Tourist calls police after being charged over £800 for seafood dish

It’s always a bit of a nightmare when one of your friends’ meals cashes in at a higher price than everyone else’s.

You are then left to do the awkward dance of are we going to split equally or are we each going to pay for what we ordered.

So, you can only imagine how unfair it would be if a meal costs literal hundreds more.

And this woman wasn’t very happy about it either – so unhappy with the price, in fact, she had the police called to a restaurant.

Junko Shinba was dining at Seafood Paradise in Singapore when she says a waiter was pushing a recommendation of a specific crab dish priced at S$26.80 (£22).

Junko Shinba

But apparently, they didn’t tell her that the restaurant actually charges per 100g of crab.

And you can see from her receipt that Junko chose the Alaskan King Crab for the – pretty delicious sounding – chilli crab dishes.

And she definitely wasn’t expecting the dish to come in at a whopping S$938 (£556), making the whole bill total $1,322 (£780).

Other dishes, like seafood mee goreng, were priced at around a tenner.

Junko also claimed they weren’t told about the weight of the crab, with the meat filling three plates – and they couldn’t even finish it.

She told AsiaOne: “None of us were informed that the whole crab would be cooked only for us, as some other restaurants serve crabs partially.”

She ended up having the police called over the pricey bill, with staff showing the police another customer's receipt to prove she hadn't been overcharged.

The restaurant manager also offered the table a £86 discount for the meal.

Paradise Group - who own the restaurant - told AsiaOne: “To prevent any miscommunication, the staff even brought the whole Alaskan King Crab to the table before preparation.

Junko Shinba

"Upon payment, the customers refused to pay the bill and requested to make a police report. Hence, the restaurant manager assisted in making the police report."

It’s also reported that Junko went to the Singapore Tourism Board about this, who've forwarded it to the Consumers Association of Singapore.

The company recently shared screenshots of CCTV footage from the situation yesterday (20 September), calling Junko’s claims ‘inaccurate’.

“At Seafood Paradise and all other Paradise Group of restaurants, we consistently uphold a commitment to transparent pricing with a focus on customer service and food quality." they wrote in their post.

"Our staff will do their best to communicate clearly to the customers and welcome any queries.

"As much as we value all our customers, we also find it important to uphold Paradise Group's reputation and protect all our employees.

"Hence, we are left with no choice but to showcase photos extracted from our CCTV footages to substantiate our statement."

Tyla has contacted Paradise Group for additional comment.

Topics: Food and Drink, Money, Travel

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_