there's something about ..... rice

How much would you pay for this plate of "chap chai" rice?

Let me explain the dishes so that you can decide better. The red stuff is sour fish, the one imediately on the left is bitter gourd with prawn, and the end is cabbage.

Oh.. I better be explicit.. the top left corner is cucumber plus chilli. Oh... I better be F#%@ explicit... the whitish stuffs are plain rice if it's not already obvious. Oh.. I better be super F#%@ explicit.. the greenish leave underneath are not meant for eating.

So how much would you pay for this plate of "chap chai" rice?

Ok.. depends on location? Ok.. how about in a foodcourt. So how much would you pay for this plate of "chap chai" rice in a foodcourt.

Ok... depends on location again? How about FOOD REPUBLIC in VIVO CITY

So how much would you pay for this plate of "chap chai" rice in FOOD REPUBLIC in Vivo City?

1.) $4
2.) $5
3.) $6
4.) $7
5.) I wouldn't pay at all. I would rather swallow my money.

I went there yesterday with my family and decided to buy the above plate from CHONG PANG STALL in Food Republic. The stall deserve bolding for such excellent service and food quality.

Being the only "Chap chai" stall there, I've decided to buy a plate for my maid. After selecting the food, the "Server" pass the plate to the cashier and announce proudly ......

$7

Yes.... $7.. SEVEN DOLLARS!!! Satu ..Dua.. Tiga.. Ampat Limah...The amount so big that I couldn't even know how to read that in Malay!!!!

I was astonished to say the least. I thought they may have made a mistake and I asked the "server" to repeat. She repeated with a tone that suggest "why? you never eat so expensive dish before meh?"

So I questioned her why is it so expensive and she replied "rental high". Then she break down the costs to me:

The fish - $3
The Bitter gourd - $2
The cabbage - $1.20
The rice - $0.80.

She then go ahead to describe to me that the bitter gourd is freshly cooked and got prawn. HELLO.... Even without the F%%! bitter gourd with prawn, this meal is $5!??!?!?!!!!!! Ninabeh.

They try to "comfort" us by telling us that ours is consider cheap. There are people who pay more than $10 for their meal. NINABEH.

Of course, I didn't want to pay.

And she bloody tell me that I cannot back out because they have already keyed in the entry into their cashier system.

I told them that it's rediculous that they did not list the price of their items, and they bloody retorted that they did. It's listed next to the cashier and it's totally not obvious.

My mother in order not to create a scene, told me to forget it and she paid for it.

OH yeah... forget it. I would have eaten them just to see how a $7 chap chai rice taste like and blog about it. But their F#$@ attitude pissed me off so much.

I did the next best thing. NO...

1.) I didn't throw the plate at them.
2.) I didn't stand on the table to announce this rediculous stall.
3.) I didn't pay them $2 and tell them that my $2 is freshly taken out from a ATM machine.

I went to complain to Food Republic about over-charging.

The manager on Duty was professional. He look at my plate, took the receipt and talk to the stall holder. After a while, he refunded me my $7 and remove the plate of rice away.

Too professional. Nothing wrong with that. Except, I would have thought that he would refund my $7 and ask me to keep the plate of rice.

Not that I really want to eat. But I'm just curious how the meal tasted like that the F#$% stall holder think they could charge a rediculous price.

Perhaps someone can tell me.