Spice Festival 2010

[LankaBuzz]

It was successful, but it could have been a lot better if the
organizers thought of the things that mattered.

The restaurants that took part, provided their quality, only thing
they didn’t plan for was large number that attended. On the second
day, by 10.00PM most of them had run out of food. Most places provided
the set options, which was easy people come there, get a packet eat
and go or take it. Some places didn’t have that option, but maybe
should have that but that’s their choice.

Now with the planners, they could have done a better job, I don’t know
why we didn’t open both lanes for this, it was done some time back,
but this time it was so congested. They gave priority for parking, and
not for seating.

Most of the people could have been given access to park in the
adjoining park (Vihara Maha Devi), or just parked around.

The people who drive have access to these places at any time, but the
ones who come without transport local/foreign they would come to sit
there, eat and go, but if they can’t do that, what’s the point? They
don’t want to take it back again!

More tables should have been included for sure. Parking, could have
been around, there were enough police to act as parking attendants!
There would have been enough space, the stalls would be more spaced
out, and it would be a pleasant experience.

HSBC was giving the 50% off, but some places just made it impossible
to get that done, and made sure people paid cash. This was done at
Mango tree, you could pay cash to anyone, but for the card, you had to
queue up, and the guy too such a long time to process a single
payment. Other places, also did that but not as bad as them. HSBC
should have given more than one card machine, and also even kept
someone to look into it, but then again, maybe they had to pay the
50%????

Overall, it was great, Ramada Alahmbra food was good, Mango tree was a
big hit, Hilton Viatnamese could have given some decent portions,
Korean they picked up when the other stalls ran out, Arabic was ok,
Thai was same as always and Cinnamon Long Feng was not so great. What
I can remember so far.

Next time, I hope they think of the seating and even marquees. The
stall owners will do the rest like they did this time!