A restaurant manager in Penang alleged that a diner planted strands of his own body hair in a plate of char kway teow, then complained that the food was contaminated and left without paying the bill.
The manager, identified only as Cheng, said he grew suspicious only after reviewing the restaurant’s closed-circuit television recording, which appeared to show the man repeatedly reaching inside his shirt and placing something into the dish. The meal cost about RM30, Cheng said in Malay Mail.
The incident is believed to have happened at a restaurant along Persiaran Gurney in George Town at about 5pm on Sunday, 4 October, The Star noted, citing Sin Chew Daily.
The man, believed to be a foreign national, and a woman companion first wanted to order fried chicken. After a staff member told them the chicken had sold out, they settled on char kway teow, an egg and a drink, Cheng said.
The complaint came after the food reached their table. The man told staff he had found hair in the noodles, and the plate was handed to Cheng for inspection.
“After examining it, I found that something was amiss,” he was quoted as saying. “If the hair had really been in the char kway teow, it should have been oily, but the hair we found was dry.”
“There were six to seven strands of hair in the dish. They were also very short and did not look like eyelashes,” Cheng added.
While Cheng and his staff were still examining the plate, the couple stood up to leave. When Cheng reminded them that the bill had not been settled, the man refused, saying he would not pay for food that had been contaminated. The pair then walked out of the restaurant.
Cheng later replayed the CCTV footage. He said the recording appeared to show the man repeatedly putting his hand inside his clothes, pulling out what looked like chest hair and placing it into the char kway teow.
Cheng has since shared the footage with other restaurant operators in the area to warn them about the couple. Neither report said whether a police report was filed, and the couple were not identified.
Char kway teow, Penang’s signature hawker dish, is made of flat rice noodles stir-fried over high heat with soy sauce, egg and bean sprouts. It is served straight from the wok, and the RM30 the couple ordered covered the noodles, an egg and a drink.
