Two weeks ago, I visited Haiku Restaurant at the Waterfront with an Australian visitor as he favoured authentic Asian cuisine. We were looking forward to a few traditional pork dishes, however, we noticed that there were no pork dishes on the menu. When we enquired, we were told that the establishment is Halaal and does not serve pork.
I would not usually have a problem with this for two reasons: 1) If the establishment has visible signage informing us that the place is Halaal, thereby saving me considerable time going to place that does not serve what I want and 2) if the establishment did not claim to serve 'AUTHENTIC' Asian cuisine.
The definition of Authentic: Made or done in the traditional or original way: "authentic Italian meals". In my opinion, it is ridiculous for an establishment to label themselves authentically Asian when their menu omits one of the most traditional dishes. Furthermore, the establishment seems blatantly hypocritical as they have no problem serving alcohol which is against the Muslim culture. I would like to challenge Haiku marketing themselves as 'authentic' when they do not serve a variety of Asian dishes or represent authentic Asian cuisine.
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