Friday, October 05, 2007

no photography

My friend and I ate Ichiban Boshi at Pavilion. It is a Japanese sushi joint, exactly like Sushi King and Genki Sushi with a rotating kaitan belt in the middle of the restaurant. The food is ok and the interior is pretty normal. Nothing to shout about.

Sometimes when we visit and ate at a place, we would normally take pictures of the restaurant and the food served and post them on our blogs to share them with others. This is what we did and for the first time in our lives we were stopped by either the manager or owner of the place.

Curious, my friend asked the guy WHY because at no other place have we been barred from taking photos. He firstly gave a rather dumb reply, "Ok. Let me give you an example. If you go to a private house for dinner, do you take pictures in there?" The answer is NO but Ichiban Boshi is not a private house. It is a public restaurant. Realising how stupid his explanation was he went on further to make himself right, "We used a lot of time to develop the concept of this place, so I hope that you understand."

Ok, fine, whatever their reasons are so be it. They should at least like my friend suggested put up a "NO PHOTOGRAPHY" sign outside the restaurant. But then again I wonder if they know the consequences of such actions. Many people celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and organise friendly gatherings at restaurants and it is important to take photos of such events. With the advent of camera phones, it is easy to take photos and therefore, people would because it is fashionable to do so. It is fun. So Mr. Ichiban Boshi, maybe you should reconsider your no photography policy.

Next, the reason that you gave us is very unreasonable and rude. In effect you have implied that we are attempting to use the photos illegally that may damage the reputation of the restaurant. You have angered you customers. Please try to understand that Ichiban Boshi is really not offering anything special. It is a kaitan belt sushi place and there are tons in KL alone. We are not appropriating any ideas or concepts that you claimed took years to develop. We are customers who WISHED to introduce your place to family and friends on our blogs and we take pictures to show them where we had lunch.

By the way, anyone can walk into the restaurant to learn about the interior and food menu with a few glances. There is no need for cameras.

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