Telling a restaurant that the food was not good can be awkward, especially when you do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
But one Malaysian diner found a rather creative way to get the message across, by using leftover vegetables to spell it out on the plate.
In a post shared on Threads, the OP uploaded photos of her plate after a meal, where the words appeared to read “X DAP”.
For context, DAP refers to the Democratic Action Party, causing some netizens jokingly thought the message had something to do with politics.
However, it was not meant to be political at all.
According to the OP, she had actually wanted to write “tak sedap”, which means “not tasty” in Malay, but there was not enough space and time to complete the full sentence.
The food was so bad that I had to do something like this. I did not have the heart to tell them directly.
“I wasn’t asking anyone to vote for DAP, okay. There was not enough space and not enough time to write the full thing.”
Others join in with their own food review plates
What made the thread even funnier was that other Malaysians began sharing their own “food review plates” too.
One user used leftover spaghetti to spell “too sour”.
Some others also shared photos of rice and side dishes being used to write messages such as “hard rice”, after claiming that the rice served was too hard.
Another netizen shared a plate with the words “too pedas (spicy)” written using leftover noodles and chilli flakes, saying they had asked for mild spice but were allegedly given a large amount of chilli flakes instead.
Amid the jokes, some commenters also pointed out that customers should try to give honest feedback directly to the restaurant if something is wrong.
One commenter, who said they work in the kitchen, wrote: “As a cook, I actually want customers to honestly tell us what is not right, so at least we can improve what does not suit their taste.”
In response, the OP said she was simply too shy to say it in person.
