Furore over RM45 dish

The Star Online > Nation

Thursday March 30, 2006


Furore over RM45 dish

By K. SUTHAKAR

KUALA TERENGGANU: Would you pay RM45 for a dish of ikan tongkol (tuna) fish head?

Some would, if they think it is a delicacy that is hard to come by. Others would just fume at the price.

Businesswoman Sapiah Mohamad, 70, served the dish with nasi dagang to an executive from Putrajaya on Monday and it got her in the soup.


You pay what it’s worth. That appears to be the message from nasidagangseller Sapiah Mohamad, 70, as she scoops up a spicy fish head from a steaming pot of curry. Sapiah, who has been featured in TV3's lifestyle programme Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan, is in the soup after a customer complained that she had overcharged him for a dish of ikan tongkolfish head curry. The restaurant owner, popularly known as Mak Ngah among the townsfolk of Chendering in Terengganu, claimed that it was reasonable to pay RM45 for the dish.
Following a complaint against her, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry enforcers went to her shop in Chendering to question her.

State director Ahmad Dahuri Mahmud said action would be taken against Sapiah for not displaying the price of her dish.

“Even if she feels that RM45 is a fair price, she should display the price for the benefit of customers,” he said.

Ahmad Dahuri said under the Price Control Act 1946, the restaurant owner is liable to be compounded between RM1,000 and RM7,000 for the offence and charged in court if she failed to pay up.

The enforcers left with samples of the fish head curry, which they said was for “further investigations.”

Sapiah, popularly known as Mak Ngah among the townsfolk, had been featured in TV3’s lifestyle programme Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan.

Her daughter, Zainun Ngah, 42, said Sapiah had initially refused to sell the fish head to the executive, who is from nearby Kampung Panji but now resides in Putrajaya.

“But he was insistent, claiming he wanted to buy the curry for his wife and was willing to pay any amount,” she said.

“It’s true my mother sold the tuna head for RM45 but she also gave some flesh of the fish and its roe to the customer,” she said yesterday.

She said the price was reasonable, adding that it was the first time that such an incident had happened to her mother, who had been selling nasi dagang for 45 years.
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