'Grown in soil as precious as gold': Diner calls herself 'stupid' after paying $25 for beansprouts dish at Tiong Bahru eatery

We know that the humble taugeh or beansprouts are cheap.

Which was why a diner hit the roof after she was charged $25 for a plate of fried beansprouts. 

Jeni Lim took to Facebook to voice her complaint in a post on Tuesday (April 16) with a picture of her meal at Ah Chiang's Porridge in Tiong Bahru. 

"My first and likely last [visit] to this place," Lim remarked.

"I believe their $25 bean sprouts are grown in soil as precious as gold." 

A second photo in the same post showed a receipt from the eatery, indicating that her plate of salted fish beansprouts cost $25.

According to her, the eatery charged her for a seven-person portion with each serving at $3.50.

Other items in her order included century egg porridge and salmon yusheng. Her total order came up to $46.50. 

Within a day, Lim's post garnered several comments from netizens who were shocked by the price of the beansprouts dish. 

"They must be joking," said one netizen. 

Some were also wondering why the vegetables cost more than the salmon. 

One netizen speculated that the price could be due to the salted fish. 

In her comments to one netizen, Lim wrote: "I was wondering why I so stupid to pay."

The eatery has received a 3.8 out of five stars on Google reviews, with diners praising the quality of their dishes. 

A quick check by AsiaOne shows that the cost of the dish on Foodpanda starts from $16.90. 

On Wednesday, the eatery put up a post addressing Lim's complaint. 

"Her photo seems to suggest that she was charged $25 for one plate of bean sprouts. After our investigation, we found out she was actually served two similar plates of bean sprouts so that her group eight diners could share [the dish] easily," wrote the post. 

They added that a staff had explained the arrangement to Lim, who "accepted it on the spot". 

"We are disappointed with her inaccurate suggestion." 

In her reply to the eatery's post, Lim wrote that the former had, in an attempt to rectify the situation, provided another plate of bean sprouts and that it was "albeit begrudgingly accepted by us despite the prevailing sense of unfairness".

"We felt immediately deceived but opted against causing a scene," she wrote.

AsiaOne has contacted Lim for more information. 

READ ALSO: 'None of the dishes were meat': Diner shocked after paying $19 for Indian rojak in Tampines

claudiatan@asiaone.com