What you need to stay alive!

Story and photos by Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling Gourmet TM

No charge for refreshing ice cold water in McDonald’s!!!

The implacable and indomitable Travelling Gourmet TM exposes the creeping practice of restaurants and cafes charging $$$ for…

MEASLY Water! Yes, water is what we need to stay alive! You can live without food for up to 45 days! Without water you wil be dead in 7 days. WHY? It is because water at least 60% of our adult body is made up of water!

Every living cell in our body needs water to keep functioning. Water is a lubricant for our joints. Water regulates our body temperature through sweating and respiration, and water helps to flush waste out of our body.

Recently, I have noticed this creeping and annoying trend in Singapore of restaurants and even humble cafes CHARGING diners for water! What the HELL! I am totally against this! Not so long ago I was in Tim Ho Wan Tim Sum restaurant in Bedok Mall and I was charged 6o cents + 7% GST + 10% Service Charge for water. The only consolation was that it was refillable.

I also had a meal in the Japanese restaurant called Ramen Play a few weeks ago and was charged 50 cents + GST + 10% Service Charge for water. It was refillable but I was not pleased because previously Ramen Play served free water. Miam Miam is also charging for water. TOTTS Bistro is also charging for water. Disgusting! Come on, how many glasses of water can a diner drink, I ask you?? This charging for water is not only unnecessary but very bad business practice.

On the plus side, McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Fish & Co., Joel Robuchon in Resorts World Sentosa, Bistro Moderne Daniel Boulud in Marina Bay Sands, Swensens, Ichiban Sushi, Marriot Cafe, Pool Grill, Wan Hao. Mezza 9, Straits Kitchen, 10 Scotts and many other more salubrious and nicer places do not charge for water!In Pizza Hut they even serve you a whole carafe of ice water with lemon slices! It is clear that the better and more enlightened restaurants DO NOT charge for water…but the low end restaurants are the ones charging for water. Are they so desperate for revenue???

My good friend, Adelgunde Sommer, just told me that in Haagen Daaz they even serve you water without you ordering anything! These are the smart restaurants and Food and Beverage outlets. Another good friend, Merican, who used to be the Head of Intelligence for a powerful Law Enforcement agency told me that Miam Miam French-Japanese restaurant in Tampines also charge for water. Miam Miam charges 50 cents + 10% Service Charge + 7% GST for water with refills. Fish and Co. also charge for water. Bad!

On the extreme side, over-rated Sky on 57 in Marina Bay Sands makes it compulsory for diners to order their cut-throat mineral water at $6 + GST + Service Charge. They even impose a minimum spending amount of $100, so if you order less you are still charged $100 ++. Frankly, this is loathsome and appalling! No fine dining restaurant does this and if you do this, you are not a fine dining restaurant.

Charging diners for water is also very goondoo (asinine and stooopid)! This is because we can bring our own water in nice plastic bottles right! I think this is what I shall do the next time I go to an establishment that wants to charge for water! Let us all do that! To be brutally frank, which is not my usual style, charging people for a few measly glasses of tap water with or without ice is nothing but MISGUIDED GREED AND AVARICE!!!

Cheers! 🙂

The Ugly gets his revenge on The Good in the desert…revenge is a dish best served very cold…

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Swallow! When will people learn that they cannot eat money and diamonds…

About thetravellinggourmet

As a renowned Travel, Food & Wine Writer he has travelled the world in a keen & indomitable pursuit of exotic delicacies & fine wines. His articles have been published in over 20 prestigious publications, both local & international. Dr. Lim has toured and trained in Wine Evaluation & Oenology in most of the world's top wine producing areas from France to Australia. The Travelling Gourmet says, "Gastronomy has no frontier. These are the gastronomic voyages of The Travelling Gourmet. My unending mission. To explore strange new cuisines, to seek out new wines and new culinary experiences, to boldly go where no gourmet has gone before...." Have pen, will travel. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any other information storage & retrieval system, without permission from Dr. Michael Lim The Travelling Gourmet and/or MSN. Material may be works of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents may be true but may also be products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance whatsoever to actual person or persons, either dead or living, events, or locales may be entirely and purely coincidental and unintentional. No part of this website may be used to villify others or for criminal purposes. Interests: Travel, Food, Wines, Cooking, Wine Appreciation, Parachuting, Languages, Music, Reading, Swimming, Hunting, Ballet, Fencing, Archery, Anthropology and more... The Travelling Gourmet is a copyrighted trademark. All rights and photos reserved. No part may be reproduced without permission.

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