I admire those who follow their passions and make their dreams come true. Imagine looking forward to work and creating lovely pastries everyday because you love it! I wonder if I’ll ever be that lucky.
To try an assortment of desserts, we went for 2 sets of the “Design Your Own Platter” ($13.50+) which gives us a choice of cake, Movenpick ice cream and macarons. Noisette ($6.70+ ala carte) is the best seller but it didn’t wow me. Just the average praline cake with chocolate mousse and genoise which was far too sweet and rich.
Nikita ($6.90+ ala carte) is a new creation with layers of cherry & raspberry gelee, pistachio mousse, sponge cake and chocolate mousse. Again, this falls short somewhat as the cake was too dry as a whole. Plus, there’s no hint of pistachio at all! The only thing I like was the kirsch-soaked little cherries that pack a punch!
Mango Passion Sorbet was great! Very tangy and refreshing. But the macarons ($2.20+ each ala carte) were less than stellar though they look quite perfect. The blackcurrant filling in Cassis was too sweet and jam-like; Chocolate Hazelnut was slightly better with a bittersweet ganache.
Supposedly sandwiching a chocolate ganache infused with raspberry, Ruby actually tasted like a normal chocolate macaron. No raspberry flavour whatsoever. Now, the Matcha macaron saved the day! Strong green tea filling and definitely not as sickeningly sweet as the rest. Raspberry Sorbet wasn’t half bad too!
I really wanted to like Obolo but its creations didn’t impress me enough. After awhile, the law of diminishing returns sets in and everything becomes cloyingly sweet. Definitely a case of sugar overload!
Hmm… i agree that the nikita is on the dry side. I find that obolo’s cakes are generally on the ”sourish” side. They like to mix funny funny flavours together which i feel it is too extreme.
The new york cheese and the chocolate cheesecake is good. The new york cheesecake is a little heavy yet has a hint of refreshing lemon after taste.
Ya, I was quite disappointed with the desserts.. Haha, I don’t eat cheesecakes so that’s why I didn’t try them.
did you write to Today online about this post?
Yes I did..
nice photos
Kaelyn,
This is my email reply to your forum posting on Today, MyPaper. I hope it will get published in the papers:
I read with great interests on Food Blogger’s, Kaelyn Ong’s dilemma on receiving a legal letter from a food establishment to remove her “un-glowing” review on her blog site.
This is also after Kaelyn had provided feedback to the establishment via email. From reading her blog, one can guess that the establishment in question is “Obolo” at Joo Chiat Road, if my guess is wrong, I stand corrected.
Businesses and brands today cannot escape from the fact that anything and everything is said about the brand, is done freely and openly in today’s Social Media environment. There’s a golden rule in this new Social Media world we live in – the truth is out there. Do not lie, do not cover-up, do not deceive the public.
For the establishment to reject feedback was a wrong move to start with. Furthermore, sending a legal letter to force the removal of a blog post is a pure PR nightmare. Did the owners of the establishment think twice of the repercussions from this? Did the lawyers advice against this for the potential PR backlash?
Instead of being defensive and high-handed, Obolo could have invited the Blogger to visit the store and see how the cakes were made. The experience may have offered the blogger an opportunity to rewrite the review. Furthermore, Obolo could have used this opportunity to turn it into a positive experience by offering the readers of the Blog to come taste for themselves, at a special rate. This would have been taking a negative and turning it into a positive opportunity.
I’m a good-old Katong boy and was delighted with Obolo’s cheesecake creations when they first opened; however, after this high-handed move by the owners, I’ll never patronize the business again.
And trust me, I’ll be sharing my opinion with my hundreds of friends on Facebook, Twitter, MSN, and Linkedin. Not to mention, my friends will share it too – welcome to the real world, welcome to Word-of-Mouth and the viral effect of social media. All within a click of the mouse
Very well said- totally agree. They don’t know what they just did. That’s like saying people who eat at their place and then tell others not to go because it’s horrible can be sued.
Nonsense.
I agree that the food was good “when they first opened” but as the establishment in question received more positive reviews and better patronage, the high-handedness snuck in. The cakes got pricier while the standards dropped.
The quality of the macarons dipped and the cakes got dry. I had the nagging suspicion that the sliced cakes were re-sold the next day if they were not sold off on the first. They claim to be a boutique bakery which prides themselves on quality, then perhaps they should get back to basics and ensure the quality of their products is never compromise.
I mean seriously how far can a bakery go if their cakes are unable to secure a repeat visit from its customers?
Oh yes, by the way, all the ice cream and sorbets are from Movenpick!!
(wonders if my comment would get me a legal email/letter)
jam. haha
nice photos great job~ all the best for future reviews! Cheers!
ian: Thanks for the compliment!
Hippo Family: Greetings! Hmm yes, you are right.
Patrick: Hi Patrick, I read with interest your reply to my letter too. I do agree with your perspective; the power of social media is really amazing and can’t be underestimated. But please please do give Obolo a chance. Don’t boycott them just because of my letter. Who knows, you may very well like their desserts! Anyway, thanks for dropping by!
Upz for you Kaelyn,
I guessed Obolo will get their just deserved.
We will all just start boycotting them. No one will every wanna patronize them again even if their food is the best in the world.
Period.
Hope you won’t cower to their threat to sue.
Well, I would definitely not patronise them after this saga.
Tried Obolo once and that was more than enough. Coloring on the macaron was too scary to eat. I am the typical foodist that will pay for quality, no point eating to just fill the stomach. I believe if there’s no compromise in quality of ingredients and passion inside the chef, the simplest sponge cake will still leave a lingering sensation.
Fantastic reply by Patrick..now the ball is in Obolo’s court..let’s see what they say… 🙂
@Alan: Thanks for your kind words.
@ kaelyn: I’ll boycott them not because of their food, but for their arrogance. Just look at the amount of bad PR they are getting now?
There should be freedom of speech in the blog! Maintain you stand. You are not wrong if you say how u feel exactly. Besides, by unaccepting your constructive suggestions and comments, it proved that they are resistance to change. Change means improvements. If they do not improve on their food, how will they able to retain or attract customers. Perhaps they are just living in the “perfect food” fantasy land whereby only they themselves feel that their food was good. And now, by asking you to remove ur post, they are already sending negative publicity to their pastry boutique.
I’m sure that if they ever sue you, food bloggers will definitely stand up for u!
HI
As I have commented in your latest entry, I don’t see anything wrong on your comments on their food that can be deemed libel. What they have done is to open up a PR nightmare as mentioned by Patrick.
They obviously underestimated the power of free speech and the cyberspace.
What they need to make right is their attitude, not the food, and to me this is their most serious flaw.
I will share this story with all my friends and some of them are actually food bloggers!
Regards
they should thank you for your frank comments.
I don’t see any case of defamation etc…
You blog simply tells me, those with sweet tooth, please visit Obolo.
I do have similar experiences of lawyers writing to me in regards to particular postings in an open forum. But least to say, in your case, it will likely end up a disastrous PR nightmare for Obolo.
I can’t help but pity them.
Cheers… happy blogging!
Don’t people get it? Blogs are personal opinions and it is up to people to buy the story…
Intially when they first started, noisette and their macarons were pretty good in my opinion but having eaten 12 of their cakes during a blogger tasting session, the results is disastrous… If you happen to read the reviews of these bloggers, you will be surprised how negative some of the reviews are.
I was surprised by Obolo’s hostility given that they have hosted a blogger tasting session. Anyway, read your review and I agree with you in sync, I have tried their macarons, Nikita, Cassis and Noisette… I thought it was nothing hostile, ultimately taste is a very subjective issue…
Don’t worry, a review that rave everything is one that I will never trust… Keep your reviews coming…
Well, i don’t find anything wrong with the language or whatsoever used in this entry. Keep it going. We have our free speech, if the restaurant can’t take it, it’s their problem.
By threatening with legal issues will just cause more unpleasant comments to the restaurant itself.
All the best, it’s a nice neat food blog.
Hello,
I read with interest your blog, trying to find grounds for a libel suit. It might be because i am not a highly educated lawyer, but i fail to find any.
True, that the review is less than glowing, but so long as you do not speak anything that is untrue, what is there to fear?
I also find it rather refreshing how you try to dissuade others from boycotting the very restaurant that is threatening you with legal action. Defending a thug, oh my. For a lady, you are quite the gentleman.
All the best in this trying time. 🙂
Is this seriously the original unedited post?
I repeatedly re-read this post and cannot figure out what is so negative about it! I suppose Obolo expects you to give only glowing remarks :p
Hi Kaelyn,
I found this entry via HWZ and understand that the restaurant is trying to sue you. I personally don’t see any ground for them to sue you. It is a fair review and there is nothing defamatory in your blog entry.
Shame on those companies who threaten to sue bloggers for writing a fair but negative review.
I’ve never been to Obolo and I don’t intend to do so after I found out what they tried to do to you. (and they cannot sue me for saying that I’ll never visit them)
Don’t worry, lots of bloggers will be supporting you. Keep the reviews coming in. You have every rights to express your opinion.
Its just disgusting that a restaurant/shop would try to silence what is essentially fair comment on their food (and your review isn’t even condemning their food). Despite your call to not boycott them, I find it very difficult to patronise a shop which treats their customers in such a high-handed manner. I’ve always quite liked their chocolate cakes but given the incident, I don’t think I will be buying anything from them ever.
Michael: I believe in your philosophy to go for quality rather than quantity! Sometimes, the simplest food can be mind blowing.
Sistafood, James, Chris, Matthew, SG Alonso, DK: Thanks for your support!
Fen: Ya, I was also surprised to read their email. Many food bloggers have blogged about them so I thought they will be even more receptive to feedback. It’s quite hypocritical to only want positive posts..
Mohamad: You didn’t find any libel comments cuz I didn’t write any! =)
Garry: This is the original post, didn’t edit it whatsoever.
YOUR BLOG has my full support Kaelyn…. you’re doing nothing wrong here… …in fact… it sounded just… so sweet… a little too sweet in my opinion…. ; ) (no pun intended)…
I bought a cake from them once, can you imagine I walked all the way to Joo Chiat under the scorching hot sun? The cake tastes good though. But now this saga disgusts me. Arrogance will get you no where! 😉
@myfoodsirens,
I’m trying to be a devil advocate here, offering some possible perspective that led to their (legal) action, which I I must stress that I don’t necessary agree with.
You may think that I’m related to Obolo or fans of their dessert. The truth is I’m not related to them, neither have I patronized their shop. In fact, I think for their to take the legal path, reflects badly on their consequence management and PR ability. It might even shed a hint of their desperation, to block a negative review in hope to save their reputation.
If Obolo is a small startup, where the chef and/or the owner had take some finance and time sacrifices to run this dream of his/hers, every negative reviews of their business/product may/could have an adverse effect on their business.
Just thinking aloud, you could have expressed about your taste preference (e.g. you are not one who has sweet tooth, and I’m just making an inference based on similar comments you made about B&J ice cream, that it being too sweet) and therefore, the desserts from Obolo didn’t meet your tastebud. With that, readers of your review could take your review in a better context, better perspective. However, based on what you have written, one could have taken the report literally, and assume it’s just too sweet, and that the chef has assumed that dessert is all about sweetness.
As much as we think our blog posts are just our personal take of a subject (in this case the desserts), it may not necessary be viewed as such if you stand on the other side of the fence. What I am suggesting here is not about the review content itself, but how we blog about it.
In fact, I have learnt something from your experience, as I reflect myself on how blunt I could be in some of my own blog posts. It might well be a rant on my end, might not be a big deal for big corporation (and they might not be bothered about the blog), but it could mean alot for small business.
On a positive note, your blog has a good internet presence, thus it attracts such commotion 😉
You gave them great pictures tho I must say yr comments weren’t exactly saccharine.
Still, nothing that seems sue worthy; indeed, not liking the food served or not thinking the stuff worth the price and saying so, should be considered fair comment from paying customers.
It wld be a different story altogether if u claimed to have been poisoned! LOL!
I’m quite surprised that Obolo or any restaurant establishment would sue you for your opinions though. Don’t these people know anything about the Streissand Effect already? The more that they try to bully a blogger, the more bigger the ripple will be.
I personally don’t have any issues with Obolo, having been there one time by chance and after looking at the very pretty cakes, I couldn’t help but to try one. And I really liked it.
Its a pity that they had to be this way.
As a PR professional, all I can say is that a legal threat is possibly the worst thing any business can employ, which should only be used as a last resort.
Whoever is their legal counsel should get their head checked. Even if they win this case, they lose goodwill.
And I disagree with an above poster who said that the ball is in their court. The truth of the matter is that there are other great food options around, especially in Katong. People will vote with their feet and wallet.
The ball is in YOUR court.
.
Kaelyn..your blog was very well written and I do not see anything incriminating. Well presented opinions on the taste of food and tastes are very personal. Too sweet for you may be OK for me…so, I do not understand why the owner/s are so “thin-skin”. I should not worry about being sued because with all the support from your readers to boycott the shop, I wonder if it is in the owners best interests to pursue legal actions. What are they going to gain? Probably a pie in the face…!!! Ha Ha…
I tried the cakes and coffee at Obolo once. I was quite impressed with the place and food. I intended to introduce more friends to Obolo actually. I think Obolo is over-reacting if they are proceeding with legal action. I will probably give the place a miss from now on…
Kaelyn,
Having read all the comments so far, I’m well impressed with the power of New Media and more importantly, the quality of your blog. I must agree with these comments – this legal action, if it can even take off, seems doomed to fail if put to the test in court.
Please keep writing your blog, keep criticising and giving due praise to restaurants, eateries, old and new in Singapore. I believe that food bloggers are essential to developing the Singapore food culture (because what other culture, honestly, have we got?). Our restaurants will never grow if they choose to adopt cowardly and absolutely useless behaviour like threaten bloggers.
To let the world know about the restaurant’s attempt to affect your writing was a brilliant step. Keep the good fight going.
Cheers,
Derek
I will definately let all my friends know about the place. Not to buy anything from them..
It is people like them who think they are always right – even when they are wrong.
Who do they think they are ? Definately opened by young people .. the old timers won’t use these type of tactics to try to sue..
But i am sure what ever was written is well within legal rights. Otherwise everyone in stomp, hungrygowhere, forums, blogs, etc all will be sued left , right and center already.
Don’t worry – you have all our support. Worse case is escalate this issue to the newspapers then see what is going to happen to the shop.
Kaelyn,
Everyone is entitled to his opinions and to a certain degree, comments. As long as your comments are fair, and not untrue or defammatory, there’s nothing much that Obolo can do. It’s just empty threats. For an establishment that has actually hosted bloggers as pointed out in one of the earlier comments, I am surprised that they would resort to such a desperate measure. The power of social media is growing by the day and such a moved is ill-advised.
I run a business myself and also sell online and comments about the products I carry are usually good or neutral. But there will be the occasional comments that are not so nice or sometimes uninformed. But we try to engage the customer to understand what they do not like about the product and show them different perspectives that might not have occurred to them. If they accept it, good. But if not, we have tried our best and we move on.
To a certain degree, I do believe that I understand how they might feel about the negative impact on their business from such a blogpost. But to make a legal threat like that on a relatively mild post on such a subjective matter as personal taste? Suicidal.
Thanks to everyone for your comments and support!
zen: I understand where you are coming from. Putting myself in X’s shoes, I will definitely be worried by any negative reviews. And I’ll naturally be protective of the cafe’s reputation since it’s my “baby”. But do you think it’s necessary for X to throw the words “legal action” around? It seems like they were trying to intimidate me to remove my post. I didn’t appreciate that. I’m the type who gets persuaded by “soft” rather than “hard” methods.
By the way, you are right. I don’t like my desserts to be TOO sweet. So, to readers out there: please note that in future, if I say that something is too sweet for my liking, it’s probably acceptable to you =)
Blogosphere is sorely lacking in truthful reviews. I have grown sick of reviews singing praises because certain bloggers have goodies to keep. I certainly don’t see why they are upset with your post. You are simply being truthful in reporting what you have tasted. When one even has to lie about one’s taste buds, then that person is a sorry excuse indeed.
You have our Support MFS!
I am probably only speaking on behalf of 1% of the people out there after reading the comments but here goes… I may be wrong, but did Obolo claim that what you posted was “wrong” or they were merely unhappy with the approach and language used to put across a point? I agree that F&B places should take on both good or bad comments so as to improve on their quality of food or service, but I would also recommend to all bloggers to check on the language used so that readers are not misled or F&B places feel insulted by the comments. Instead of “sickeningly sweet as the rest”, maybe “too sweet for my tastebud” would have been a better option, perhaps? When one blogs, yes, it is a personal point of view, but spare a thought for the restaurant or cafe you blog about cos what you write is read by many people. I am not suggesting that only good things can be said and blogged about, but that even “bad” things can be put in a more PR way from the blogger’s point of view. Personally, I have tried Obolo’s cakes a few times, hits and misses as usual, but I like it cos they are consistent in their quality, especially the macarons. Oh by the way Kaelyn, their macaron costs $2+ each not $2.20+, and don’t think any of the macarons contain jam.
Surely you jest that the words we use have to be policed?
@Kaelyn,
I agree with you the legal action was uncalled for, and would only do more damage than help, as evidently seen in the all the responses here.
I’m only asking us to take a step back, and understand the predicament Obolo was in that led to their action. Of course, it doesn’t justify their action, or maybe the business owner is really a nasty, difficult to deal with person, but I think until we know the real intent behind the action, we should give them a benefit of doubt, afterall, our intent of blogging is to share with our fellow bloggers our viewpoints, not to kill a business out there.
I think we can all learn from this episode, not just Obolo 😉
Hi Kaelyn,
Marvelous photograhy! Those pictures are nothing short of food p0rn. My mouth waters whenever I see those glistening cakes. Your review is informative, concise, and most importantly, fair. But I’m afraid I *will* boycott Cafe X even though you reqeusted your readers not to do so. Cafe X will get it’s just desserts, excuse the pun. I won’t support bullies. Fair is fair.
@Zen: Your double standards saddens me. When I read Kaelyn’s review I already gathered she doesn’t like her desserts to be TOO sweet, and that she appreciates subtle flavours. English comprehension ftw. You want people to read between the lines for Cafe X’s actions but you didn’t do that for Kaelyn’s review and responses, judging from your smug remarks. Those are my opinions btw, in case you need to have that pointed out to you. Now please go practice your own principles and learn from what I wrote.
As a owner of a fastfood restaurant, we welcome all forms of criticism. So we can improve and serve our customers better.
We have got good comments and bad comments on many blogs and we always try to improve from their feedbacks.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Superdog/37669934882?ref=mf
I live a stone’s throw away from Obolo. I’m going to go there and give them a piece of my mind. And see if they will sue me for it.
Why waste your breath?
Yes, of cos! Businesses must learn to engage customers, even when they are not flattering and not resort to the big stick when there’s no obvious justification. Perhaps even if there is. Because when threatened, bloggers cld muster online and offline support and escalate one poor review to ballooning bad publicity for the party feeling aggrieved.
Blog writers on their part must remember tt what they write cld hurt badly. And be sparing with their acid.
Like what I’ve replied in the other post, I don’t see bad reviews as bad perse. It’s only bad if restaurants choose not to do something about it. And if you are confident of the food you serve, why the sudden insecurity at having others make comments on it? True, the review MAY influence some readers but please have some trust in us as individuals that we are smart enough not to believe in everything we read. I do read my fellow food bloggers’ blogs regularly but you don’t see me rushing out to try a restaurant everytime they rave about one. Furthermore, I’m not any famous food blogger with that high an influencing power anyway. So why the over-reaction? At this point, I’m truly interested in what X has to say, if any. Are they just going to continue keeping their silence? Since they dare to threaten, then why the silence now?
Lesson learnt: Think before acting. And I need to be more careful in my choice of words now! =) But I’ll still be honest in my reviews.
we have to remember the newton stall who overcharged the customer – imagine if they did not let people know about the issue , then everyone will also be suffer the same fate.
This issue is about OBOLO’s response to a bad review- seriously to threaten to sue over a review is clearly a plan which was not well thought about. Claiming to have consulted a lawyer is another issue – i do not know which sound decent lawyer will actually say you can sue after reading the blog or comments on hungrygowhere. Anyother person who clearly was not so qualified to give advice..
I am glad you let people know of the business games people use out there..
well , i definately won’t miss obolo should it close – they are not the only shop selling these in singapore – one down but many better ones out there..
no I don’t practise double standards here. I’m only urging us to do our own reflection on our side, and rather than just having all fingers pointing to Obolo who’s obviously at a very unfavorable position now no thanks to their rush response to Kaelyn.
Like what Kaelyn has said, continue with the honest review, but with more tactfulness in our choice of words. Honestly, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for, and we grow as we learn.
The business world was never forgiving. They did a mistake by rushing into this position without thinking through, this is a lesson they need to learn (may or may not be costly).
Perhaps they were too focus on what they do best and not learning the other parts of the business. As a F&B operator, what you seriously wanting to hear is the complaint or feedback, not the praises.
@zen
I think there’s nothing wrong in foodsirens expressing themselves openly about how they feel about their culinary experiences. If they have to be so tactful, then perhaps they might just want to pass on writing any negative reviews at all and just wrote the good stuff. I don’t see how you can tactfully tell someone(especially a passionate chef) how his/her cooking simply does not suit your palate.
On the other hand, standing from the perspective of a experimenting baker, I would take any comments(positive or negative) in my stride. If good, means I am doing something right and probably carry on doing it. If not, means it’s time for me to take another look at how I am doing it and find out how I can do better.
Isn’t that exactly how a person, or even a business, improve?
Wouldn’t self-censoring reviews be against everything that blogging represents?
I don’t see anything derogatory. I will give Obolo a miss.
Kaelyn…
Great pics!
As for the saga, I’m glad you did not take down the post and stand firm on your review. This is what food blogging is all about, we blog and share our experiences, good or bad, so that our readers can have a better view or even share their own experiences after trying the food etc. I don’t see anything wrong with your review. It’s not like you’re telling readers to avoid this place etc.
If we can’t blog what we feel and fake the experience, like you’ve said, there’s no point blogging anymore.
The old saying goes…Honestly is the best policy! =)
I have heard about this ‘saga’ from a friend and all of us have decided to boycott this establishment. Sueing another when they write a ‘not-so glowing’ review reflects really badly on them.
I certainly agree with the rest of the comments that you didn’t say anything defamatory in nature. In fact, I feel that as a new cafe/restaurant/establishment, all sorts of feedback can be taken positively if it helps the owners sort out what can be further improved. Their reaction is uncalled for. Even if they didn’t really intend to sue, there is no need to act through lawyers when they could easily send a PR person to respond to the blog.
I can’t imagine if anyone of us as bloggers, say, put up a post about an XYZ ice-kachang being overly sweet or very expensive, AND waking up to a legal suit because of what we truly felt. Or getting sued by a boutique because one says that the clothes are too gaudy and over-priced to his liking!
One man’s food is another man’s poison. Literally, if confectioneries are focused on selling great food and attracting customers, the LAST thing on their minds should be chasing away potential customers. Really, they should get more walk-in customers to give honest feedback about the quality, pricing and taste of their foods so that they can build a sustainable business via constant improvement.
get sued for this? haha, if that’s the case, then i think i am waiting to get sued as well… lol. i thought the way u wrote was already quite tactful but yet frank… the problem lies with who is very clear.
as a chef/ pastry-maker or anyone in the food business, feedback should always be treated with importance. i really can’t believe how unreceptive they are to it…
stick with your stand, people will stick by you (:
Imagine, I sat down in a restaurant and ordered some dishes. After the meal, I feedback to the Manager that some were nice and some were not.
Manager than threaten to take legal action against me if I were to tell my friends/relatives what I said to him. Ridiculous right? But to me, this is similar to this case.
Imagine if the courts were to grant Obolo their day, this means that any single negative remark currently present in any of the dozen local food blogs can also be subjected to similar legal actions. That will be the day when I will stop trusting and reading food blogs.
If I am Obolo, I will just retract any legal suit and come up with a face saving statement stating that they may have overacted, and will take customer feedback seriously to improve further. Until then, I will give them a miss.
i went there earlier this year – was recommended the noisette (apparently their bestseller) and also tried the cheesecake.
wasnt impressed with both – i thought they were just ordinary. As to how they received rave reviews on their noisette completely baffles me.
Anyway, i support ur stand in this – if they can’t even take constructive criticism, they must think their cakes are so good that they can’t be improved further. what a joke.
Good on u!
Obolo may become Obsolete..kekeke…
It is really disgusting that a restaurant is using intimidation tactic and legal means to threaten a consumer.
I think I will ask all my friends to avoid this shop as I believe no one should be subjected to legal liabilities for visiting and reviewing their food.
What if a gourmet has similar comments on their food? Are they going to sue such a professional?
No idea what’s next that they will want to sue!
Seriously, any overly positive review is usually taken with a pinch of salt as it has tendency of exaggeration!
Hi there,
Good that you stood up and voice it!!
Next time I bake some macarons and treat you!!
Hey, i think your comments is very general, honest & not offensive at all. Taste is subjective. Perhaps, thoses obolo guy’s brain are ‘sugar-coated’… they expect very customer’s review to be positive & sugar-coated too. Shame on them! I think its a wakeup call for them.
woa kaelyn! din know u were in such a whirlwind of events… hope everything’s fine now… the cafe must be idiots to even come up with such stuff to do… must be too free, geez….
what a stupid company.
your article looks fine with the usual commentary by being upfront and direct about it.
I just went there last weekend, and Obolo has deproved over the years i must say…
I’m giving Obolo a complete miss and blacklist, not because of what you have written. (It’s a fair review btw). But because of the actions taken by Obolo, biting the hand that feeds them, good grief.
just found out about this via Miss Glitzy. you’re handling this really, Kaelyn. i do agree with zen and Peter Lim about being tactful with words but i also think that readers ultimately shouldn’t be taking everything in without exercising judgement. some people like their desserts sickengly sweet, what. i feel this guys says it well:
“… The big issues remain, including the crucial one of trust. Here, too, we’re seeing progress. The best blogs are as trustworthy as any traditional media, if not more. The worst, often offering fact-challenged commentary, are reprehensible and irresponsible. But audiences are learning, perhaps too slowly, that modern media require a more activist approach. We need to be skeptical of everything, but not equally skeptical of everything. We need to use judgement, to get more information — and to go outside our personal comfort zones.”
David Gillmore
startupmedia.org
source: http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-introduction/page-2/
Consumers should be able to give their feedback and all committed businesses cannot avoid this. Its also good for self reflection and enhancing business.
I recently patronised a restaurant written favourably about in a popular portal and it was the worst experience ever, couple that with the fact it was my mum’s b’day.
Guess it was a secret advertorial. So much for honesty.
Which restaurant was it? Ya, I realise that some of the restaurants that got raves may not be as good as they seem. Once expectations are high, disappointment comes more easier. So I guess, go with no expectations?
Hiya! Just wanted to say I came across this whole ‘fiasco’ and obviously wrong PR move by the company on the forums…
Just wanted to say I am happy you stuck by your guns. I stay about 5mins from Obolo, and only tried the desserts once, after a dinner @ Aston’s… I was wowed by the ‘look’ of the place, but I do agree with you… the desserts are so-so only. I prefer the desserts at the shop opposite Cold Storage in Katong Mall. 😀
the owner of obolo needs a refresher on PR. by threatening you with legal action she has effectively driven her business to the ground
Fair and honest review. I’ve bookmarked your site in my favorites.
To express an opinion, to argue sweet or too sweet, and to differentiate the educated from the unschooled are no ground for a libel suit unless you live in a 3rd world country with a corrupt system. The whole saga is reeking of bad publicity.
Those are very nice photos that you’ve taken, and would tempt any readers to try the desserts and decide for themselves if they have sweet tooth. Taste is very personal.
happy, Vancouver, Canada
Thanks, happy! I’m honoured that my site is under your favourites. Hope you continue dropping by! =)
A good read, your blog. I might be more than four years late to chime in about the threatening email. But it’s not to late for yet another katong boy n his family to not have to eat at obolo again. Haha.
Haha thanks for dropping a note 🙂
Thanks for your marvelous posting! I definitely enjoyed
reading it, you may be a great author. I will make certain to bookmark your blog and definitely
will come back very soon. I want to encourage yourself to
continue your great work, have a nice weekend!