Jurong East restaurant criticised for inappropriate Hokkien Mee sign, plans to keep billboard up

Jurong East restaurant displays ‘inappropriate’ billboard referencing person’s nether regions

A restaurant in Jurong East has been criticised for its inappropriate use of language on a billboard.

Located on the first floor of Vision Exchange, Chocobar displayed a sign outside its restaurant to entice customers into trying their “wet version” of ‘Fried Hokkien Sotong Prawn Mee’.

In Chinese, the sign stated “虾面湿湿”, which translates to “prawn mee wet wet”.

However, with its use of homophones, the Chinese phrase also seemingly references a person’s nether regions.

Customers say sign is ‘vulgar’

Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, several customers expressed their distaste for the billboard.

26-year-old civil servant Ms Fan shared with a reporter that she had seen the sign a few days ago and thought it was “a bit vulgar and not creative”.

However, Ms Fan noted that the most important part of a restaurant is its food, and believes that quality of dishes is more important than what’s on a billboard.

She also added that there aren’t many children dining at the restaurant and hence the “impact won’t be too big”.

40-year-old engineer Mr Yang similarly thought the expression was “not ideal”.

Restaurant to keep billboard up

Speaking to MS News, Ms Tan — a manager at Chocobar — shared that the restaurant has no intention of removing the sign and hopes to use it to “gain attention from passers-by”.

“We are just a local business looking to improve our business with creativity… The advert does not carry any ill intentions,” said the representative.

The spokesperson also noted that the restaurant has not received any complaints regarding the sign.

Explaining the sign’s origins, the spokesperson said customers often request their prawn noodles to be extra wet.

As a result, the restaurant’s staff often found themselves shouting the phrase “虾面湿湿 “in the kitchen.

Also read: Prawn Mee Stall’s Punny Name That Alluded To ‘Pleasuring’ Oneself Was Actually A Bad Photoshop Job 

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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News on Facebook and Google Maps.