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Best Breakfast at Kabb?

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amazing

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Joined: June 06, 2006
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Posted: Oct 15, 2006 - 09:28 PM
Post subject: Best Breakfast at Kabb?

Had breakfast at Kabb today for the first time and apart from the fact that all the dishes (4) were cold and overall it was very expensive (180 rmb for 4 lattes) I thought the food was good. eg Ham was 'real' as opposed to some of the over processed stuff readily served instead and they use what appeared to be, genuine maple syrup. Quality ingredients are a good sign I think.

I referenced the 'Best of' as a guide, it proved useful but 45 rmb for a coffee at Kabb prompoted me to this post. The coffee was only average - even for shangha!

Overall I thought the 'best of shanghai poll' was a great idea just a pity about the execution! Hope it is done again but for six moths or more before a tally is made and there is some way of limiting the votes to genuine patrons and excluding those with 'vested' and undeclared interest.

rxg

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Posted: Oct 15, 2006 - 10:38 PM

All drinks in Shanghai western restaurants are expensive. A diet coke from a can be as high as 40 to 50 RMB ($5 USD) in most places, depending on where you go. There is no refills for drinks such as coffee or soda such,as ice tea, bottle water etc..

Some places don't even give you a whole can. they pour the can into a tiny glas filled with ice. A soda in KABB is actually bigger than other places. Brunch is actually a lot cheaper than other place (maybe Element fresh is also as cheap)

Either way - no excuses for charging 40 RMB for an ice tea or a can of soda!!

I hate all western restaurants in Shanghai. But no choice, I have to eat there b/c I cannot do Chinese food all the time. cry

amazing

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Posted: Oct 15, 2006 - 11:03 PM

I guess the whole point of posts like these is to change things, Kabb was very near full today. I wonder what would happen if I could tell you of a place as good if not better that was cheaper (Kabb is expensive) which had decent coffee and soft drinks at a reasonable price? I am still looking, its gotta be out there somewhere!

travelinjack3

FooJay

Joined: Sep 19, 2005
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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 09:02 AM

KABB does offer free refills on standard coffee.

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DrMike

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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 09:23 AM

Moon River Diner serves its coffee in MUGS and it is a bottomless deal.
16RMB I think.

yu888
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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 10:24 AM

Moon River Diner will be opening a new restaurant in Jing An area soon. this will bring the suburban success to test the existing restraunteurs within the inner circle / downtown area such as Malones, City Diner, and Kabb/Blue Frog. Given that MRD and Blue Frog co-exist well both in the Hong Mei area as well as Pudong, I suspect it will be more of a threat to Eduardo's City Diner project and maybe push Malones a bit. Not sure how Rendezvous will fare in all this but since they tend to be on the low price range, another competitor iin-town will hopefully only force them to improve their service.

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MissIceCube

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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 11:24 AM

I like the food at Kabb but I think WAGAS serve a good selection of breakfast too...

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rxg

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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 11:29 AM

But at WAGAS you have to get on line to buy food instead of they serve you.

dri

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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 11:31 AM

I found out Kabb's brunch is the best around and with reasonable price too, comes with free drink.

DragonAss

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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 11:55 AM

I was not happy with Kabb's last time they served the potato with bacon... then upon my special request, I got chips instead for the next visit, which I found quite thoughtful. Service there was always pleasant, the manager en waiters have been nice to accomodate me en friends in most occassions.

Just sad about the drink, the ice lemon tea has nasty watery taste, not worth the money... but I wont complain much...

Kiwi

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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 12:21 PM

DrMike wrote:

Moon River Diner serves its coffee in MUGS and it is a bottomless deal.
16RMB I think.

Used to be a good deal at 16RMB, but they just put it up to 20RMB.

I 've been a regular customer there, but I think I've had enough of the place.

Problems include. . .

- Coffee often been sitting around for too long

- Their chips are covered with some weird seasoning and generally badly cooked (either penetrated by oil or left lying around).

- Their fish and chips was absolutely awful. My friend couldn't even eat it. Disgusting crumbly batter and soaked in oil.

- Tried their Mexican breakfast - the chorizo and tortilla were both dried out and stale.

They do a nice burger, they are good at details (menus, decor, service etc.), and their beers are a generous size. But the prices are high and getting higher while the food is average.

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vickiluan

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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 03:14 PM

love moonriver, wagas so so

amazing

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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 04:35 PM

Re Kabb coffee - whats the difference between a Latte and Standard coffee? My immediate answer 45rmb! The latte was disappointing I am not sure I want to try the standard coffee if it is 45 rmb less valued. I think it fair for customer expectations to be proportionate to the amount charged.

Re Moon River - two things 1) the coffee is not good just so so 2) I think from experience that some branches are better than others and for that reason I will keep them in mind.
I picture a place that has not necessarily spent a fortune on furniture, decoration or rent (Xiantandi would be expensive I guess) Where fresh quality ingredients and basic hygeine are the norm, has the smell of real coffee from an expresso machine, friendly capable staff that remember you (english not a high priority) and who worry about your satisfaction. A menu probably not that different from all the places mentioned and a bill no more than a hundred quai for big brunch with all the trimmings. Throw in some free papers/mags to read and I am yours! Too much to ask?

Latte

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Joined: July 12, 2005
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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 04:58 PM

Kabb is overpriced. We have gone there one time and had french toast and some potatoes. It was so so. We havent gone back since. We goto Arch now. Not sure if they are more expensive but taste much better.

Michael

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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 05:07 PM

The was someone's opinion. People had the option to voice their opinion, even if the place they wanted was not on the original nomination. Perhaps you'll notice that Element Fresh actually won that category. Kabb was not even in the original nominations.

Yes.. it was in imperfect poll, but it does bring up some interesting options that, I for one, did not know about before.

It also speaks for the fact that some aspects are more important to some that other things. Some people price, some people the food is it.. some people service is must.. the really good places have at least 2 or 3 of these covered well. Hard to get all three right all the time.

amazing

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Posted: Oct 16, 2006 - 10:24 PM

Michael, i repeat 'best of' was a good idea and i appreciate the effort. I understand my post might appear unfairly critical but i ask wouldnt it be great to do it better next time round? for example there wasnt a super response to this poll - from memory total votes n=17 and you are suggesting element fresh 'won'! Perhaps if there was 17 votes seperating kabb and element fresh you would have a point.
It is good the poll was flexible enough to include kabb when it wasnt on the original nominations - as a humble suggestion maybe the nomination process could have run for longer ? I do remember some initial 'growling' when people nominated places after nominations closed and there wa a bit of a rethink.

Regarding how different people value the three elements you outlined differently, i do agree but really its not a show stopper. restaurants get reviewed every day all over the world so it shouldnt be difficult to get a rating/weighting system sorted. personally i am not sure that anyone could be really satisfied with a restaurant that had 2 of the three things right, for example if the food was crap?

thanks to all those involved in 'best of', after all, thats why i tried kabb.....element fresh next!