The restaurant Seafood paradisefrom Paradise group, from Singapore, where a tourist called the police last month after receiving a bill for R$4,700 (1,322 Singapore dollars) that included a crab dish, took the stand this Wednesday (September 20). The customer said he disagreed with the price asked for the house the crab alone cost around 938 Singapore dollars (or R$3,300). The restaurant says it is “deeply disturbed” by the allegations it received online and has posted surveillance camera images on its social media to refute the story, which eventually went viral.
In the pictures, the waiter can be seen pointing at the menu and apparently explaining the price to tourist Junko Shiba and her group. The employee even brings out the live crab for customers to observe before it is prepared.
“Seafood Paradise staff told customers twice that the price of Alaska king crab was the same as Scottish snow crab while pointing at the menu,” Paradise Group wrote in a lengthy Facebook post.
According to the company, the customer was presented with Scottish snow crab worth around R$95 per 100 grams on the menu. Staff also reportedly warned customers that the total weight of the Alaska king crab was 3.5kg.
“To avoid any misunderstandings, they even brought the whole Alaskan king crab to the table before cooking. Customers were seen taking photos and even selfies with live Alaskan king crabs,” the message said.
Understand the case
The tourist, Junko Shinba, had claimed that the quoted price was 30 Singapore dollars for the Alaskan crab and that he was shocked to find that the fee was charged per 100 grams.
When the bill arrived, Shinba and his group called the police after seeing an amount equivalent to R$4,700, of which R$3,300 was for the crab alone.
According to him in an interview with the website AsiaOne, the dish was so big that his group couldn’t even finish eating. He further claimed that he was “not informed that the crab would be cooked exclusively for them.”
With the arrival of the police and the Singapore Tourism Authority, the restaurant reduced the equivalent of R$382 from the bill out of “goodwill.”