Duel of the Delivery Dudes

Food-at-your-doorstep services compared. By Alisara Chirapongse and Mim Koletschka

You’re starving, and it’s raining like there’s no day after tomorrow outside. Does the idea of driving to get food in the midst of a raging storm sound like a nightmare to you? It does to us. Instead, we picked up our phones and thought we’d have a couple cute delivery guys drop by. Here’s how they fared.

Food By Phone

The Contact

02-662-4662 or www.foodbyphone.com. Open daily 10:30am-10:30pm.

The Menu

80 restaurants, categorized by cuisine.

The Call

The ordering process was very quick and to the point. However, the order was not repeated so you better hope there was no misunderstanding—sending food back to the kitchen is not an option, here. As for the payment, don’t be surprised when they ask what card you’re using but not the digits. They bring the machine over!

The Order

Basilico (8 Sukhumvit Soi 33, 02-662-2323)
•    Prosciutto cotto pizza, B320
•    Rocket salad with Italian sausage and tomatoes with
home-made dressing, B285
Nishimura (595/7-8 Sukhumvit Soi 33/1, 02-259-7977)
•    Katsu curry rice, B230
•    Nigiri ume, B380
Puangkaew (108 Sukhumvit Soi 23, 02-664-0294)
•    Yum ruammitr pitsadarn, B155
•    Kra tong thong, B125

The Bill

Food: B1,495
Delivery: B180
Total: B1,675

The Time

Exactly an hour. (Note: ordering from one single restaurant can reduce delivery time.)

The First Impression

The delivery guy was right on time. With him were three pizza boxes, but only one of them actually contained pizza. Inside the other two boxes we found a bunch of plastic containers with our curries and salads. You might have a problem identifying which sauce is supposed to be eaten with what food without any labeling on the boxes but the food was hot and still intact, even the sushi which we had predicted would fall apart during its journey.

The Verdict

The food tastes just like it does in the restaurants it comes from, so no surprises there. The delivery charge is very expensive, though, as it is calculated based on distance. Still money well spent if you’re having friends over and the gourmet meal you had planned had just exploded in the microwave.

ChefsXP

The Contact

02-664-0100 or www.chefsxp.com. Open daily 10:30am-10:30pm.

The Menu

78 restaurants, categorized either alphabetically or by cuisine.

The Call

The operator took almost 10 minutes to take our call. Even finding the number (somewhere at the bottom of their homepage) is a feat. Our guess is they want us to sign up for the online ordering system and get rid of the operators entirely. Altogether, an excruciating process which went on to include a long detailed explanation of where the corner of Rama IV and Silom is (what if we were in some distant sub-soi?) and a subsequent call as they lost our credit card number.

The Order

Bua (1/4 Sriboonrueng Bldg., Convent Rd., 02-237-6641)
•    Parma ham pizza, B476
•    Rocket salad with sliced grilled Italian sausages, B283
•    Mixed seafood salad, B128
Nishimura (595/7-8 Sukhumvit Soi 33/1, 02-259-7977)
•    Katsu curry, B180
•    Nigiri moriawase take, B380
Ma Be Ba (95 Langsuan Soi 5, 02-254-9595)
•    Chicken wrapped in pandanus leaf, B86

The Bill

Food: B1,533
Delivery: B60
Total: B1,593

The Time

An hour and a half. (Note: ordering from one single restaurant can reduce delivery time.)

The First Impression

The orders were put in plastic containers, which in turn were put in plastic bags. Spill-proof? Not even close. The delivery guy immediately admitted, “I had a little accident,” and we knew it wouldn’t be pretty. Our curry was all over the plastic bag, smearing all the other containers. But we did like the sushi container, as it separated the sushi into different compartments. Nothing worse than a piece of pickled ginger sitting on your salmon. Also, the chicken was still hot and the katsu crispy but they lost points for the slightly soggy pizza. Then again, it was probably like that straight out of the oven

The Verdict

The sushi container was awesome and the delivery charge (B60) a steal. But with such a painful ordering process, slow delivery and some sloppy packaging, ChefsXP has room for improvement. How about focusing on hiring some hot delivery guys?