Additional charge of $6 for Chinese sausage turns cai png definitely uneconomical

SINGAPORE: Singapore is well-known for its delicious and, usually, affordable food, although inflation in the past few years has meant the price of practically everything has gone up.

Most of the time, there are still “economical” dishes to fall back on when one is short on funds, such as cai png, or economical rice, and economical bee hoon, which usually cost between S$3.50 to S$5, depending on ingredients.

Although cai fan can also be quite expensive.

Read also: Man pays S$49 for cai fan; most expensive “economy rice” in Singapore

Therefore, when one woman was charged S$4.70 for cai png at a food court, she found it reasonable.

What was the opposite of reasonable was when the food stall vendor charged her an additional S$6 when she also ordered two portions of Chinese sausage.

Upset, Yi Ling wrote in to crowdsourced news site Stomp with her story, which took place at Koufu’s 88 Tanglin Halt Road outlet at around 11:30 in the morning.

She said that her initial order of cai png was composed of egg, broccoli, and hotdog pieces with potatoes.

Ms Yi was not a first-time customer at the stall and, therefore, probably thought she knew what to expect.

To her shock and dismay, she ended up paying $10.70 in all for her “economy fried rice” dish.

Read related: Exorbitantly priced $9.30 cai png stuns hawker centre diner

Stomp quotes Ms Yi as saying, ”The price of $4.70 for two vegetable dishes and one meat dish with rice is still very reasonable. However, it costs $6 for two portions of Chinese sausage.”

She then asked if this was “market price or overpriced?”

Ms Yi also said that she felt “$8.70 based on $4.70 (rice $0.70 + vegetables $1×2, + meat $2)” would have been more reasonable.

Some commenters on the Stomp story expressed worries about higher prices, especially when it comes to food.

“lt just shows that our Singapore dollar is getting less value… even $50.00 used for a day or so.. then no more,” wrote one, asking how one can survive on a basic salary.

He listed all the things that need to be taken care of, including insurance, dental needs, food, household needs, and children’s needs.

Another, however, tried to find humour in the situation, writing that the Chinese sausage in the cai png “must be from a famous dynasty” ./TISG

Read also: “Economical bee hoon” for $7.70? — Customer asks coffee shop at Punggol to confirm price, but shop “auntie simply ignores her”