These guys are just up the street from us, and used to be our usual chippy. They do excellent fish and chips which are usually extremely well fried, only once have we ever had badly fried, soggy chips from them.

The fish is fresh and coated with a light hand, making for a less leaden meal. They also do great beef burgers, though the fish burger could use a bit of work on the execution.

The less I say about the pizza and pasta side of the equation, the better. The pizza is pretty prosaic and regular, and the pasta is what you'd expect from a mediocre pizza place with pasta tacked on the side. The one time we made the mistake of having lasagna from there, it was pretty dire - mince that smelt musty and really kind of like a wet dog, nondescript "white" sauce and stringy cheese-food.

To sum up, have fish or a burger from here, and you'll be happy with your meal.

Approximate cost: $8-10

I adore dumplings but have been really disappointed with most of the student-oriented dumpling joints around the city, so decided to try hop in to Hu Tong for lunch on a recommendation from a friend. Can I just say - the signature soup filled dumplings are EXCELLENT, definitely a cut above any other place I've tried so far.

My one quibble would be service - we ordered the soup dumplings and a plate of fried ones, the soup ones arrived really quickly. We were then kept waiting 30 minutes for the fried ones. I asked the waitress to check on the order, and she told me they were on their way. 15 minutes later, they arrived, obviously hastily cooked as they weren't brown and crispy on the bottom as they should've been.

I would've really much preferred if she had admitted that the kitchen had forgotten the order and apologised, then checked to see if we still wanted them. By then, we were sick of waiting and my partner had to run out to top up the parking meter.

Additionally, we were served our soup dumplings without ginger (not a hanging offence, but silly when they suggest that you try your soup dumplings with ginger on the placards on every table). When I asked for some, we were delivered two of the most miserly portions of ginger I've ever seen. Each portion was literally 6 tiny shreds of ginger, I'm lucky that my partner doesn't like ginger with his.

The staff are what you'd expect of a middle of the road Chinese restaurant, but I didn't like that they all conversed with each other loudly in Cantonese throughout the upper level dining room where we were seated. I think that it's unprofessional, and that private conversations should be kept to the staff areas. I also suspect that they felt so comfortable in doing so as they thought that no one would understand what they were saying. Don't get me wrong, the conversations were perfectly harmless and I'm not expecting silver service, but what I do expect is a certain level of professionalism that was lacking here.

All in all, it's a nice place to eat, and I know I'll be going back and trying more from the menu. I just wish that the floor staff would remember that the dining room is NOT their social club.

Edited to add: I went back a week after this experience and was seated in the downstairs dining room this time. We were taken care of by a nice young man, and the service was much better this time around. Definitely my new dumpling joint of choice!

Approximate cost: $10-15

I checked out Brazillian Butterfly's website after they were recommended as a good place to get an eyebrow wax. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they described all of the services they offered, gave prices and even have a online booking system! The process was quick and easy, the therapist was polite, friendly and professional and my eyebrows look great! I've already made my next appointment!

Approximate cost: $15

My regular hairdresser was away and I desperately needed a haircut before attending a wedding, so I went to Rokk Ebony on the recommendation of one of my colleagues. I was able to make an appointment by email, which was very convenient for me as I work odd hours and am usually not available during office hours to call.

The salon itself is very modern, and quite busy. I was well taken care of by Moet, who was friendly and also gave me a gorgeous cut. It was a little more than I usually pay ($85 as opposed to $55), as I had gone with my colleague's suggestion that I use a Principal Stylist rather than a Stylist, but boy was it worth it!

To sum up, Rokk Ebony may cost a little more than what you're currently paying, but I think that quality tells - the number of compliments I've received recently are a great measure of that!

Approximate cost: $85

I went to Stitches to see about getting some dresses tailored for my sister's wedding. In the end, I went with them as they offered the best combination of price and selection - the tailoring for a fairly simple cocktail dress was $450. I selected a gorgeous silk satin, which they special ordered for me with no complaints.

Dominique was the lady who assisted me, and was very helpful both in helping me work out the design, and selecting the fabric and colours. Sophie, the dressmaker, was very warm and friendly, and her work was excellent.

My one complaint about them would be their level of punctuality. While they were generally punctual and delivered the dress on time, I also spent quite a bit of time waiting around for them - Dominique was late to two appointments that I made with her, and I was also kept waiting for fitting appointments. I wasn't so fussed about the appointments as I was on a day off, but I had run out of work for the fittings, so to be told to come back in 15 minutes was disappointing. A quick phonecall or even text to let me know that they were running late would have been appreciated.

However, all in all, I would certainly use them again - all of the staff were friendly and they were all very helpful, with a high level of expertise in their field. Just be sure to call ahead to make sure that they're ready for you!

Approximate cost: $650

I called Powerhouse Preston on a Friday in search of an iron. By searching online, I found out that the model that I wanted was discontinued, but Powerhouse Preston still had two on hand.

The member of staff I spoke to was very polite and helpful, he found an ex-display model for me, checked that all of the components were there, and placed it on hold for me. Their policy is only to hold for 24 hours, but when I explained that I work retail and could only get out to them on Monday, he kindly said that holding it till Monday was no problem.

This was all well and good until I arrived at the store on Monday afternoon, when the iron had mysteriously disappeared. The disinterested man at the service counter handed me off to a younger member of staff who, to his credit, properly looked for the item and was very apologetic that it had disappeared.

The store itself was disorganised, untidy, chaotic and clearly understaffed. All in all, a disappointing experience - no attempt to fix the situation and not even an apology for making me drive all the way out to Preston for a phantom item.

My partner brought me to Nobu for my birthday this year, knowing that I was especially excited about it as I was taken to Nobu many years ago as a teenager in New York. We both had the omokase menu, the food was lovely, just as I remembered, but the atmosphere in the downstairs dining room where we seated was a little noisy and 'club-y' - it's a big room and quite echo-y. The service was very competent and we enjoyed the evening thoroughly.

EDIT: I came back for Christmas dinner 2010 with friends visiting from overseas, and the standards are still being upheld. We treated ourselves to the omokase again, and all of it was so delicious. We were obviously enjoying ourselves so much that a couple recently seated next to our table leant over to ask what we were eating!

I visited Lee after a bad experience with another hairdresser. Based on her glowing reviews, I was expecting good things, and I wasn't disappointed! I only had a trim (told you I was nervous, coming off a bad experience), but Lee put me at ease, didn't try to push products on me and did a great job. I will definitely return to get a more adventurous Summer cut!

Approximate cost: $55

I visited d'Italia as part of a scouting mission while seeking to have some dresses made for a wedding I'm going to. The staff were very helpful, and the fabric is gorgeous - most of it is Italian, and from big fashion houses like Armani, Escada, Jil Sander and the like. It is expensive (I didn't see any fabric under the $50/m mark), but probably worth it for a special occasion.

Tailoring prices start at $400-$600 for a simple cocktail dress, to $700 to $900 for a more involved designer creation. If you want to use their tailoring service, you must buy fabric from them.

My partner and I don't drive very much, so we decided to buy a used car. We purchased a small hatchback from these people, and paid $500 for it to be made roadworthy. Imagine our horror when we sent it for a service about a week after we received it, and our mechanic informed us that it was not roadworthy and in fact, unsafe to be driven before about $4500 in repairs had been made to it! The dealer tried to claim that our mechanic was cheating us, that he had been cheated by his mechanics and so on and so forth. Finally, when we threatened legal action, he capitulated and agreed to refund us our money. We hope that this happens soon and that no one else has to go through this nightmare!

EDIT: We never got our money back, he agreed to send the car to a third-party, reputable mechanic to get the RWC done, but we didn't get a certificate, or receipts, or descriptions of the work done despite requesting them numerous times. To sum up - a charlatan and horrible man, don't deal with him!

Approximate cost: $Too much!