Tourist calls police after being charged £500 for chilli crab in Singapore

A group of tourists were left so “speechless” by an eye-watering restaurant bill in Singapore that they called the police.

Junko Shinba, from Japan, was visiting the city-state with three others when they stopped at Seafood Paradise to dine on chilli crab, an iconic Singaporean dish.

But they were shocked when they were charged SG$938, around £556, for the dish.

The waiter recommended the Alaskan king crab dish, Ms Shinba claimed, which is priced at SG$26.80 (£16) per 100g, reported Asia One.

While the menu on the restaurant’s website states that this particular crab dish has a “seasonal price”, the others are clearly priced based on weight – though Ms Shinba alleges that the waiter didn’t explain this to her party.

Other dishes they ordered have a set price. For example, tom yum soup costs SG$12.80 (£7.60) and braised pork belly ribs are priced at SG$12.90 (£7.70).

The issue came to a head when the group of four was presented with the bill, which totalled SG$1,322.37 (£785.61).

“We all became speechless knowing that one dinner for four adults cost that much,” Ms Shuna said. “None of us were informed that the whole crab would be cooked only for us, as some other restaurants serve crabs partially. There were three plates full of crab and many other dishes, we were unable to finish everything.”

She called the police, who turned up at the restaurant to resolve the complaint. Seafood Paradise confirmed that it eventually offered a discount of SG$107.40 (£63.80) “out of goodwill”, though Ms Shinba claims she has contacted the Singapore Tourism Board about the issues.

In a statement, Paradise Group, which operates Seafood Paradise, said it was “deeply upset by the inaccurate claims made by this group of customers, seemingly aimed at tarnishing [their] reputation”.

It stated that staff “communicated twice to the customers that the price of the Alaskan king crab was the same as the Scotland snow crab, while pointing to the menu”, and that “they even brought the whole live Alaskan king crab to the table before preparation”.

Still images from CCTV appear to back up the restaurant’s claims, with the group being seen taking photos with the live creature.

Paradise Group runs approximately 50 restaurants in Singapore, with this branch of Seafood Paradise only opening this year.

It’s not the first time tourists have blasted restaurants over how much they’ve been charged for a meal.

Last month, a €700 bill for four drinks and “a medium portion” of seafood thrust a notorious restaurant on the Greek island of Mykonos back into the spotlight.

Meanwhile, a British tourist was left gobsmacked after a €2 charge was added to his restaurant bill for cutting a sandwich in half in Italy.