The proof is in the pudding - or in this case, the receipt of this diner's bee hoon.

Last Friday (Oct 20), a Facebook user named Eric Tan complained about being charged $8 for bee hoon at a food court in Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

"First time eat so expensive vegetarian bee hoon," he wrote in his post, sharing a photo of bee hoon topped with vegetarian roast goose, fried egg and long beans.

Some netizens were similarly incensed by the $8 price tag attached to the meal, describing it as "daylight robbery" while others called for a boycott of the stall.

"Please make a complaint directly to SGH… I pity the staff working there, have to eat expensive and lousy food," a Facebook user commented.

However, the stall assistant told Shin Min Daily News that he had seen the Facebook post and said that the diner should be billed only $7 for the food shown in the photo.

Han, 30, listed out the charges for the individual items - $2 for bee hoon, $1.50 for fried egg, $1 for long beans and $2.50 for vegetarian roast goose.

"The cost of vegetarian roast goose is quite high, a bag of it will cost $10," he added.

"The prices of our dishes are clearly marked and we won't charge diners random prices, so I don't know why the diner said his meal cost him $8," the stall assistant said.

"I hope he'll be able to show us the receipt."

Han also said that hospital employees receive a 20 per cent discount on their food purchases within the food court.

Most of the employees working at the stall are foreigners from Myanmar or Vietnam, so Han suggested that there could've been a misunderstanding with the customer due to a language barrier.

Shin Min's reporter noted that the stall in question also sells set meals which are available for prices as low as $3.50.

khooyihang@asiaone.com

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