At about 6.30pm, we walked past the King Satay outlet and felt like trying the satay from the outlet that was touted to be from the original Satay Club. We ordered 18 sticks of assorted satay, a plate of kai lan with beef, a barbecued stingray and two plates of rice.

The waitress who served us seemed pleasant enough and came around with our order of kai lan with beef. The dish was placed on our table and the waitress walked away without another word. After staring at the kai lan for a good three minutes or so, my wife approached the waitress, who was now standing outside the restaurant chatting with her co-worker, and requested our order of rice to be served.

The rice was then brought around to our table and just as we were about to tuck into our meal, I saw what looked like a soft-shell crab half-hidden in the kai lan. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a spider the size of a fifty-cent coin. While the spider had been totally cooked, I was in no mood to try out the exotic dish. We brought the matter to the attention of the waitress, who mumbled 'sorry' and made no attempt to rectify the situation. My wife and I walked out of the restaurant immediately. What had meant to be a wonderful night out was marred by poor customer service and food hygiene.

As Singapore prepares to host the F1 Grand Prix this year and the Youth Olympic Games in 2010, our tourism and service industry must strive harder to raise their service standards. Ultimately, what makes or breaks a visit to a country is the quality of service one experiences during their stay.

Michael Kwok