Rat disrupts evening at Plaza Singapura’s NamNam

SINGAPORE — Diners at NamNam Noodle Bar at Plaza Singapura had a rude surprise last Friday night (Dec 23) when they saw a rat scurrying through the premises.

Confirming the incident, a NamNam spokesperson told TODAY that a staff member spotted the rodent and immediately informed pest control, which caught the rat after a thorough sweep of the Vietnamese eatery. 

NamNam has since requested weekly pest-control visits to monitor the situation, and the restaurant is working very closely with its landlord, which conducts regular pest control exercises for the mall’s common areas, the spokesperson said. 

The restaurant also engages an external pest-control firm to conduct regular checks at all its outlets, and preventive measures such as rodent traps are in place. 

Following the incident, an assistant manager went from table to table to attend to affected diners, most of whom continued their meals. “Only one table of six left the outlet immediately, leaving us with no opportunity to perform any service recovery,” said the spokesperson. 

Responding to TODAY’s queries, Ms June Ang, Plaza Singapura’s centre manager, said the mall was aware of the incident and was working closely with NamNam to maintain the mall’s cleanliness standards. 

It has since reminded its food-and-beverage (F&B) tenants of cleanliness guidelines, and stepped up its checks on tenants and the common areas. “We’ll continue to review our cleanliness guidelines and procedures to ensure that they remain relevant,” said Ms Ang.

A patron, who wanted to be known only as Mr Teo, 26, said some diners had screamed and moved aside to avoid the rat. The healthcare professional said: “Plaza Singapura is not some heartland mall, and I guess (there’s) some form of expectation of it being clean.”

Plaza Singapura is, however, not the first mall where rats have been spotted. Marina Square was hit by a rodent infestation last year, when a rat was found in a tray of vegetables at Hotpot Culture, a restaurant in the shopping centre.  

The National Environment Agency (NEA) subsequently detected rodent activity in the false ceilings of 14 of the mall’s F&B establishments, and at a bin centre. 

In the first half of the year, the NEA took more than 100 instances of enforcement action against errant premise owners after inspecting retail food shops and malls.

The NamNam spokesperson said maintaining good hygiene at its outlet was of the “utmost importance” and no effort was being spared to ensure it continues to get an “A” grade from the authorities for cleanliness and food hygiene.

“We sincerely apologise for the unfavourable experience,” the spokesperson added.