Shikai Restaurant

Undoubtedly, Shikai Restaurant is my top pick when I have the cravings for some duck rice. But that is not the only thing you can order, they have quite a thick menu that can simply wet your appetite just by looking at them. You will be spoilt for choices as the all of them looks good and the real taste of it does justify the price. Below is a review shared by Cookie Monster a.k.a. Thanis.

Read the full review here.

You can also read what other foodies had to say about Shikai here & here.

(click on image to visit their website)

Also known as Pondok Empat Laut or Four Sea Hut.
Location: Unit 1 & 2, Block E, Ground Floor, Sempurna Complex, Jalan Batu Bersurat, Gadong.
Tel: 245 6222

Salam Aidil Fitri

To all our Muslim visitors, we wish you
a happy & blessed Aidil Firtri.

A Costly Interview?

Talk about this issue is still buzzing. To clarify what really went down, she went with him to meet the owners for an interview to give them a chance to voice out their side of the story. Before the start of the interview, she had informed the owners that she will be recording the session on video, to which they said yes to.

But somehow, after a few hours of the video being posted, the owners text messaged Maurina to take it down as they said that they have reminded her not to record the interview on video!? Did they just realized the statements they made were rather more damaging rather than helping to clear their name?

Well whatever their reasons might be, it has ignited more speculations. To read some commentaries about the interview and initial reaction from the public, goto this thread. I think everyone has formed their own idea about the place, good or bad, only the restaurant owners will know in the next few months to come.

Absolutely Shocking!

So I assume most of you have been trying out various places for your Sungkai during this Ramadhan month. I would assume too that some places are really disappointing, maybe the food wasn't nice, the place is over-crowded or maybe service was slow.

But have you ever been kicked out and then told the food that you've eaten "inda di halalkan" by the owners of the establishment which is proving the Sungkai buffet? Sounds a lil bit too much right? But sad to say its a true story.

Maybe its best that stories like this don't go out to the public, in the interest of not jeopardizing the business of the restaurant. But then again, it is even a bigger injustice if behaviors like this is not exposed to the public. We as the consumers have the right to be treated fairly, instead of being bullied. No matter how exclusive the restaurant is, it should always respect its customers at all time. So here

Originally posted here but since we also receive an email from the group of people who actually experienced this appalling ordeal, we will also repost it again here. So read on...

Disappointed!!!

We felt so disappointed and unsatisfied with one of the restaurants at Gadong. The story began like this; we booked the sungkai’s buffet for 14 persons ($9 / person),but there were only 10 of us that could attend the buffet. The tables that was accommodating the remaining four people were given off to other customers.

After we had our sungkai, we asked for the bill from the waiter but then we were so shocked to see that the total amount for our buffet was $126 when in fact we were actually supposed to pay only $90.

One of us went to the waiter asking for the explanation. The waiter said that we booked for 14 persons sowe had to pay the $126 but it wasn’t fair. The waiter again said that it was their policy to do such thing and it is their system to be like that!! Come on… isn’t that called RIBA?? Who knows Brunei had such a restaurant!! We just had to pay for what we had eaten, no more and no less!! It was also not fair that we had to pay for other customers.

The only reason why those customers who took our table did not stay and eat was because there was not enough food. Is that justice on our part? We gave up our table to other customers and yet we had to pay for the seatings because the restaurant did not have enough food for them. We just cannot find the logic in this whole situation.

The very disappointing thing was the owners of that restaurant. We already tried talking to them in a nice, POLITE and sensible manner “Minta maafkami ah….” and that was replied with; “Apa lagi masalah kamu ani…??? Besedakah bah bulan puasa ani, tu pun kamu inda mau bayar untuk 14 orang”.

We did not mind paying for the place IF we did not give the tables up but we did. They asked us why we wanted to pick a fight during this holy month but we weren’t the ones who raised our voices and started throwing tantrums first.

Then the other owner came to us and said to one of us who actually gave a complaint on our behalf, saying “Kanyang dah parut atu..ahh?? Haram tu yang kamu makan ahh.. kuar kamu dari sini!! Haram kamu masuk kadaiku lagi!!” That was it?? Is that how our Bruneian people are?? There was no sense of politeness at all. They did not even let us explain! They just came and started yelling at us! Mana budi bahasa atu..??

All that we wanted is the ‘why?’ but they threw us out of the place as if we were ANIMALS!! Moreover, the male owner of the restaurant is very sexist. He did not even bother about what our female friends were saying. His exact words were “Kamu perempuan nda tau papa..” How are we supposed to talk to these sorts of people? This is the fasting month and we just wanted to come to some sort of agreement and yet we were treated this way.

We assure you that your business would not be going far IF you do such thing to your own customers. Without customers, your business will go down. Don’t you think that they will spread these things about your attitude being that restaurant’s owner?? Think twice!! We would like to thank the securities that were there to help us get our point across to those hard-headed owners!

Banyak lagi restoran di Brunei ani yang nyaman-nyaman dan membayar untuk orang yang hadir saja, sebab makanannya untuk semua orang dan lebih mencukupi. Sekali kami kena haramkan masuk, seratus kali lagi kami haram kan datang ke restoran atu. Orang Brunei terkenal dengan budi bahasa dan sopan santunnya tapi kenapa orang Brunei yang punya restoran ani nada langsungkan besopan bahasa?

So I bet you're wondering which restaurant is this? Well originally posted here where some readers has correctly identify the name of the place, so we see no reason why we shouldn't mention the name of the establishment here. Besides, on this blog, we tell you the truth, be it a good or bad experience.

The place is Wecan Elite Restaurant, located at Unit 3 & 4, Ground Floor, Wisma Siti Hamidah, Abdul Razak Complex (behind Pizza Hut). It certainly doesn't live up to its name huh?

You can also go here & here to read some reactions to this incident.

/edit 04/10/07
Of course there is two sides of the story, so we would like to request that the management/owners of Wecan to tell us their version of the incident. Please simply email us at whatiate2day@gmail.com.

Sungkai @ I-Lotus Restaurant

Had the chance to experience the sungkai scene at I-Lotus Restaurant over the weekend thanks to the invitation by Sai & Pat. Also at the table was Ranz, Reeds and 3 other photogs whom I didn't get a chance to be introduced to.

Anyway, one good thing to remember when going to a sungkai buffet venue is to come early. Otherwise you'd be having trouble finding parking, be in a queue to be seated and even a long queue to take the food. And I-Lotus is no exception, the place was simply packed.

I think its all because of the generous spread, on their leaflet (below) they claimed over 100 varieties to choose from. There was the normal asian dishes plus also stalls serving hot of the cooking stove. The hotplate section was probably the most visited, you can pick prawns, sting rays, fish amongst others to have it freshly cooked by these two guys below. Tip: Remember your table number, because you need to put a clip according to your table number. So put on a wrong number, some lucky table is gonna have your portion! Which is what happened to me hehe...

This is one above is definately my favourite. The Mee Rebus stall is always crowded, so you gotta have patience for this one. You can choose from 3 types of soup to go with your noodles, chicken, beef or the tom yam soup. I went for the Tom Yam and boy, it got my taste buds buzzing.

The Rojak stall is also not to be missed. They steam those squid bits fresh so its all very tasty.

And to top it all off, try this one for dessert. Its Ubi Kayu with some condensed milk and Gula Melaka. Its simply delish. There is two other station serving fried items and also some local kueh and cakes.

Overall it was a full filing sungkai. The buffet is available from $15.80 (adults) & $9.80 (child) and for Baiduri Bank Cardholders and I-Lotus Privillage Cardholders, for every 10 diners, you get one person to dine for free. They also serve Sahur (10:30pm - 01:00am) eat-all-you-can steamboat & hot plate grill buffet at $11.80 (adult) & $7.80 (child). One good thing is also that prayer rooms are also available.

(click to enlarge)

For bookings call 2422 466 or visit here to see where they are located.