Thawed oysters served as Fresh oysters at Kublai Khan Mongolian Barbeque Restaurant (Located at Park Mall).

Open Letter to Kublai Khan Mongolian Barbeque Restaurant (Located at Park Mall)

Good Day to All,

I would like to share an incident which happened at Kublai Khan Mongolian Barbeque Restaurant (Located at Park Mall) on 15th June 2008.

My family and i were celebrating Father's Day at the restaurant. At around 7.15pm, oysters were served and all interested patrons queued up at the counter. My wife and bro-in-law was in the queue and they were given 3 oysters each. 15 minutes later, they went to collect another round. As i was eating, my sis-in-law discovered that her oyster was frozen. When she showed it to me, i was shocked! Not only that, we discovered almost half of the oysters on the table were frozen. My wife then mentioned that's why they were told to wait while the chef washed the oysters and the oysters were soaked in a pail of water. They are actually thawing them.

We requested for the restaurant manager, Mr Alan Pook, to enquire on this. When he arrived, i asked him whether the oysters served were fresh? He answered yes. I then asked why are the oysters frozen if he says they are fresh? After showing him the oysters, he say he will check with his chef.

Few moments later, he came to us with his chef. I asked the chef if the oysters are fresh. He said yes. I then asked if he knows that they are frozen. He answered yes. I asked the manager whether is it alright to serve thawed oysters as fresh oysters? He say no and he acknowledged that it shouldn't happened. Upon further queries, the chef admitted that the oysters were delivered to the restaurants in the afternoon fresh. however, to prevent them from turning bad, they were stored in the freezer. I asked if its the correct way of serving the oysters. The manager said due to a large crowd, they have to bring in more and run out of space in the fridge and says he will ensure that they don't do it again. He asked us to give the restaurant a chance. I said how can a restaurant serve thawed seafood as fresh seafood, especially when the oyster will be eaten raw!

I was very angry with the nonchalant reply. i asked the manager if he know what is salmonella? He says he does. I said that there was a well known bakery closed for a period of time due to salmonella. Its caused by poor hygiene practice. Hygiene is of the top priority in any food business. He says he understand but still says that due to certain reasons, they served the frozen/thawed oyster. (While the conversation was going on, the chef are still serving the thawed oysters.) Even the adjacent table were served thawed oysters and they didn't dare eat it.

I find that this restaurant has no sense of social responsibility. i hope that some agency can do something to audit their hygiene level and code of conduct. A restaurant who can compromise the health and safety of their patrons for it own interest is a no-no. This incident have left my family and me disappointed.

I attach photos of the oysters. However, the frozen part was unable to be captured.




thank you

regards