*581 - Tao's Karma

If I ever open a restaurant of my own, I'm going to train my wait staff Danny Meyer-style. In this little city of Singapore, where servers close to never go beyond merely meeting customers' expectations (and often fall short), going out of the way to fulfil the needs customers didn't even know they had can be surprisingly impactful.

Free extra bowl of soup, 7 free iced drinks, surprise ice cream with a candle and teapot gift from the boss for the birthday boy, totally out of their own initiative! And superb service along the way to boot. Tao's restaurant. 7 course meal for $35.50. Check it out (:

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Also, try Karma Kettle and Rhapsody too (the one at Dempsey). Quirky and cosy, even though we were the only customers at the restaurant. The lady was most amazing, and gave us free soup for no discernable reason!











Good service makes me really happy, because it gives me the illusion that Singapore's service industry still has hope. You've gotta empower your staff to give customers everything they need and more! What's a handful of free soups when what you get in return is personal satisfaction and loyal customers who bring in more business for you?

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Since we're on the topic of food,

Donuts from the little stall at Bugis Street
Verdict: looks cute, tastes bad


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Time is passing by way too fast. Every day's a routine - wake up early, rush off to work, get annoyed at a certain someone, entertain myself with fellow interns, knock off from a wholly unsatisfying day at 6.30, head out for dinner perhaps, chill out for a while before I collapse into slumber and wake up the next morning.

Soon I'll have to head back to Cornell and start doing the whole academics thing again. This time, I don't really know how I'm going to survive.

Cornell's really beautiful
And I miss my friends
And I miss Pandora, Jim, BenMerDebYut
And I miss walking to Statler, Statler salads, Mac cookies
And I miss horticulture, Maya, cool Hotelie professors
And I miss not studying and having noone to play with when exams approach
And I miss cracking gum, pretty/cute angmohs, talking angmoh (only to angmohs)
And I miss scarves, leggings, cool air
And I miss Victoria's Secret, cheap F21, online shopping
And I miss my samsungs, free texts, unlimited talk time at night
And I miss VP, Collegetown, grocery shopping
And I miss Beebe, uncovered forests, 50-acre gardens
And I miss pancakes, honey chrys chicken, lindt white choc truffles
And I miss the little adventures into the heart of Ithaca
And I miss the freedom of living by myself and doing what I want

But
All that doesn't really matter
All that doesn't make sense anymore
Because it's not going to be the same
And I don't want to leave
(not without you)