Man says $9 for nasi padang with 'mermaid fish' at ION Orchard food court is 'overkill'

How much would you pay for a meal in the city area?

Stomper Adriel forked out $9 for a meal at ION Orchard's food court last Friday afternoon (Oct 11), which he felt was an "overkill".

Adriel, who visited Food Opera's nasi padang stall at around 3.40pm, said: "I was charged $1.50 for vegetables, $1.50 for an egg, $1.50 for yellow rice and $4.50 for fish."

Asked what sort of fish he had ordered, Adriel said: "They call it mermaid fish. It's also commonly known as dried sole fish."

He then told Stomp jokingly: "Next time I will order a bigger fish instead, like a pomfret, since it's $4.50 for any seafood.

"Don't you think it's ridiculous? Even if food is expensive, it should not be expensive to this extent.

"$9 for a simple nasi padang meal is almost the same as the Stomper who paid $10.50 for his breakfast at a food court in Punggol."

According to the Stomper, he has had similar meals elsewhere that cost only around $5.

He added: "It's only so expensive here."

Food Republic, which operates Food Opera @ ION Orchard, told Stomp in response to queries that it was aware of the incident.

A spokesman said: "We are aware of the customer issue, surfaced on Oct 11, regarding the price of a plate of rice that included vegetables, egg and seafood sold by a stall at Food Opera in ION Orchard.

"We apologise to all our customers for the inconvenience this situation may have caused them on that day, and would like to highlight that all our stalls have clearly-defined pricings and price structures displayed together with the food offerings."

Food Republic is also in the midst of contacting Adriel to clarify the situation, added the spokesman.