I have been wanting to say this for quite some time, but I gave them the benefit of doubt. Until recently, my conscience told me that I have to blog about this before everyone starts putting the blame on me.
Mille Crepe and Nadeje Patisserie Cafe are two of the things that I strongly promote whenever one visits Malacca. Somehow, many people, visitors, blog readers and friends associate my blog with Mille Crepe and Nadeje Patisserie Cafe.
The reason? Simply delicious and heavenly crepes that you don’t get in any other part of Malaysia except Malacca. Also, the ambiance, prompt service, friendly waiters and waitresses, and most importantly, the one managing Nadeje Patisserie and down to earth Amos Chong. Amos was one of the two co-owners of Nadeje Patisserie, while the other owner was Nozomi.
Before I proceed, lets look into the history of Nadeje Patisserie.
Nozomi was the sole financial contributor while Amos was the one who would do the baking and marketing. When Amos first started out, he worked from home. In other words, he would be baking the cakes in the kitchen and then get them delivered to numerous cafes in Malacca town. That was how Amos started and Mille Crepe started to gain its popularity.
Few months later, Amos has made enough profits and with more money injected into the business by Nozomi, they bought a shop lot in Plaza Mahkota. Amos then had a proper place to bake and sell his cakes, no more no name bakery, no more delivery and no more come-to-the-house-and-collect method. It was during this period I discovered Mille Crepe and got to know Amos personally. I then started promoting Mille Crepe like no tomorrow to every friends and blog readers I know, and even wrote two featured articles in The Star for them. (Not many restaurants get to be featured twice in the newspaper, for your information.)
Fast forward a few months later, they earned enough to expand the shop to a two shop lot Nadeje Patisserie (current) and things started to pick up from there.
Amos is a down to earth and humble person. He didn’t become proud or boastful when the cake became popular. In fact, he would gladly listen to any criticism and take them positively. He would improve himself and rectify mistakes if one could point it out. He would come out to the front to talk to the customers and get some feedbacks. He would personally thank you if he has the chance.
The waiters and waitresses he trained were friendly, full of smiles and would recognized regular customers like me. They would know what I want and my preference. Also, Amos would even give me discounts whenever I dine in or take away and sometimes, free slices of Mille Crepe. He would let me owe up to RM600 - RM700 worth of cakes so that I could bring, deliver the cakes to KL and then pay him when I am back in Malacca. It’s a trust built between the boss and regular customers.
In other words, I can safely say, Amos was the soul of Nadeje Patisserie and also the reason why I highly promoted them to my friends.
Fast forward to third quarter of 2007, due to some reasons, Amos resigned from Nadeje Patisserie and since then, it was the downfall of Nadeje Patisserie.
I have received a number of complaints about the cafe, cakes and services. From regular customers to first time customers, they all have something to say about the cafe, mind you, the negative ones. Let’s not talk about what others have to say first and read what I have to say about the cafe.
1) The waiters / waitresses don’t smile, at all, as if they were forced to work or something along that line.
2) Where are the “Thank You”, “Welcome”, “Good Morning / Afternoon / Evening” and other courtesy manners like opening the door?
3) Price increment with immediate effect, up to 30%!
4) I-shall-decide-how-you-eat policy. (Read Akiautumn - Nadeje Patisserie @ Melaka.)
Dining in with cakes order without drinks are not allowed.
Order of two slices and a drink can only be shared up to four persons.
5) I-shall-decide-where-you-sit policy. (Read Akiautumn - Nadeje Patisserie @ Melaka.)
You will get to sit at the red sofa if you spend more than RM35. Else, please occupy other tables.
6) Loyalty? Regular customers? What are those?
7) They also took away all the food / meal menu, leaving nothing but drinks and cakes for patrons. Limited choices available.
8) Most importantly, the cakes don’t taste as good as before. It doesn’t give me the umphhh satisfaction that it used to give me. The crepes are somewhat thicker. The creams aren’t as thick as before. The cakes are generally wetter and smudgy.
Well, that said, I am going to stop promoting Mille Crepe and Nadeje Patisserie Cafe to my friends and on my blog. Neither I am going to bring them there unless they request for it. I am proud of it, but if this goes on, I am utterly disappointed that an once customer oriented cafe has turned into a profit oriented cafe, that churns out under par service and food quality, yet with higher price after it got popular.
Hence, if it’s not nice or you get lousy service or totally different from what you read from my blog, you have been warned. I strongly advised you to take away instead.
Well, I have been brainwashing and persuading Amos to kick start his own Mille Crepe business in Kuala Lumpur. Perhaps, or just maybe, he might do so and I am sure many people will benefit from it. Heh!
Update : I just talked to Amos on the phone. Apparently, he has started his business from scratch in JB and it might take some time before he expands his business and then, KL. The reasons he gave me are that he is more familiar with JB, has the much needed connections and networks in JB and his partner is also from JB. For those who want to try his Mille Crepe, I guess, you will have to make a trip down to JB. More information at Humble Beginnings.
