Monday, January 29, 2007
Kallang Airport Hawker Centre
I went to the above place with my family yesterday. They have shifted to a nearby centre while the original location is being renovated. However, it seems like the service standards have slipped terribly.
First we ordered Hokkien Mee from some famous stall whose name already slips my mind. Don't bother remembering it, except to avoid it. I think it's Nam Heng or something like that. Anyway, it's a corner stall, there's usually a long queue and the store front has a few reviews from websites and newspapers which I presume write about them in glowing terms. That might have been true in the past, but it certainly wasn't true yesterday.
One thing different about them as compared to most other stalls is that they ask for payment in advance. Why?? Your guess is as good as mine. Most hawker stalls or food courts only ask you to pay when you have received your food, unless you're waiting in line for it to be prepared, and even then you're not expected to wait for long. When we ordered, this stall had 30 plates in front of us, yet they still asked for payment first.
After a long wait, the food finally came. We were unlucky to get plates near the bottom of the wok, so one of the plates had burnt noodles which were actually crispy. My dad attempted to ask them for a change, but they refused, saying that it is not under their control. After all, noodles from the bottom of the wok were probably going to be burnt and there is nothing they can do about it. A few attempted bites later, he gave up totally and returned the whole plate to them, telling them it was too burnt and thus inedible. Instead of being apologetic, they said in mandarin: "不要吃就丢掉。" As we were walking away, I heard him mutter that it was probably not fitting to our taste.
Now this kind of service attitude is atrocious. First of all, it had nothing to do with taste. The noodles were burnt. There were black marks on some of them and according to my dad some of them were crunchy. This is unacceptable quality, no matter who they give it to. Next, when told about this, the correct response would be to replace the plate with one from the top of the next batch they were cooking. What they did was to say oops it can't be helped, too bad. I don't know what they were thinking, but it seems like they have a very myopic view.
Returning a plate to them, instead of just leaving it on the table, is a very clear sign of dissatisfaction. They still didn't get it. Or maybe they do, which is why they choose to collect payment in advance.
The reason they can get away with this is probably because their business is so good. After all, with a long queue and many customers, who would care about a couple of unhappy ones? Anyway, if they only burn a plate or two each time, it still represents a small minority of customers.
The other thing which happened has to do with a stall further down the same row. There was a large sign advertising duck porridge for $2. Here's a warning. When you see that sign, don't believe it. It's actually $2.50, and you won't find out till they have delivered the food to you. My mom happened to be in a good mood as this was before the hokkien mee incident, so we didn't pursue the matter. Anyway, if he really does it consistently, it is false advertising and by common sense, he should get a hefty fine, although I don't know about the legal position.
As you can see from the above examples, it's really not worth eating at the above two stalls. The rest might still be ok, but it seems that they are all a little pricey. So do me a favour, if you go there to eat, don't patronise the hokkien mee stall with a long queue, and don't believe the $2 duck porridge sign.
First we ordered Hokkien Mee from some famous stall whose name already slips my mind. Don't bother remembering it, except to avoid it. I think it's Nam Heng or something like that. Anyway, it's a corner stall, there's usually a long queue and the store front has a few reviews from websites and newspapers which I presume write about them in glowing terms. That might have been true in the past, but it certainly wasn't true yesterday.
One thing different about them as compared to most other stalls is that they ask for payment in advance. Why?? Your guess is as good as mine. Most hawker stalls or food courts only ask you to pay when you have received your food, unless you're waiting in line for it to be prepared, and even then you're not expected to wait for long. When we ordered, this stall had 30 plates in front of us, yet they still asked for payment first.
After a long wait, the food finally came. We were unlucky to get plates near the bottom of the wok, so one of the plates had burnt noodles which were actually crispy. My dad attempted to ask them for a change, but they refused, saying that it is not under their control. After all, noodles from the bottom of the wok were probably going to be burnt and there is nothing they can do about it. A few attempted bites later, he gave up totally and returned the whole plate to them, telling them it was too burnt and thus inedible. Instead of being apologetic, they said in mandarin: "不要吃就丢掉。" As we were walking away, I heard him mutter that it was probably not fitting to our taste.
Now this kind of service attitude is atrocious. First of all, it had nothing to do with taste. The noodles were burnt. There were black marks on some of them and according to my dad some of them were crunchy. This is unacceptable quality, no matter who they give it to. Next, when told about this, the correct response would be to replace the plate with one from the top of the next batch they were cooking. What they did was to say oops it can't be helped, too bad. I don't know what they were thinking, but it seems like they have a very myopic view.
Returning a plate to them, instead of just leaving it on the table, is a very clear sign of dissatisfaction. They still didn't get it. Or maybe they do, which is why they choose to collect payment in advance.
The reason they can get away with this is probably because their business is so good. After all, with a long queue and many customers, who would care about a couple of unhappy ones? Anyway, if they only burn a plate or two each time, it still represents a small minority of customers.
The other thing which happened has to do with a stall further down the same row. There was a large sign advertising duck porridge for $2. Here's a warning. When you see that sign, don't believe it. It's actually $2.50, and you won't find out till they have delivered the food to you. My mom happened to be in a good mood as this was before the hokkien mee incident, so we didn't pursue the matter. Anyway, if he really does it consistently, it is false advertising and by common sense, he should get a hefty fine, although I don't know about the legal position.
As you can see from the above examples, it's really not worth eating at the above two stalls. The rest might still be ok, but it seems that they are all a little pricey. So do me a favour, if you go there to eat, don't patronise the hokkien mee stall with a long queue, and don't believe the $2 duck porridge sign.
posted by cosine @ 9:03 AM 
