Even though Singaporeans are often known for being foodies, it’s understandable that not everyone eats everything.
Especially in dishes like kway chap, which often include a wide array of ingredients.
And while those who don’t eat specific foods can often still enjoy the rest of the dish simply by asking the seller(s) to remove the particular ingredients, that wasn’t the case for a man who tried to purchase kway chap from Albert Food Centre last Saturday (29 April).
In fact, the hawker manning the kway chap stall refused to sell him any kway chap, even after the customer offered to “top-up” money on his order.
All because the man said he didn’t want any meat products in the kway chap.
Hawker Refused to Sell Kway Chap Due to Lack of Meat Ingredients
When recounting his experience, the customer, Yang Yuqing (Hanyu pinyin), told Shin Min Daily News that he was in the process of buying a set of kway chap at around 2 pm on Saturday (29 April) at Albert Food Centre, which is located near Bugis.
Since he does not eat meat, pig intestines and pig skin, he asked the hawker to give him four pieces of tau pok, a piece of fishcake, an egg and two portions of the kway chap noodles instead.
He also told the hawker that his order would be for two people.
However, the hawker said that he would not sell kway chap like that.
Afterwards, he still refused to sell Mr Yang the kway chap even when the latter changed to say that he was buying a portion for one.
Mr Yang also claimed that when he asked the hawker why, the hawker told him that it was due to the fact that Mr Yang did not order any meat items.
Not the First Time Visiting the Stall, but First Time Being Refused Service
However, here’s where things get odd.
Mr Yang revealed that it was not his first time visiting the stall to buy kway chap without meat.
In fact, he shared that he has been buying meatless kway chap from the same store for the past two years, and his most recent trip there marked the first time he got rejected by the stall.
Mr Yang added that he would always ask to pay the stall’s minimum amount charged for a one-person portion and order ingredients like tau pok, egg, fishcake or tau kwa.
He then expressed his confusion about why the hawker chose not to sell him the kway chap this time.
Apart from that, Mr Yang criticised the hawker’s attitude by calling the latter arrogant.
He also said that although he understands the fact that some hawkers may have specific rules regarding ordering at their stalls, they should inform the customers beforehand or put up a notice near the stall to avoid any misunderstandings.
Hawker’s Response
When contacted by Shin Min, the hawker of the kway chap stall confirmed that Mr Yang did indeed visit his stall.
Mr Zhang Xiangsheng (Hanyu pinyin), who operates Chuan Seng Kway Chap at Albert Food Centre, explained that he chose not to sell Mr Yang kway chap as his order only came to a total of $4.
Since his store’s minimum amount charged for a single set meal is $5, Mr Zhang told Mr Yang that he could not sell the kway chap to him.
Afterwards, even though Mr Yang offered to pay $5, Mr Zhang still insisted on not selling the kway chap as he felt that it was “inappropriate”.
Additionally, Mr Zhang claimed he was worried about the possibility of people spreading “news” about his store’s meatless kway chap being expensive as he would have a hard time defending himself.
As for his attitude, Mr Zhang denied Mr Yang’s accusations towards his arrogant attitude and said that he did not scold or yell at him.
According to Mr Zhang, he only told Mr Yang calmly that he would not be able to sell the kway chap to him and asked him to search for another stall to buy food from instead.
Mr Zhang also pointed out that he has been running his kway chap stall for 30 years, and it is extremely difficult to customise every single kway chap order based on customers’ requests.
When speaking to other kway chap vendors, reporters from Shin Min found out that most hawkers claim that they try their best to accommodate customers’ requests.
The stallholder of A&C Braised Duck and Kway Chap, a stall at 605 Yishun Street 61, told reporters that apart from the “typical” kway chap set that consists of ingredients such as an egg, braised meat, pork intestines and tau pok, his stall also has another set meal that caters to those who do not want meat ingredients in their kway chap.
The “meatless” set meal includes tau pok, tau kwa, an egg and fishcake.
It is priced at $3.50.
In comparison, the typical kway chap set at the stall costs $4.50.
The stallholder, named Mr Huang (Hanyu pinyin), added that most neighbourhood kway chap stalls try to accommodate customers’ requests as much as possible, but there are still limitations to these accommodations.
For example, his stall does not sell kway chap to customers who order ingredients priced below $2 as it would “affect the matching of ingredients in set meals”.