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A disgruntled Encik Tan customer going by the Facebook name Nani Lingling shared a photo of her meal to the group Complaint Singapore.

Her caption read:

"Yes, dont be shocked, its a fresh new portion, a miniscule portion that even a pri 2 kid will find it tiny.

Please dont patronise these encik tan at waterway point to discourage the stall aunty from having this practice to drive away customer so they can slack. No, its not about inflation. These anti customer practice has been around for recent years, lets stop it together."

You can see the photo she shared here:

And you can see the full post here.

A number of commenters also chimed in with similar gripes, though some defended the franchise.

However, another commenter pointed out:

To obtain another data point, Mothership visited the Encik Tan outlet at Downtown East in Pasir Ris.

Here's what the fishball noodles looked like on the menu:

The bowl alone costs S$4.50 while getting the bowl with an additional side dish costs S$6.50.

When the fishball noodles arrived, it ended up looking quite similar to the photo in the Complaint Singapore Facebook group.

Of note was the number of ridges visible in the bowl before it reaches the noodles (at least three), and the lack of other ingredients besides the noodles.

It also looks different from the fishball noodles as displayed on Encik Tan's website, which includes a green leafy vegetable of some kind.

Mothership has contacted Encik Tan for comment. Here's what it said:

"We launched our Downtown East outlet one year ago with a vibrant new look and and are in the midst of refreshing the menu displays across Encik Tan outlets islandwide. While larger outlets (eg Downtown East and Marina Square) may offer a wider range of dishes, Fishball Noodles are a staple at every outlet.

Our Fishball Noodles are popular among customers and are priced at S$4.50 for dine-in. Amid rising costs in rental, manpower, utilities and raw materials the past year, we have maintained this same selling price at stores islandwide.

A standard bowl of our S$4.50 Fishball Noodles comprises 5 fishballs on noodles, with garnishes of spring onion and fried shallots. Customers may add on S$2.00 to substantiate their meal with a jumbo fishcake.

The pictures on the website are part of the old menu display and will in time, be updated to reflect the ones that you see at Downtown East.

Encik Tan strives for consistency in quality across all our outlets and we will continue to do our best to ensure this."

Top image by Sulaiman Daud.