And the saga continues…

The restaurant issued their press statement. For those who can’t view the pdf file, I copied and pasted for your easy reading.

Press Statement – 24th Aug 2010

Immediate Release

Private Affairs, Singapore – This is a formal statement in response to the article by Yahoo News Singapore, “Food blogger who demands free meal sparks outrage online”. This statement represents strictly the views and stands from the Private Affairs management (hereinafter referred to as “We”)

As we were made aware by the unexpected said incident occurred at our Sunday Brunch on last Sunday, 22nd Aug 2010, we did not expect this unfortunate episode to spark into a fiery debate within the local food blogging community and eventually led to the attention of our local media.

Nevertheless, we sincerely thank each and every individual, who have showed concerns and expressed valuable opinions relating to this incident.

Despite the unexpected publicity from this incident, we have no intentions to exploit this incident for the fame of any individual/s or property involved as suggested in some comments; therefore, it is critical, we want to make an official statement and clarifications with regards to this matter before it escalates into potential repercussions that may affect our restaurants’ credibility or cause any further unnecessary unhappiness or discontent to any parties involved
The candid remarks and unacceptable responses from the said blogger were certainly uncalled for. We were not impressed by his behaviour, action and mannerism.

Private Affairs, a 40-seater restaurant serving Modern European cuisine with Asian touches, is a quaint gem that has caught the attention of many food lovers. Our little success was the credit of various media coverage since its opening in October 2009.

We have always extended media tasting invitation to avid food bloggers based on recommendations of reliable sources. We embraced food blogging and believe there is a certain extent of social integrity, moral and professionalism inculcated in every blogger.

However, we also want to highlight, the food blogs about Private Affairs are based on individual blogger’s real experience and is not in any way altered or influenced by Private Affairs. The food bloggers were clear and transparent in stating that their gastronomy adventures were invited sessions.

We hope this incident does not discourage the food blogger community to pursue their passion in food blogging. We feel that there is a lot of integrity and clout in this community and we can bring our similar passion which is great food to the people. We will continue to support and promote the spirit behind the passion of food writing and sharing with food lovers.

More importantly, we want to take this opportunity to suggest a possible formation of a governing body or an association/society, which cultivates and promotes the appropriate manner of blogging and blogger’s etiquette. There should be some guidelines and policies implemented to avoid any similar incidents from occurring again.

Regards,
The Management and Staff of Private Affairs Kitchen & Bar

People were asking me on what’s my PR take over the whole press release? To me?

Just bloody hell say its a miscommunication/misunderstanding between both parties,  admit that it was a genuine mistake, played the “bigger man” card and move on lah!

Hey, if you wanna be showy, even take a picture with the food blogger at another food tasting/makan session and show that all is good and forgiven.

Like I said, bigger man card. But that’s just my take. What’s yours?