Comments on: AN INSIGHT VIEW OF HAVEN DELIGHTS @ PENANG TIMES SQUARE

By: shanghaibund

shanghaibund — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:17:26 +0000

Whoo0!! Certain criticisms r constructive but criticisms must be justifiable.,n not a means of venging anger n hatred.It will not serve any purpose.I had dined many times n yet very recent at Haven Delights n find that the food is not as bad as what Alexis had described. Its more of a personal vendetta or a vengeance,sounds like it. I’m been fair as i only comment what i eat n i find that the food is certainly better than still quite a many places.I noticed that the top chefs r still there but not as many kitchen staff as before that is maybe they r goin thru a restructuring according to their needs but main thing is the top chefs must be there. Anyway hoping that Times Square can pick up as it makes a lot of difference for the business succeed.Heard that Sunshine coming in on November 25.,maybe it can make a difference to a near empty mall.In short i love the food there.

It’s good to see you back here. Let’s pray hard that Penang Times Square would generate the required crowd to fill up such an empty complex with the opening of Sunshine. I wondered what the management has been doing dragging such a long time in the official opening. So many restaurants in PTS had closed down/relocated elsewhere. I would see worst scenario when 1-Avenue next to Prangin Mall opens up for business soon as my source told me that most tenants had already confirmed the bookings. Let’s pray for the best!

By: alexisroland

alexisroland — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:46:30 +0000

the food in haven delight from scale 1 to 10 would probbaly reach only 4 bcoz of the food in the buffet is sucksssss…stir fry dishes suck as it taste too salty….any dishes wit sweet n sour on its juz taste like u r got to have diabetic dining on it steam fish even worse look like left over pieces as it is a slice of talapia plus dorry n sum unknown meat eel toufu taste like unagi plus toufu even even a kid like me cook better than them salmon sasa salad first order is serve wit raw salmon it actually taste good second serving was cooked salmon did the feed us wit leftover………………………..i wonder lamb teriyaki it was juz plainly over salty n tooo much sugar….choice of desert 2 longan milk boiled sago….n white fungus desert lame miso soup over powered by salty ness u do not taste the miso bt only like salt water lame like shit the dunno propotion within water and miso janjang mian taste hell of shit use yellow noodles sauce like overflowing did nt they noe that jajangmiam sauce is fry nt soupy n wet…..service like dammm shit as i ask 4 tea refill from 4 waiter n waitress only 1 responses wtf experience 4 me to dine in after reading ur blog sashimi order nt arrive……..mussel no1 no arrive f them i hope they cn improve as i would nt even visit it again even even if they kneel at my doorstep pls do be a food critique wit a heart report wats real….

Hi Alexis,

From what you had described, You really had a bad time there. I’m sorry to hear about that. When a group of us had the review there, it was during their initial stage where most of the items on the menu was great. Subsequently, I think they were too adventurous to revamp their menu with fusions of all kinds thus making everything so eclectically chaotic mix (rojak) until there were practically not many dishes left that’s worth the recommendation. I would think they have lost track in their branding direction. That was when I started to hear complaints not only from you but from dozens of other patrons. I did personally contact the management on the feedback but has yet to receive any responses from them. I thought they would have bucked up with my initiative to ensure that the Penang food industry would not deteriorate any further but I guessed it went to deaf ears. I did secretly paid them a visit not long ago as I was curious too on all the complaints and I was surprised with the given treatments. You were right about that as the service was damn bad and I did not see any actions being taken to rectify that at all.

The kitchen looked chaotic with barely few cooks (mostly apprentice) multi-tasking. Most of the initial lobby staff had quitted, leaving those new and inexperience ones. Moreover, they are under staffed to cater to the needs of the ever unpredictable volume of the buffet diners. Sometimes there were more diners and sometimes there were almost none. I guessed the management was trying to cut off some manpower which I personally do not think was a wise move. It’s a risk every restaurant had to make and it’s better than always getting negative feedback from patrons that would tarnish its name. I don’t own the restaurant so I can’t comment much on their business strategies but I hope they would take some quick actions before they ended being barred by the diners community.

As from I can see while surveying the visitors at Penang Times Square, the mall was still as dead as ever with hardly many shops opened within. What happened to the rumored full occupancy and opening in July/August 2009? Thus, that would be one of the factors that discouraged many visitors. Without a steady flow of visitors, I would say not many businesses would survive there for long, what’s more Haven Delights which was the pioneer restaurant there? Let’s hope that things would be more smoothly for them in time to come after facing such a test from the feedback of the public. Anyway, just write in directly as I would also hope that they would realize how bad a position they are in right now, provided they are willing to open up for some constructive criticisms from the public.

By: My Taste Heaven

My Taste Heaven — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:25:56 +0000

the review is totally awesome….great job!
will give it a try soon~~

Thanks… you should try them out whenever you can.

By: MUMMY’S NIGHT OUT TO NIPPON YATAIMURA | CRIZ BON APPETITE

MUMMY’S NIGHT OUT TO NIPPON YATAIMURA | CRIZ BON APPETITE — Sun, 10 May 2009 19:32:05 +0000

[...] our bodies. The noodle was springy and blended nicely with the soup but somehow I still prefer the Tenzaru Soba I had at Penang Times Square as the soup was more [...]

By: thenomadGourmand

thenomadGourmand — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:24:21 +0000

my review comin up soon. its 430am and i’m stil uploading pics! urughgh..

I did check the post but it was empty… LOL!

By: Jian

Jian — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:13:22 +0000

The food resembles a lot of Tao Japanese Buffet. Even the price almost the same haha.

From the source maybe? LOL! Of course here they serve bigger portions.

By: Pages tagged "red fish grill"

Pages tagged "red fish grill" — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:45:07 +0000

[...] bookmarks tagged red fish grill AN INSIGHT VIEW OF HAVEN DELIGHTS @ PENANG TIMES S… saved by 4 others ndb3dgj bookmarked on 04/27/09 | [...]

By: Topics about Jicama | AN INSIGHT VIEW OF HAVEN DELIGHTS @ PENANG TIMES SQUARE

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 06:33:42 +0000

[...] CRIZ BON APPETITE put an intriguing blog post on AN INSIGHT VIEW OF HAVEN DELIGHTS @ PENANG TIMES SQUAREHere’s a quick excerptWhen I mention about insight, please do bear with me on a long post with a detailed study into Haven Delights. Ever since my first visit to Haven Delights , I must admit that I just could not get enough of their various ranges of cuisine from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Shanghai. It was not the food alone that attracted my attention but the friendliness, smiling faces and wonderful services from every level of the restaurant management. It has also been quite awhile ever since I had encountered [...]

By: cariso

cariso — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 03:33:20 +0000

Thanks for organizing. I may try out The Tenzaru Soba next time.

It would be suitable for you since you love food that are not having too much oil.

By: buzzingbee

buzzingbee — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:33:10 +0000

great review.
Thanks for the invitation and your effort in organizing the review session.

It was an enjoyable night of good food and good company!!

You are welcome Bee. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.

By: gill gill

gill gill — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:56:27 +0000

review + revisited ! You indeed spent a lot of time and effort on this. Thanks for organizing the review session.

Yup… I won’t want to disappoint anyone right? Thanks for joining.

By: FoOd PaRaDiSe

FoOd PaRaDiSe — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:20:28 +0000

I try to leave comment this morning, but not sure why I can’t too bad….. anyway…. you have a nice review and also thank you for inviting me. ^o^

No problem Mary. Let’s hope we have more soon.

By: email2me

email2me — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:49:41 +0000

Thanks man for the invitation …. really enjoy ourselves that night and very very full! Cannot take a bite more even though so much good food in front. Burp! Excuse me …. XD

Haha… If you say full Ken, then everyone else would have had more than enough too. It’s nice to have you back from KL for the event.

By: Christy

Christy — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:39:57 +0000

Wow!! You really love this place!! I must visit it one day…soon
Great review and sharing, thanks for all the review and re-reviews *winks*

You are welcome Christy. Do give them a try.

By: thenomadGourmand

thenomadGourmand — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:34:48 +0000

Criz .. thk u really, for bein such a generous “host”, all that detailed plannin n coordination.
luvv the company, and it does feel gd to be back among frens (genuine ones that it)

It’s nice to have you back here too Rebecca. I hope we can have more of this type of events regularly.

By: Selba

Selba — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:26:44 +0000

Seriously this is the best review so far that I read!!!

Good job, Criz!!!

Thanks Selby

By: bennystar99

bennystar99 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:00:31 +0000

wOW…!!!Criz,u damn lucky chap.U r ravishing in the food there n i have only xiou long bau here for company.Indeed a really wonderful review n a job well done!!!Cheers…………….

Awww… poor Benny. When are you coming back? Thanks anyway for the compliment.

By: SimpleGirl

SimpleGirl — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:46:13 +0000

seems like modern fusion cooking ya! curious to know whether is my cup of tea haha…anyway, the ice cream looks tempted.

Yup… the food is kind of fusion. As I had found out, the modern generation of foodies prefer this type of food. You should go and try out yourself.

By: ck lam

ck lam — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:14:39 +0000

You did a very nice review.
Thank you again for inviting me…really had a great and enjoyable outing

Thanks CK. I hope to have more of this type of review again to share with more floggers… the more the merrier hopefully since not all had the golden opportunity to attend such an event.

By: StevenGoh.com

StevenGoh.com — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:33:29 +0000

wah, you were re-reviewing the heaven delight again? thought you don’t want to review again dee. Some more got family photo how come you are not inside the picture ah?

There’s nothing wrong about reviewing again right Steven? Certain dishes still needed our feedbacks on the tastes and presentations. Surely I can’t be in the photos. Who’s going to shoot them then? Those were also impromptu shots since everyone had limited time to spare. Most of the time they would be busy managing in the kitchen.