Wah... from bak chor mee to bak kut teh.
The short of the bak kut teh story, if you didn't follow it, was that this Ng Ah Sio Pork Ribs Soup (bak kut teh) Eating House refused to stay open for Mr Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of HK. Reason: its operating hours are from 6am to 2pm and he wanted to turn up at night.
The New Paper was inspired to follow up on this apparent 'snub' of a big-shot by the bak kut teh (henceforth bkt) hotshot with a feature entitled 'Singapore's cockiest hawkers' in yesterday's Sunday edition. Including articles by famous foodies KK Seetoh and Toh Paik Choo, no less.
From my understanding of what happened, the bkt incident does NOT show cockiness and was NOT an intentional snub and should NOT be taken as yet another sign of poor service. In fact, I think it's unreasonable to expect the shop to stay open for so long or to open specially at 9.30 or 10pm just to entertain Mr Tsang and entourage WITHOUT advance notice and preparation. In any case, even WITH advance notice and preparation, it's really up to the guy if he wants to do it, isn't it? Why should he be expected to? Because he's serving a big shot? That is not what I would call going the extra mile. I would call it 'being a doormat'.
Anyway, it's not as though all those IMF/World Bank delegates are going to rush out in droves to our famous hawkers and get collectively snubbed by closed stalls, as some journalists seem to fear. If you arrive at a restaurant when it's closed, you wouldn't expect the boss to specially open it for you, right? So why should we expect coffee shops and hawker stalls to be open all hours? If some delegate wants to shop at Metro at midnight, does it mean that Metro should open at midnight?
So I think it's a matter of common sense, practicality, logistics and choice, not service.
However, TNP turned it into a story on service, as I said. The whole feature was rather funny and I enjoyed reading about all the 'rude' behaviour 'poor service' at those choice eating stalls.
Ranked #1 in the Top 5 of 'S'pore's Cockiest Hawkers' was Mr Danny Lee of Sin Huat Seafood Restaurant at Lorong 35 Geylang. I have been there!! I do know the owner is famous for being 'rude'. The trick is just to sit there and wait. Don't even try to go up to him to order your food. Not only will he not entertain you, but he will very likely also reprimand you. WAIT for him or his helper to come. The thing is his food IS good. I highly recommend it!! His famous crab bee hoon (link to Makansutra feature on Geylang) is not famous for nothing and, according to TNP, the place has even been featured on Discovery Channel and in the NYT.
But why does one have to 'put up with' such 'poor service' and 'bad attitude'? Well, I see it as part of the guy's personality and also partly the result of his stall's popularity. He said:
'I'm the only one who's cooking, I don't have time to socialise. I just want my customers to be happy with their food. If you don't feel happy, don't come.'
Honestly, if you know he's like that, and yet you still want to try his food, then just live with his 'attitude' and don't complain. Also, I wouldn't put my expectations of one-man-shows-with-a-few-helpers on par with what I would expect from, say, a renowned five-star restaurant. As far as I know, no one has actually done anything to 'improve' the 'service standards' of coffee shops or food centres. So till the Tourism Board or whoever thinks it necessary to do so and does something about it, that's just how things are going to be. In any case, he hasn't been rude to us.
Anyhow, I think that being featured as the 'Top 5 cockiest hawkers' is only going to bring these top 5 people better business!! Well, they deserve it (I mean the business), I suppose, if their food is really that good. By the way, the duck porridge mentioned in the Sin Huat Seafood feature is good too. (This lady complained that Danny Lee refused to serve her because she and her entourage had eaten from the duck porridge stall)
Pleasant service would be a nice plus, though, when you are having your bkt or crab bee hoon.
The short of the bak kut teh story, if you didn't follow it, was that this Ng Ah Sio Pork Ribs Soup (bak kut teh) Eating House refused to stay open for Mr Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of HK. Reason: its operating hours are from 6am to 2pm and he wanted to turn up at night.
The New Paper was inspired to follow up on this apparent 'snub' of a big-shot by the bak kut teh (henceforth bkt) hotshot with a feature entitled 'Singapore's cockiest hawkers' in yesterday's Sunday edition. Including articles by famous foodies KK Seetoh and Toh Paik Choo, no less.
From my understanding of what happened, the bkt incident does NOT show cockiness and was NOT an intentional snub and should NOT be taken as yet another sign of poor service. In fact, I think it's unreasonable to expect the shop to stay open for so long or to open specially at 9.30 or 10pm just to entertain Mr Tsang and entourage WITHOUT advance notice and preparation. In any case, even WITH advance notice and preparation, it's really up to the guy if he wants to do it, isn't it? Why should he be expected to? Because he's serving a big shot? That is not what I would call going the extra mile. I would call it 'being a doormat'.
Anyway, it's not as though all those IMF/World Bank delegates are going to rush out in droves to our famous hawkers and get collectively snubbed by closed stalls, as some journalists seem to fear. If you arrive at a restaurant when it's closed, you wouldn't expect the boss to specially open it for you, right? So why should we expect coffee shops and hawker stalls to be open all hours? If some delegate wants to shop at Metro at midnight, does it mean that Metro should open at midnight?
So I think it's a matter of common sense, practicality, logistics and choice, not service.
However, TNP turned it into a story on service, as I said. The whole feature was rather funny and I enjoyed reading about all the 'rude' behaviour 'poor service' at those choice eating stalls.
Ranked #1 in the Top 5 of 'S'pore's Cockiest Hawkers' was Mr Danny Lee of Sin Huat Seafood Restaurant at Lorong 35 Geylang. I have been there!! I do know the owner is famous for being 'rude'. The trick is just to sit there and wait. Don't even try to go up to him to order your food. Not only will he not entertain you, but he will very likely also reprimand you. WAIT for him or his helper to come. The thing is his food IS good. I highly recommend it!! His famous crab bee hoon (link to Makansutra feature on Geylang) is not famous for nothing and, according to TNP, the place has even been featured on Discovery Channel and in the NYT.
But why does one have to 'put up with' such 'poor service' and 'bad attitude'? Well, I see it as part of the guy's personality and also partly the result of his stall's popularity. He said:
'I'm the only one who's cooking, I don't have time to socialise. I just want my customers to be happy with their food. If you don't feel happy, don't come.'
Honestly, if you know he's like that, and yet you still want to try his food, then just live with his 'attitude' and don't complain. Also, I wouldn't put my expectations of one-man-shows-with-a-few-helpers on par with what I would expect from, say, a renowned five-star restaurant. As far as I know, no one has actually done anything to 'improve' the 'service standards' of coffee shops or food centres. So till the Tourism Board or whoever thinks it necessary to do so and does something about it, that's just how things are going to be. In any case, he hasn't been rude to us.
Anyhow, I think that being featured as the 'Top 5 cockiest hawkers' is only going to bring these top 5 people better business!! Well, they deserve it (I mean the business), I suppose, if their food is really that good. By the way, the duck porridge mentioned in the Sin Huat Seafood feature is good too. (This lady complained that Danny Lee refused to serve her because she and her entourage had eaten from the duck porridge stall)
Pleasant service would be a nice plus, though, when you are having your bkt or crab bee hoon.
Comments
As for celebrity foodstalls. I cannot stand rude hawkers and dirty eating places. Nowadays there are so many choices - why should we cheapen ourselves in this way.
If you can't stand the service or the cook, why torture yourself even if the food is the best in Singapore. You will probably enjoy yourself more with a slightly inferior food but good service and good personality. Food enjoyment is not only about the food but the mood when you are eating it.
Wormie, I'm not sure if Mr Tsang felt personally snubbed or slighted or whatever. I think it wasn't him but people coordinating his trip who wanted the BKT shop to open at night for him.
I find dirty eating places worse than poor service. At least you can have a decent meal even with rudeness. But you never know what will happen to your stomach when eating in unhygienic surroundings.