A different kind
If you're Singaporean and eat out very frequently, the following incident should be quite a norm until...
A couple of weeks back, I was craving for some hawker food. The nearest hawker centre (well, not really, maybe coffeeshop) that I could think of nearby the uni is the Victoria Street Hawker Centre. My bf and I promptly found a table, sat down and before you know it, there was this lady, who shoved a menu right at us. We wanted to eat some tze char and I thought the pictures in the 'menu' or photo album, were really enticing. After all, we were hungry and looking at those pictures just made us drool.
So we ordered but before doing so, I told the bf that I was familiar of another tze char stall located right at the other end but since we were already deciding what to eat from this stall, we just went ahead and ordered the hot plate tofu dish and another chicken dish. When the dishes arrived, they looked rather different from the usual that we'd order else where. Anyway, I thought the chicken dish was rather weird. It didn't taste like chicken and the bf thought it was vegetarian style. Anyway, we didn't question much but just thought it was some new recipe they used.
Yesterday, we went back from some hokkien me and carrot cake. The same lady, very swiftly again, shoved the menu at us but we nicely declined and she would do the same to all the other customers who were either going to dine there or passing by the stall. Anyway, I sat in front of the stall and saw a magic word, which was probably the reason why our chicken dish really didn't taste like it chicken.
Vegetarian.
Bam! So we realised and upon analyzing the dishes on their lighted banner it had very clearly stated a few chicken dishes, prawns and so on. One would really not think that the stall is selling vegetarian food. Whilst chomping down our delicious hokkien mee and carrot cake, the bf and I were discussing if people really knew what they were ordering given that the menu had no indication whatsoever that its vegetarian food that they were serving. I'm not against vegetarian food, but I'm wondering.. to what extent should hawkers be clear in their menus and the way they conduct their business.
A couple of weeks back, I was craving for some hawker food. The nearest hawker centre (well, not really, maybe coffeeshop) that I could think of nearby the uni is the Victoria Street Hawker Centre. My bf and I promptly found a table, sat down and before you know it, there was this lady, who shoved a menu right at us. We wanted to eat some tze char and I thought the pictures in the 'menu' or photo album, were really enticing. After all, we were hungry and looking at those pictures just made us drool.
So we ordered but before doing so, I told the bf that I was familiar of another tze char stall located right at the other end but since we were already deciding what to eat from this stall, we just went ahead and ordered the hot plate tofu dish and another chicken dish. When the dishes arrived, they looked rather different from the usual that we'd order else where. Anyway, I thought the chicken dish was rather weird. It didn't taste like chicken and the bf thought it was vegetarian style. Anyway, we didn't question much but just thought it was some new recipe they used.
Yesterday, we went back from some hokkien me and carrot cake. The same lady, very swiftly again, shoved the menu at us but we nicely declined and she would do the same to all the other customers who were either going to dine there or passing by the stall. Anyway, I sat in front of the stall and saw a magic word, which was probably the reason why our chicken dish really didn't taste like it chicken.
Vegetarian.
Bam! So we realised and upon analyzing the dishes on their lighted banner it had very clearly stated a few chicken dishes, prawns and so on. One would really not think that the stall is selling vegetarian food. Whilst chomping down our delicious hokkien mee and carrot cake, the bf and I were discussing if people really knew what they were ordering given that the menu had no indication whatsoever that its vegetarian food that they were serving. I'm not against vegetarian food, but I'm wondering.. to what extent should hawkers be clear in their menus and the way they conduct their business.