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gisen's Reviews

    11. Viva Nueva   
       07 Mar 2009 at 12:28 pm
    Bobo Bobo says:

    This is the only shop that utterly ruined my renovation experience. I have no choice but to relate my entire experience here...

    We were out shopping for sanitary and stopped by at Viva Nueva first. But I didn't like the design of the one-piece toilet bowl they had there so we thanked the saleslady, Jojo and we went to look for more. We finally picked out our toilet bowls, sinks and taps at a shop further down. But my mom really liked the cooking hob at Viva Nueva so we walked back to the shop. We ordered our hob and kitchen sink from them and left. Before we left I asked for them to provide me with a trap for the kitchen sink. It costs only $5 and Jojo's face immediately turned "black" when I asked for it FOC. I just spent $700 at her shop and she was unhappy about me asking for a $5 item....

    After 30 minutes, Jojo called me on the phone and demanded to know where I bought my sanitary fittings. She asked if I bought from XXX shop down the street and demanded to know exactly what I bought from them. I flatly refused to give her any details and the conversation lasted for 8 minutes with her repeatedly asking me what I bought. When I put down the phone, I really regretted buying anything from her but since I'd already paid the deposit I only prayed for my items to come intact.

    About a week later, I asked for the items to be delivered. The salesgirl on the line (not Jojo) confirmed that my items can be delivered on Wednesday at 1pm. At 12pm on Wednesday I called to confirm again and she told me that the items were not in the warehouse yet and she cannot confirm that my items can reach me at 1pm!! Can you imagine that she didn't even intend to call me beforehand and was going to let me wait like a fool at a half-renovated house with no seats?! Anyway I agreed to postpone the delivery to the next day.

    The next day the items arrive promptly... but... there was no hole for my tap on the kitchen sink. There was a hole on the sink that was displayed in the showroom so I naturally assumed that the sink comes with a hole for kitchen taps. I do know that some sinks do not as the taps are to be mounted on the table top. So I called Viva Nueva again and this time Jojo answered.

    She insisted that it was MY FAULT for not telling them that I needed a hole for my kitchen tap and wanted me to ask my contractor/plumber to drill a hole. BUT if they did the job and spoilt the sink who was to pay for it? In the first place, I don't buy sinks every day and am not a professional at buying sinks so HOW WOULD I KNOW that sinks don't come with holes?! She as the sales staff SHOULD ask the customer if they need one drilled isn't it??? Anyway the deliveryman was very kind and he agreed to take back the sink and drill the hole for me, even while I was still arguing with Jojo over the phone. So there went my sink again. Thankfully my kitchen hob came intact.

    I told Jojo that she has to inform me two hours before the delivery of my sink as I needed time to rush down. She said she would inform me an hour before and I found that to be reasonable. BUT the next day, the deliveryman called me at 12noon to tell me that he was there waiting for me. I was on my way to town and simply couldn't rush down. So the deliveryman left the sink there and left. I managed to go down at 4pm and lo and behold, there was a footprint in the middle of the sink and tons of haphazard scratches all over the base of the sink which weren't there in the first place. I reckon they must have gotten there when the drilling was done.

    Anyway I called Jojo again and told her to take back the sink. She said that the scratches were part of the design and ALL her sinks have the scratch-like design. hahaha Anyway she said she got her deliveryman to come down and I asked her when he would arrive. She insisted that he was coming now and refused to say when he would arrive. He did eventually after 45 minutes and took back the sink grudgingly saying that he would never deliver the sink again.

    In the next two days, we argued with Jojo many times and insisted that we wanted a refund and that we would just buy our sink elsewhere since the delivery of HER sink was delaying our renovation. My contractor needed her sink in order to cut the opening on my kitchen cabinets. After much talks, the sink finally came (unannounced again) and we inspected it before paying the remaining amount in cash.

    What an experience it was just trying to get our $235 sink (which IS expensive for a non-European sink btw).

    The hob wasn't cheap too at $529 though I was told by friends that for that brand it is quite a good buy. BUT I certainly would have settled for a lesser brand if I knew how much trouble patronising this shop would cause.

    If I can give lesser than one star I would.


    Rating given:Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5

    12. Decorette   
       07 Mar 2009 at 11:40 am
    Bobo Bobo says:

    After renovation, the walls in our house looked so empty so we looked into ways of getting them spruced up. My parents weren't a fan of getting paintings as holes had to be made in order to hang the paintings up.

    So I thought of wall decals. After looking at many local decal websites, I found Decorette! I liked a few of the designs on the website and was ready to order them. However, at that point, I could find one that I liked for the living room. I wanted something which was family related but there weren't any of those. So I decided to have one customised.

    I emailed Amanda of Decorette about my plans and she replied in a couple of days. With a couple of emails to and fro, we had the design finalised and I paid through paypal. In 3 days after paying, the decals were on my doorstep! That's fast isn't it? Especially since she needed to customise mine and cut it up, etc... Not to mention the customised one cost $50 only! She also threw in little swirly designs for me free... and I made little changes to my chandelier one without additional charges.

    The decals came well packed and protected by the hard tube, so they were in mint condition.
    The decals were easy to put up and the instructions were easy to understand. Amanda even included a little cute birdie for us, first-timers, to try putting up before we put our actual decal. But we loved the birdie so much we put it together with the family decal!

    Though easy to put up, it still took us some time about 1 and a half hours to put two up. But it was well worth the effort!


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

    13. Eestilo de Vida   
       07 Mar 2009 at 11:05 am
    Bobo Bobo says:

    I was shopping along Geylang for my sanitary fittings and came across this shop. We were looking specifically for one-piece toilet bowls as they are known to have less leakage problems but the one-piece bowls at other shops were really expensive, some going up to $800 when a two-piece one goes for $100 .

    We went into Eestilo and was happy to find that they had a package for the one-piece bowl and a sink for $299. There were also other sinks available and one has to just top up a little on the package.

    What I was most impressed with was the level of service provided. Sunny, the sales guy there, moved the two sinks we wanted to where they had the taps. At my father's request, he detached the taps from the display and place them on the sinks we chose to let us see if it was satisfactory. He did that for 7-8 taps without any grumble and with a smile, in fact!

    Though the taps weren't as cheap as we had hope for it to be but I guess the promotion for the one-piece toilet bowl and the service made up for all that. :)


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

    14. A Lighting   
       04 Mar 2009 at 10:24 pm
    Category: Restaurants
    Bobo Bobo says:

    I got to know about this shop from a renovation forum while doing renovations in my home. I favoured this over the regular Jalan Besar shops cos it's away from all the light-shoppers AND it's much nearer to where I live. Moreover I'm more familiar with Geylang. But I hadn't shopped for lights before then and wasn't sure what to expect.

    I liked the shop instantly on sight. It was in a corner of a pretty rundown building. What I liked was that it wasn't one of those big snobbish looking lighting stores (like some others I passed along the way there). It looked exactly like what it was.. a family run business with nice warm friendly smiles. Alex is the young man in charge and he certainly knows his products well! If you see a light that you liked in another shop you can just describe it to him and he will know it instantly.

    The shop itself is quite small though they try to cramp as much as possible on display. He knows lights pretty well so he can source for lights which aren't on display in his shop. I think the prices in his shop are very competitive and certainly much cheaper than the bigger fancy stores I went to on the same stretch. He has the same designs too! I think Alex's resourcefulness really makes up for the lack of variety (his shop is small rem?).

    On top of that they have ceiling fans of almost every brand there and it's good to talk to Alex about ceiling fans because he can really advise on what size and brand to buy.

    I think the best part was that they weren't pushy. We went back three times and only bought on the third trip. AND Alex remembered us and our requirements even after a few days. In fact, he remembered my sister even after a few weeks!

    With good prices, prompt delivery and good service, I think this shop is really worth visiting if you're looking for lights!!


    Rating given:Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5

       01 Mar 2009 at 8:55 pm
    Category: Deli and Cafe, Desserts
    Bobo Bobo says:

    Situated right in the centre of Palais Renaissance, you can find this place easily as it's at the foot of the escalator. My galfriend and I went there on a weekday afternoon just before lunch hours so we had the luxury of choosing any seat we wanted. I had expected it to remain quiet save for a few tai-tais but BOY was I wrong. At noon, the whole place filled up.

    We sat for quite a bit, chatting and taking a long time going through the menu. Throughout that time, no iced water was served. I thought that this is one of those that refuse to serve water so I commented about it to my friend. She laughed and replied that you have to ASK for it though it's free. That really puzzled me.

    Food ordered:
    Linguini with crabmeat tomato chllis and pinenuts $22

    I had this dish. Don't be fooled but that little lump. It really is quite a filling portion. The pinenuts added a nice crunchy texture to the pasta and the pasta was suitably done. The downside of this dish was the sauce. It tasted fine on the first few bites but halfway I really couldn't stand the fishy taste of the crabmeat anymore. It was also unbearably salty after a while and I didn't finish my pasta.

    Scrambled Eggs with Sausage on Toast and Field Mushrooms $18
    The description forgot to add that it had fries too. My friend ordered it, thinking it sounded like a great brunch only to be surprised by the large serving of fries that came with it. The combination was a little odd but each item tasted fine on their own. I didn't relish putting them altogether in one mouthful though.

    Deluxe Chocolate Pecan Brownie
    Again, the description failed to include that there was ice cream served with this brownie (although I do know that most places have ice cream but it's not quite polite to assume.) If I had known this, I would have requested for the ice cream to placed on a separate dish. Not to mention if you take a good look at my picture, the ice cream was already melting when it arrived. Since my friend and I had no intention of having the ice cream in the first place we didn't ask for a change. I found the brownie a little too dry for my taste and the chocolate taste wasn't strong enough. It was more like a cake with a hard crust. We chatted for 3 hours and managed to finish this in the end. No easy feat though.

    The staff were quite efficient in taking orders and serving but they lack a certain warmth. I guess that's their style.

    Would I go back again? Only if a good friend suggested it.


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

       18 Dec 2008 at 1:28 pm
    Category: French, Japanese
    Bobo Bobo says:

    My girlfriends and I had the chance to visit Ma Maison on a Wednesday evening. Thinking that it's a weekday evening and that we were there at 8pm, there would be less people. Boy, were we wrong... There was a queue snaking out of the restaurant. We waited for 30 minutes before we were shown a seat. Very popular place indeed. We ordered and settled to take photographs while waiting for our food. We noticed that there were a few tables with Jap patrons and that's usually a sign that there's good Jap food in existence.

    My apologies for not being able to provide the actual name of the dish as I was too excited and forgot to take a photo of the menu.

    The food we ordered
    Escargots:
    This is done with garlic. It was delicious! Served up warm, it was very fragrant and they were good to provide all the right utensils for extracting the flesh.

    Hamburger Steak
    The meat was well minced and packed in a patty. It is served with an egg and some potato, doused in brown sauce. Even the waitress said "brown sauce" So I have no idea what sauce it is actually. Even though I'm not really one for meat, I did like this one as the meat was minced and easy on the stomach.

    Gratin with Prawn and Scallops

    I love this potato and cheese combination. There weren't many prawns and scallops though.. I think there was a grand total of two each. But this is one dish you have to share with friends. One person can't finish the whole plate.

    Pork Cutlet
    This is served with two sauces and mineral salt. The waitress explained what we should do with the sauces but when she left, all four of us were still baffled because we couldn't understand what she said. Well in the end, we did it the Singaporean way - Rojak style. We put all the sauces into the little dish she gave us and just dipped our pork pieces into it. The cutlet was a little on the tough side, a little too difficult to chew. The meat inside didn't have any taste and the crisp outside was a little bland too. The potato it was served with was nice though.

    Cuttlefish Ink Spaghetti
    I was a little taken aback by how black the spaghetti came. But all my companions swore by this dish so I tried it. It was yummy! Just good on its own. My only grievance is that it is a little on the dry side but I will definitely order this dish again.

    Apple Pie with Ice Cream
    The apple filling was suitably sweet but the crust was a little too dry and had a very starchy taste to it which I couldn't bear to eat. We finished up most of the pie leaving the crust behind.

    Brownie with Ice Cream

    We all loved the brownie. Me being a dessert lover, I'd say this is one of the better brownies I've had. It's not too dry nor moist and has just enough chocolate flavour so that one will not be sick of the taste before finishing.

    Goma Ice Cream (Sesame)
    This is my first go at such a flavour and I'd have to say it has a special taste to it. The ice cream left a strong aftertaste in my mouth. It wasn't sweet but did have a very strong taste of sesame. Quite enjoyable I guess.

    The four of us spent $87 in all which I'd say is pretty reasonable.

    For more pictures, please click to go to my blog.


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

    17. Momoteapots   
       22 Oct 2008 at 6:35 pm
    Category: Fashion (For Her)
    Bobo Bobo says:

    Momoteapots has been around for a bit and has quite a large following. I chanced upon it a couple of months ago and have been drooling over their pretty clothes.

    What I like about this blogshop is how they maintain being polite. Even when they talked about fraud in their site, they didn't sound unnecessarily angry and explained their reasons for requesting for receipts from customers. They even apologised for the inconvenience caused, which is great!

    The prices are very reasonable. Not only that... the photographs they take are good and they try to show the clothing in all angles which is what I love most. Somehow some other shops when trying to make the clothes look nice, they forget to show you what the back looks like. But Momoteapots always shows the best they can which I think it really commendable.

    They have a wide range of clothing, needless to say I'm not a fan of ALL their clothes because they have to cater to different tastes but I do like quite a number of stuff they have. They mostly have dresses (which are easier to buy online anyway) and sometimes bags and belts.

    They even maintain a facebook account to keep in touch with their customers!

    My only grievance is that I wish they would update more often!!!! But then I would spend money much more often toooo haha :)


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

    18. Jetstar   
       04 Oct 2008 at 12:13 pm
    Category: Airlines
    Bobo Bobo says:

    MmM I feel a little weird reading everyone else's review on Jetstar. I've taken Jetstar to Thailand, Siem Reap and Taipei.

    Funnily I remember the planes I took to Thailand and Siem Reap were newer and better compared to the one I took recently to Taipei. Odd huh.

    Anyways, Jetstar is comparatively cheaper. And compared to other budget carriers, it takes off from the main terminals at Changi so that makes it more convenient to get on. If you book your tickets earlier or during promotional periods you can get $38 / $69 tickets easily. A bargain if you ask me. Early booking can also save $200-$300. I guess if you're taking a short flight of 3-4 hours it's a good deal.

    Since it's cheaper (provided you dun buy tickets last minute), there's no inflight entertainment and no free meals. Bottled water costs $3 for a 400ml bottle which is REALLY expensive. A sandwich costs $8 and there isn't much inside. No cool free gifts in the compartment waiting for you and no free blankets if you're cold. Seats are alright, the usual crammed economy seats but a good number may not be able to recline at all.

    So I guess to really make most of your flight on Jetstar, eat just before you board, load videos into your lappie, bring newspapers/books for entertainment.

    Hey. You pay for what you get right? :)


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

    19. Jelly Pong Pong   
       03 Sep 2008 at 12:07 am
    Category: Cosmetics
    gisele gisele says:

    One product that I've been using and loving is the Teint Sublime, part of the "Fabled Dreams & Beautiful Things" Collection. Teint Sublime looks like a concealer, but actually is called a "complexion miracle". A self-adjusting formulation magically matches your skin tone and adds radiance to your skin. You can use alone, with or without foundation. Also part of this collection is the Venus Magical Pearls. When you open the little box reminiscent of a jewelry box, you see an opalescent pearl container filled pearls. Swirl a brush over the pearls for an eyeshadow highlighter effect.

    The "One Swipe and Go" Collection features lip and cheek stains and eye shadows with clever names like "single and lovin' it", Trifle, a spongy lipstick and Vertigo Stiletto, a shoe-themed palette. These products would be great to give as gifts, particularly for a college-bound gal pal. Another great product is the Soap Popsicle, a glycerin-based soap on a stick that smells like the real deal and looks good enough to eat!

    Jelly Pong Pong Cosmetics are available at select locations in the US and online. For complete where-to-buy information, check the Jelly Pong Pong website.

    Get yours! Fergie is a big fan too!


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

    20. Shiseido (Shiseido)   
       02 Sep 2008 at 11:55 pm
    Category: Cosmetics
    gisele gisele says:

    If you're looking for shimmery pink blushes/highlighter, I would recommend Maquillage's new Design Cheek Colours(The new autumn colours!), which come in a peachy variation (#79) and a sweet pink variation (#80). Of the two, I really liked #80 because I cannot resist pink cheeks! It retails for $63 (inclusive of the case) or $45 (for the blush refill alone). So if you're on a tight budget but would like to have your hands on these pretty colours, wait for the Metro sale!


    Rating given:Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5

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