A picture purportedly showing a stall at Rivervale in Sengkang with the signboard "Sedap Goreng" went viral on Facebook recently.

This was because people spotted this among the choices offered by the eatery.

The problem some people had with this was that the signboard, which is in Malay, might give some the impression that the food served was halal.

The counterpoint by others on Facebook was that the menu obviously says pork, so it's probably not halal.

Another argument posited was the Malay language does not necessarily equate to Muslim food, and thus, was not a surefire way to determine halal-ness.

Case in point:

Also please note that this is a 2018 article.

Ayam Penyet Ria are now very much Halal certified.

Hey Rahim! Ayam Penyet Ria is now Halal-certified. https://t.co/cEIb6yUNqs

— halalSG (@halalSG) January 14, 2019

Which adds to the argument that if you do want to eat halal food, the certificate itself is perhaps the best way to ensure one is having halal food.

Back to the main issue, however.

There was a post on Halal Cafe & Restaurants in Singapore touching on this topic.

In it, Mohd Khair, the founder of SuChi Halal Consultancy, wrote a succinct explainer on why, while not illegal, the issue of names is important.

"If they do not target or have no intention to target the Malay market, then the next best thing to do is to have an unambiguous name that's so clear that the food business does not sell foodstuff catering to Malays who are generally Muslims."

Not what it seems

A less malicious possibility could be that the stall was merely rebranding, or was in the midst of changing hands.

A possibility that might have surfaced more if other parts of the picture was focused on.

That turned out to be the case.

When Mothership went down on Sept. 7 to take a look at the stall, the menu had already been taken down.

The staff present said the menu actually belonged to the previous stall, Xinyao, which occupied the premises.

Sedap Goreng is currently planning to apply for halal certification and will open their stall once they get it.

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Image via Facebook and Zhangxin