Tampines stalls hit back at 2 Stompers who complained about paying for chilli sauce

Two coffee shop stalls at Block 823A Tampines Street 81 have hit back at complaints from two Stompers about charging for extra chilli sauce.

This comes after Stomper Anonymous said Tokyo Western Food wanted to charge him $0.10 per extra sachet of chilli sauce on July 26 and Stomper Lee expressed unhappiness on July 27 about Su Shi Yuan Vegetarian charging $0.30 for chili.

In the first case, Anonymous said he had been given two packets of chilli sauce for his French fries but wanted to take three more, only to be stopped by the stall and asked to pay.

Both stalls are located next to each other at the same coffee shop.

Photo: Shin Min Daily News

Both stall owners have provided more context about what happened in a Shin Min Daily News report on August 6.

Ms Xu, 55-year-old owner of Tokyo Western Food, said she had given Stomper Anonymous two packets of chilli sauce and one packet of ketchup. However, the Stomper grabbed a handful more without asking.

She added: "This male diner only bought a set of French fries, but took more than 10 packets of sauces. Earlier, he had also taken four plastic forks. I was worried about wastage and said I was going to charge him an extra 10 cents."

A Stomp reader also spoke up in defence of Tokyo Western Food after reading Anonymous's report.

In an email to Stomp on July 30, reader Tian Seng said: "This stall has been in my neighbourhood for the last 30 years and I have no problem with the quality of food and service. My three kids love their fish and chips and their chicken chop. My favourite is their pork chop.

"I think it is unfair for Anonymous to be unhappy that they want to charge him 10 cents for taking more chilli packets than usual. And because of that, he complained and said the food is subpar... when he only ate French Fries.

"Anonymous can go next door for KFC if that is what he expects.

"This stall rarely increases their prices and their food is definitely reasonably-priced. They also always give me more than enough chilli and ketchup.

"Even if Anonymous is charged 10 cents, it is understandable as costs have increased."

Separately, Ms Yang, 65-year-old boss of Su Shi Yuan Vegetarian, explained why she pasted a notice at her stall informing that adding chili costs $0.30.

She said: "My chilli costs $40 per tub and the capital cost is high. Some diners take a lot (of chilli) but end up not being able to finish it. There were even some diners who ordered only a little bit of food but took a big handful of wooden chopsticks. We just want to prevent wastage, so we pasted the notice."

Ms Yang recounted how Stomper Lee had tried to scoop the chill sauce himself but was stopped. When he learnt that it was chargeable, he apparently cursed the stall and said: "I'll see when your business fails!"

Ms Yang added: "We do not let customers take the chilli themselves due to hygiene concerns. In fact, we do not actually charge extra as long as the request is not overboard.

"We hope diners can understand us hawkers from our point of view."