‘Garlic Prawn’ fraud in Patong

[webfact]

‘Garlic Prawn’ fraud in Patong

"...photos from the restaurant also went viral in Chinese social media about the over-priced prawn dish of 300 baht per 100 grams (3,000 baht per kilogram!)"

By Kritsada Mueanhawong

 

  

Phuket’s Tourist Police have arrested the owners of an overpriced restaurant named ‘6 Restaurants’, located in Patong, after receiving reports from more than 19 Chinese tourists.

 

Apart from the reports, photos from the restaurant also went viral in Chinese social media about the over-priced prawn dish of 300 baht per 100 grams (3,000 baht per kilogram!)

 

The report mentioned that ‘the prawn menu costs go as high as 1,000 Yuan’ (or about 4,941 Baht) and ‘if the customer refuses to pay the bill, they would be threatened by the restaurant’s staff’.

 

Full story: https://www.phuketgazette.net/news/garlic-prawn-fraud-patong

 

-- © Copyright Phuket Gazette 2018-02-26

[Darcula]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

‘if the customer refuses to pay the bill, they would be threatened by the restaurant’s staff’.

 

So, did anyone get battered yet? Just asking.

 

[cornishcarlos]

14 minutes ago, Darcula said:

 

So, did anyone get battered yet? Just asking.

 

 

No, but there were a few crushed Asians... Boom boom

[masuk]

Good to see these particular crustaceans are given the correct name of "Prawns".  
Our trans Pacific cousins who insist on calling them shrimps need to see what a shrimp really is - it's small and nothing like a decent size king prawn or tiger prawn..

[HerbalEd]

As long as the price is clearly stated in the menu I think the restaurant should be able to charge whatever they want.  

[stevenl]

2 hours ago, HerbalEd said:

As long as the price is clearly stated in the menu I think the restaurant should be able to charge whatever they want.  

From the link provided: " They were served 10 prawns, which cost 2,700 Baht; as it is mentioned in the menu that the prawn costs 300 Baht per 100 grams, it means the 10 prawns should have a weight of 900 grams. However, after weighing the 10 prawns, they only weighed 500 grams. ".

[Juan B Tong]

Memo to the 19 Chinese tourists.

 

Next time take the Zero Dollar tour.

[Guitar God]

Reminds me of eating at the Seafood market on Suk 25 or 27 a few years ago. A couple small lobsters and some prawns for me and my wife who eats like a bird and the bill was around 8000฿

[wotsdermatter]

3 hours ago, masuk said:

Good to see these particular crustaceans are given the correct name of "Prawns".  
Our trans Pacific cousins who insist on calling them shrimps need to see what a shrimp really is - it's small and nothing like a decent size king prawn or tiger prawn..

For your information, there are anatomical differences between prawns and shrimp.   Some shrimp, e.g the Mantis Shrimp can grow up to 15 cm while another species can grow up to 18 cm. Do not forget that shrimp can be either fresh or salt water and farmed or not farmed.  Prawns sold in stores are freshwater farmed and the male can grow to a body size of 32 cm.

[Kopitiam]

Definitely a ripoff joint masquerading as the famous No.6 restaurant on Rat-u-thit 200 Pee Road in Patong.  Targeting the gullible Chinese tourists.

[weegee]

Anyone remember when the restaurants (not all) were putting small lead sinkers in the heads of prawns to make them weigh more....That was a corker. 

[jacko45k]

10 hours ago, weegee said:

Anyone remember when the restaurants (not all) were putting small lead sinkers in the heads of prawns to make them weigh more....That was a corker. 

Some regard the head as 'the best bit' so a great way to poison people.

 

It isn't just the old seafood market in Bangkok that used to do unsavoury things like this. Had a couple of incidents in the Pattaya area too. Just have to learn to ask when the menu states 'price based on weight' and do a bit of calculation. Live fish and shrimp are suspect, gave up on even considering lobster a long time ago. Good that the Chinese highlight the practice. They should do the same about wearing gold.

[Prairieboy]

20 hours ago, Darcula said:

 

So, did anyone get battered yet? Just asking.

 

Just the prawns!

[harrry]

I though a rule of thumb for restaurant pricing was 4 times the cost of the raw food.  So if the prawns are good ones sounds about right.  Though price should be clear.   It should also be clarified if the weight was raw food weight or cooked.  I think a lot of weight is lost in cooking....an not just one for the cook one for the customer.....testing.

[xylophone]

On 26/02/2018 at 8:06 PM, weegee said:

Anyone remember when the restaurants (not all) were putting small lead sinkers in the heads of prawns to make them weigh more....That was a corker. 

Don't know about that one, but had a couple of bad experiences in a particular and long established seafood restaurant on the beach road in Patong, so stopped going there a few years ago.

I picked the large king prawns that I wanted for my meal and they were weighed and I knew what I had to pay. However when these "large king prawns" arrived on my plate, they were about the size of small shrimps (yes I know that when cooked they do shrink, but not this much) and neither I or other friends could reconcile the difference!

It would seem as if they weighed the very large prawns in front of me and substituted them for much smaller versions in the kitchen.

 

I did go back one more time to see if this was just an anomaly, but it wasn't, so haven't been since.