for the meal consisting
fish roe, beef cooked in soya sauce and some vegetables.It was overpriced and service sucked.All I needed was a set of pictures to corroborate my story which I wrote
according to what I had experienced. That was it.And today, there was a mixed reaction and some dude actually text messaged
me to say: "Wah, so you brave ah?""Brave?," I asked."Yeah, most reviews would be nice," replied the guy.I told him that I paid for my meal and gave an honest view of what I ate. That
was all.Its never ballsy to do so as I would be sincere on sharing my experience.There some interesting developments arising from the comment and I'll have
to wait and see what's on my plate in the days to come...

Food Trail 3.0 rollout

Ahh... Already three years and still kicking.

My first article rolled out sometime in March 2008 and since then, I have been keeping a regular weekly column on the pages of The Star's Metro Central section.

Like any other columnist who has to meet datelines and get their topics right, there are challenges.

How to keep ideas fresh, pictures, leads and sustain the column where issues that I had to face from time to time.

The purpose of the food column is to keep readers informed of outlets especially when it comes to street food.

I am proud to say that in the two years that I have been doing it, I have never taken any payment for the outlets featured nor ate for free.

Yet, people can never be satisfied.

Over the course of time, I do get some good and bad feedbacks.

Most of the readers are fine with my presentation with some exception from readers who want to be entirely spoon-fed.

They could not be satisfied with the fact that the location was given without an address or phone number.

A senior advertising man from the company had clearly stated that if such information are added onto the story, its purely advertising.
I also stayed away from callers who promoted their food outlets.

What I eat, if its good, then it will be shared.

Last year, the column did earn money.

But as soon as the contract had ended, the Food Trail is now free from commercial influence.

That said, I can surely look forward to more eating adventures and hold on to running the column for as long as I can...