Tang Shifu@Bukit Indah Jusco

Last time at Tebrau Jusco (see my previous blog about Tang Shifu here), I didn't have the opportunity to try out Tang Shifu's set meals, so this time I grapped the opportunity to give it a try.

I ordered the Zhuang Yao Tang (壮腰汤) set meal.  It includes a Du-Zhong (杜仲) soup, a small bowl of brown rice and two small little side dishes of pork & black bean.

Black bean is good for blood, brown rice is good for your digestion system, the Du-Zhong soup is good for your kidney.  It is specially good for people who lead a sedentary life, with little or no exercises at all.

In terms of taste, it is not bad.  The soup is thick in taste and smell of Du-Zhong.  The pork tastes a bit like Bak Kut Teh, melts in your mouth.  Black bean, unfortunately is always hard, no matter how you cook it.

At RM 18.80, it is value for money.  You can't expect to have immediate effects on your body, making you a strong man/woman instantly, but it does help those busy people who have no time to cook some nutritious soup to nourish their body get a quick fix.

The service is just so-so, although they still charge you a 10% service charge.

My rating: 3/5

Kinsahiya Japanese Restaurant@Bukit Indah Jusco, JB

We had lunch at Kinsahya Japanese Restaurant at Bukit Indah Jusco.  The restaurant has some funny deco, can't really tell what kind of style it is.

I don't know why they want to use such big ropes as deco, to warn customers if they don't pay up, they will be tied up :P  Just joking.

I ordered the Yakitori, which is grilled chicken in a stick.  The chicken is way too dry and hard, not juicy at all. To compensate for the lack of juice, they put a lot of sauce on the chicken.  The sauce is not too bad, I must say.

Price: RM 7.90

Another dish I ordered is Shisamo, which is grilled fish.  I can't really tell what kind of fish it is, but the taste is not bad.  There is a lot of fish roe, and meat is good.  If they can serve the fish really too, right off the grill, I think it would be better.  Anyway, it is already not too bad.

RM 11.90

My main is Zaru soba, which is cold Japanese wheat noodle.  The main came after much delay.  According to the waiter, their first attempt was not successful, and they had to do it again.  Ok, never mind.

RM 13.00

When the soba came, I was a bit surprised.  The soba they use is smaller in size comparing with the normal Japanese wheat noodle I am used to.  The soy sauce they provide is more healthy (read 'less salty').

Oh, I forgot about the appetizer.  The appetizer is egga wasbi mayo.  It is a mixture of egg white and some vegies.

RM 5.00

Overall, I will give them a 3.5/5.  It is not too bad for that kind of price.  It is top class, but quite acceptable.  The environment is good too, especially for a few friends to gather together for some chit-chat.

Kinsahiya Japanese Restaurant
Lot F09, Aeon Bukit Indah
Email: kinsahi@tm.net.my
Tel: 07-234 8087

Jusco@Bukit Indah, JB

Went over to JB again today, but this time we took a different route.  Normally we would go by the causeway at  Woodlands, which is infamous for long long queues and traffic jams.  This time, we took bus CW3 from Jurong East bus interchange.  The bus goes to JB via 2nd link, which is at the western end of Singapore island.  2nd link, although it has been there for many years, the usage remains low due to its high costs.  For example, to go to Bukit Indah in JB via 2nd link costs S$4.00!  But the advantage is that you have almost no traffic jam (under normal situations), no queue at all the immigration, so everything goes like a breeze.

After the bus gets into Malaysia, it has a number of stops.  Bukit Indah is one of the major stops, and you will not miss it with its giant Jusco sign.

The Jusco building is actually a 3-story shopping mall, with Jusco as its anchor tenant.  There are many restaurants and various shops available in the mall too.  Nearby, you have Tesco and Giant hypermarts.  The bad thing is that there is no cinema in Jusco, too bad.  You can't have all your entertainment here under one roof.

The mall is not crowded at all.  You can wander around at your own pace.  When you are tired, you can sit down for a hearty meal, or just sip a cup of coffee while letting your tired feet have some rest.

The return bus fair from Bukit Indah to Jurong East is RM5.00, a 50% discount.  So overall transportation cost is not that bad.

However, be warned there isn't much around Bukit Indah Jusco, so if you find yourself can't really kill your time there, you can only choose to go to downtown JB, or take the CW3 bus home.

Anyway, it is good to know another place we can hang around :)

Tiger Airways Cancels Flights Again

It is the second day it came out in the news that Singapore-based budget airline - Tiger Airways has cancelled flights due to technical faults with two of its 19 A320 Airbus aircraft.  As usual, passengers are not informed, and the solution Tiger offered is less than satisfactory.  Passengers were given two options, one is to get a refund, two is to go on another (Tiger) flight.  Well, at least now is not any major holiday period, imagine if we buy a Tiger Airways ticket to go home for Chinese New Year, and they tell you the flight has been cancelled when you arrive at the airport, at some obscene time of the day, how would you feel?  Worse, you may not get an air ticket to get home to spend the new year with your family without burning a big hole in your wallet.

The purpose of getting a budget airline ticket is to save on the cost of traveling.  The budget airline's duty is to fetch passengers from point A to point B on time, although without all the 'good' services provided by normal airlines.  Now, budget airlines are getting more expensive, and the service is getting more unreliable, then what is the point?

It is also worrying news came out that after Tiger Airways' IPO, a key personnel in the Tiger management team sold off a significant amount of Tiger shares.  It should really get you thinking what is really behind such actions.

I am wondering when we will see an anti-Tiger Airways facebook group would surface... Sooner or later, it will, if there is no improvement.  Or, consumers will vote with their money.

SIA 2.15% 5-Year Corporate Bond

SIA for the very first time in Singapore's history to issue corporate bonds to retail investors, at a much lower capital requirement.  The minimum investment sum has been reduced from the normal S$250,000.00 to a mere S$10,000, with applications in increments of S$1000.

In terms of return, the bond yield is really low, it is only 2.15%.  Mind you, the official inflation rate for the past quarter in Singapore is ~3.5%.  This means the bond yield is not even enough to cover the depreciation by inflation, but then if you compare with the interests the banks give out to your savings accounts or fixed deposit accounts of less than 1% pa, it is still much better.  It is no surprise then the bond issue is still very very hot.  I applied for 10,000 units, but I got none!  This means there are many people out there with some cash savings looking for more decent yield.

What this reflects will be something interesting to ponder.  Happy investing :)

Budget Airline More Expensive than Normal Airlines

If you always think that budget airlines are cheaper than normal airlines, think again.  I just got myself an air ticket from Thai Airways for SGD$574, but with one stop in Bangkok.  For the same route, Tiger Airways is asking for SGD$570 for a direct flight, excluding extra charges.

Keep in mind that you still need to pay SGD$10 for paying with credit card, SGD$12.50 for 1 piece of check-in luggage, SGD$12 for administration fee.  In addition, you still have to pay for your food and drinks on board the flight.  So the total cost is 570 + 10 + 12.50 + 12 = SGD$604.50!!

On top of that, the timing of Tiger flights is odd, taking off at the wee hours of the day, or midnight.  You still need to fork out extra bucks for your taxi, with 50% surcharge!!

For Thai Airways, at least their timings are more reasonable, they provide you with meals and drinks in flight, they let you check in one piece of luggage, free of charge, and they don't ask you for extra charge for seat selection.

SGD$604 against SGD$574, there is a SGD$30 difference in price, but a lot more in terms of comfort and fringe services.

Ever since Tiger Airways went public, their prices are up and up and up, but service is inferior to other normal  airlines.

If you think budget airlines are cheap, think again, seriously!

Classic Cantonese Songs

Donnie Yen's latest movie Legend of the Fist - Return of Chen Zhen, reminds me some of the classic Cantonese songs from Hong Kong that had inspired at least a generation of Chinese.

Potential Risk of Identify Theft with e-Passport

With the change of entry requirement after 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States, countries around the world are now required to issue e-Passports, ie. a passport with a microchip embedded in the passport, which holds your biometric information.  The intention of this move is to provide added security to all countries, and make it more difficult to use a fake passport to travel.

However, this strategy has an unintended side-effect.  Identity theft actually has gone up after the e-Passports are issued.  Why?  e-Passports has this microchip embedded.  To read the biometric information from your passport, RFID technology has been employed.  RFID, means the information is transmitted through RF frequency, and the information can be captured by the reader.  Here is the problem.  If only the government agencies have the technology to make the reader, and can use the reader, probably it is still ok, but actually everyone who knows the technology can produce a reader.  Someone with the reader can just go near you, can he/she can then collect personal identify information from your passport!

Is it something difficult to achieve that?  The answer is YES.  Not anyone on the street can do that.  The RFID has other forms of security measures, such as data encryption.  But can it be done?  YES.  Nothing in this world is really safe.

How to prevent others from getting information from your e-Passport without your knowledge?  The solution is actually very easy.  RFID works with RF transmission.  To block it, just put your passport in a metal container, like the old-style cigarette box, then it will do.  Or you can get yourself a metal passport holder like the one being offered from PacSafe.

New technology solves some problems but brings new problems too.  Problem-solving is a never-ending process :)