A woman burned her hair after a server placed a candle behind her during a meal at Min Jiang at Dempsey.
That same night, the restaurant took 25% off the dining bill and served her group free drinks and dessert.
After the incident, however, the woman found out that she required hair treatment for six months to get her hair the way it used to be.
She then left a Google Review of the restaurant after feeling dissatisfied with their service recovery.
Min Jiang has told MS News that it is currently still talking to Ms Chee and reserves comment.
37-year-old Chee Peiwen said that her group of four had gone to Min Jiang at Dempsey for a birthday dinner on 24 Sep.
The restaurant is located at Goodwood Park Hotel in Orchard.
Source: Google Maps
Ms Chee explained that the restaurant doesn’t normally have candles for ambience or other purposes. But on this occasion, one of the staff had lit a tealight candle.
“We thought he would put it on the dining table, but he put it behind me,” Ms Chee recounted to MS News. Apparently, the tealight candle was meant to fend off flies.
Later, while Ms Chee’s friend was talking to her, she noticed that Ms Chee’s hair was on fire.
Her friend described that the fire was the size of a clenched fist or a small ball. Following this, her friend reacted quickly, snatching a napkin from Ms Chee’s lap and hitting her head.
Image provided by Chee Peiwen
An image of the napkin shows flecks of ashes along with bits of Ms Chee’s hair.
“At the time, I could only hear the sizzling and smell the burning,” Ms Chee said.
Looking back on her experience, Ms Chee noted that she was too stunned to even move. She also said her other friend sitting across the table might have screamed a little due to the fire.
Luckily, they had quickly put out the fire though there were several strands of hair on the table and floor.
Image provided by Chee Peiwen
Throughout the ordeal, Ms Chee said she was panicking and in a state of shock. It was her friends who decided to take photos to document the events.
Though the staff did not initially notice the fire, they were eventually notified of what happened.
A male staff member had then snuffed out the candle and pushed it away.
Seeing the situation, the supervisor took the initiative to serve Ms Chee’s table with four glasses of what she believed to be Prosecco.
They also received dessert which they didn’t order, Ms Chee added.
“We were given 25% off the bill which we didn’t request,” she said. “Miscellaneous items like tea and wet towels were removed from the bill.”
Source: Google Maps
She then left her contact information with the restaurant so that they could follow up on her case.
Ms Chee also received a name card of a director of the restaurant — who was not at the scene that day — so she could contact her, which she did that night.
During the exchange, she was allegedly asked about how much her haircut would cost, which was even before she could go to the hair salon and get her hair checked.
As such, she could only give the price of her normal hair trim.
The next day, Ms Chee could still smell the burn on her hair. She also suffered nightmares and had trouble sleeping following the ordeal.
Unfortunately, she was in for more bad news.
Upon visiting her hair salon, she found out that her hair was in a worse state than she thought.
The stylist advised her that besides a haircut, she’d also have to get hair treatment three times in the next six months.
Since the incident on 24 Sep, Ms Chee has called and emailed the restaurant several times to confirm possible compensation and other service recovery.
She had wanted a formal acknowledgment of the restaurant and hotel’s next steps.
Ms Chee confirmed that she received an email from them on 2 Oct — an hour after she left a Google Review of the restaurant.
A Min Jiang spokesperson also informed MS News that they’re in direct contact with Ms Chee.
“We have been directly communicating with the guest after she had sent an email to the hotel team,” they noted. “As it is still an ongoing correspondence with the guest, we seek your understanding that we will reserve comment at this point.”
At the time of writing, Ms Chee is in the midst of sorting out the next steps.
She did share that she was upset by what she felt was inadequate service recovery, considering the restaurant has numerous accolades and was supposed to be a fine dining establishment.
She added that she won’t visit the restaurant again even though she used to be a regular.
Thankfully for Ms Chee, things are finally getting sorted.
“At the end of the day, I still that I’m quite glad to be healthy and alive . . . than to be injured or even die,” said Ms Chee to MS News. “I think I’m just fortunate and I’m really thankful for my friends.”
“In the meantime, I think I feel more relieved and happy to be well,” she added. “I just want the incident to be closed so we can all move on with our lives.”
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Featured image provided by Chee Peiwen.
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