Banana Leaf Apolo among those hauled up for Covid-19 breaches

Indian restaurant chain Banana Leaf Apolo will be charged in court next week with breaching multiple safe management measures, including having a self-service buffet at its Little India Arcade outlet.

The restaurant will be charged in court on Wednesday for failing to ensure the gathering of individuals did not exceed the maximum group size allowed, not enforcing safe distancing between seated customers, providing a self-service buffet, and allowing customers to make speeches and play video recordings at the outlet.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) filed a Magistrate's Complaint on Jan 20 against the famous fish head curry restaurant for multiple breaches under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) (Control Order) Regulations 2020.

The outlet was ordered to close last year for 10 days - from Oct 26 to Nov 4 - for flouting Covid-19 regulations. Upon further investigations, the case was referred to the Attorney-General's Chambers for prosecution.

Inspections at food and beverage premises, malls and other public spaces have increased in the past week to ensure compliance with safe management measures during the Chinese New Year period.

The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) said yesterday that 102 people and 12 F&B premises were penalised for breaches during the week.

Among these, six F&B outlets were ordered to close, while five other outlets and 29 people were fined for breaching safe management measures, said MSE.

A total of 73 individuals were also fined $300 each for flouting Covid-19 regulations on Feb 6 and 7 in parks and beaches.

Ramped-up enforcements and crowd control measures have also reduced the crowd size in Chinatown by about 20 per cent from the previous week, said the ministry.

The F&B outlets ordered to close included Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant in Turf Club Road, which allowed a company dinner gathering of 65 people on Feb 6. The guests were seated across nine tables.

East Treasure Chinese Restaurant in River Valley Road on Jan 29 let in a group of 16 diners, who were seated across two tables. Investigations revealed that the gathering was a dinner organised by a company for its employees. The company will be fined $1,000, and the 16 diners will be fined $300 each.

These two restaurants, and a third, Crystal Jade Jiang Nan at VivoCity, will be closed till Feb 19, from yesterday.

Ding Garden in New Bridge Road which allowed 13 diners from different households who sat across three tables on Feb 5 was ordered to close from Feb 6 to 15. The diners were fined $300 each for gathering in a group larger than eight.

Wangzi Music Restaurant in New Bridge Road allowed diners to consume alcohol at 2.30am on Feb 6. It has been ordered to close for 20 days from Feb 6 to 25.

Zam Zam in North Bridge Road seated different groups of diners less than 1m apart on Feb 5. The outlet had committed two previous offences in May and December last year and was fined. For its February breach, the restaurant had to close from Feb 9 to 18.

Several of the restaurants that have been sanctioned claimed that the safe distancing measures were unclear, or that they were unaware they had breached the measures.

At Ding Garden, an employee who gave her name as Ms Lin claimed she did not know that regulations disallowed restaurants from accepting groups of larger than eight, even if they were seated at different tables and did not intermingle.

Other affected eateries such as Ah Yat Seafood declined to comment. When ST visited the restaurant yesterday evening, a sign said the closure was due to "malfunction of the kitchen equipment".

Four other F&B outlets were fined $1,000 each, and one outlet - Eating House in Upper Cross Street - was fined $2,000 for repeat offences of seating groups of diners less than 1m apart.

The other four are: Chuan Garden at 1 Pagoda Street, Eating House in Jalan Membina, Kim's Family Food Korea Restaurant in Telok Ayer Street; and Sichuan Restaurant at 72 Pagoda Street.

The offences for the 73 individuals who were fined included gathering in groups of more than eight and intermingling between groups in parks and beaches. In Changi Beach Park alone, 39 people were fined, including 17 who were caught gathering in one group.

The MSE urged members of the public to plan visits to Chinatown and other potentially crowded areas during off-peak hours.