Police called in twice after woman tried to buy banh mi in Kallang, but told none left due to large order

A woman, who showed up at the Block 5 Upper Boon Keng Road coffee shop on Dec. 3 to buy banh mi, was informed that there was none left.

But she noticed that there was still some ingredients left at the stall to make the Vietnamese baguette, only to be told by the male stall assistant that they were not for sale.

This prompted a misunderstanding between vendor and customer that would see the police called down twice — the first time when the order was rejected, and another time three days later when the woman revisited the coffee shop with other family members.

Ingredients for large order of 10 sandwiches

Banh mi is a Vietnamese sandwich dish made with a baguette filled with marinated meat and vegetables.

The woman's 30-year-old son, Wang, claimed to Shin Min Daily News that this was not the first instance of being rejected: "Every time my mother went to buy something, she was rejected, even though there were clearly some ingredients left at the stall."

"The vendor's attitude was also very bad, saying that they were sold out, which made my mother very angry."

According to a video taken by Wang's mother, a male stall assistant apparently swore and asked the woman to leave after she was told the banh mi would not be sold to her.

A female stall assistant also asked the customer not to take pictures.

The police were called down to the scene.

Stall owner's explanation

In response, the banh mi stall owner, Hannah, said: "A customer came to order sardine banh mi, but there was already an order for 10 servings, so we couldn't sell any to her."

"She said that we cannot do business like this or something."

Hannah added that as the stall was closed on Sunday, there were fewer ingredients left, as her banh mi uses fresh ingredients each day.

As such, only a limited quantity of banh mi is sold each day.

Police called down again

Three days later, the police were called down the second time.

This was after the woman returned to the coffee shop with other family members for dinner, and she showed the video clip she had taken of the verbal altercation to her brother.

Her brother was riled up by what he saw.

He then confronted the male assistant at the banh mi stall to stand up for his sister.

The argument escalated and the police were informed again.

Second argument

According to a video recording provided by Wang, a male employee of the stall spoke in Hokkien and quarrelled with Wang's uncle.

Two members of the public tried to intervene.

A female coffee shop employee pulled the male banh mi employee away and requested that he not affect the business of the coffee shop.

However, the male employee continued to shout and recorded the scene with his phone.

The verbal altercation reportedly spilled over from inside the coffee shop to outside.

To defuse the situation, the police had to mitigate.

Top photo via Shin Min Daily News