A fire on an escalator at Ang Mo Kio Hub saw close to 1,000 people evacuated from the mall on Tuesday afternoon. No one was injured in the incident.
The fire started on the escalator connecting basement one to the ground floor at 12.30pm. According to reports, the mechanism under the escalator’s floor plates caught fire.
Tenants and shoppers were immediately evacuated by the mall’s management staff as they were concerned that the thick smoke from the fire would pose a hazard.
Business operations in the mall resumed about half an hour after the fire was put out by firefighters.
The mall’s management said that the escalator that caught fire was serviced about a week ago and they are currently working with the escalator company to investigate the cause of the incident.
The incident was the third fire at the mall since it opened in 2007.
A 35-year-old diner and four friends feasted on a steamed fish dish at a restaurant in Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). At the end of the meal, upon receiving the bill, his jaw hit the ground.
What seemed like a simple dish ended up costing a whopping S$1,224.
The diner, who only wanted to be known as Mr Liu, took his four friends to RWS’ Feng Shui Inn restaurant on June 12. He had initially asked for marble goby, better known locally as “soon hock”, but was told there was no stock for the fish.
A waiter then recommended the white sultan fish instead. The group agreed, without enquiring about the cost of the dish. But when the bill arrived, the five diners were shocked to find that the single sultan fish, weighing 1.8kg, set them back by a staggering S$1,224.
“(The waiter) didn’t mention the price (of the fish), and we also didn’t think too much about it and just said okay,” Mr Liu told Lianhe Wanbao.
He complained about the price of the fish during payment and the restaurant responded by giving him a 15% discount on the bill as a gesture of goodwill.
“The customer has the right to know and the restaurant should have made clear its price so we could decide whether it was worth it,” Mr Liu said.
In response to the incident, an RWS spokesman claims that the practice of not disclosing menu prices is common in upscale restaurants. “It is not always appropriate to state menu prices to high-end customers who have come to expect a certain discretion when they entertain high-level guests, ” he explains.
RWS conceded that the incident could have been a “lapse of judgement” but it was smoothed over quickly with an on-the-spot discount.
But is S$68 per 100g for a sultan fish a reasonable amount?
A quick comparison with Capital Restaurant, which has been selling sultan fish for 36 years, reveals that the dish can go for as low as S$6 per 100g. This is less than a tenth of Fengshui Inn’s price tag on the fish.
Chef Pung Lu Tin, 50, of Seafood International Market and Restaurant, explained the sultan fish is sought-after because it was not easy to catch. He added that its meat was “very smooth”.
“The flesh is tender and snow white. It’s a wild river fish, so it eats fruits that drops from trees and bears the fragrance of fruit,” Chef Huang Ching Biao, 58, kitchen operations director at Jin Shan restaurant at MBS told The New Paper.
But despite its draw, both chefs added that they have not come across any commanding such a high price. One seafood distributor known only as Mr Lee even described the price of the fish at Fengshui Inn as “outrageous”.
This seafood shocker is reminiscent of an incident that occurred in March last year, where six American tourists were charged S$239 for a mere eight tiger prawns at Newton hawker centre.
The stall involved had its licence suspended for three months by the National Environment Agency (NEA) for breaching licencing conditions.
Incidents like these throw the spotlight on questionable charging practices in Singapore. For a country positioning itself as a tourism hub, these bad dining experiences are sure to leave a bitter after-taste.
My point of view : I think that the goverment is out to actually get people's money, because this fish that they are talking about is available to large numbers. My dad usually goes fishing at the pasir ris farmway 1 pond. When he comes home, he will have lots of fishes, i can bet with you all that the saltun fish isnt very expensive at all. my dad will just pay $28 and sit with his friends and fish the whole day. when he is home, there will be at least more than 5 fishes. Although they are right to say that the fish is nice and stuff, but this fish are is large abundance so why must it be so expensive?! some speculated that there was some spies in the RWS to follow those people whom have struck at the table and increase the price of their food and beverage to get back at them. Is this true? i do not know, it might be. hahaha.
