Horseplay over coffee insult

Horseplay over coffee insult

Criticised for serving a latte which was "possibly worse than drinking horse piss", a restaurant has turned the situation on its head by launching a week-long campaign to disprove the claim.

On Friday, Roosevelt's Diner & Bar placed a quirky sign outside its premises that says: "Come taste our coffee that Daphne Maia on Instagram thinks is WORSE than HORSEPISS".

The diner, located in New Bridge Road, wants its supporters to use the hash tag #nothorsepiss on social media.

Ms Daphne Maia Loo, 31, who tried the diner's coffee on Thursday and is the Instagram user, is not too impressed.

"I'm baffled (as to) why they have to single me out. When you go to other review websites, I'm sure you can find other negative feedback..." said Ms Loo, who is a social media consultant.

Ms Loo told My Paper yesterday that she will not be responding to the diner's actions, adding that she would be happy to provide more feedback about the coffee that had annoyed her.

"As a business, they have to take criticisms and feedback. I'm entitled to my opinion that I don't like the coffee," Ms Loo said.

Asked why they embarked on the campaign, manager Huang Shiying said that besides the "horse piss" comment, they also did not take kindly to Ms Loo's statement: "Do NOT drink coffee here".

"If it was a personal blog... it might not have that big an impact... But she's a social media consultant and has more than a thousand followers," said Ms Huang.

A check found that Ms Loo has over 1,500 Instagram followers and more than 2,900 Twitter followers.

Ms Huang also said that the diner wanted to stand up for staff who had been "demoralised" by the "nasty" remarks.

Defending her position, Ms Loo said: "(Horse piss) is really just an expression, people use it all the time... it does not mean that we are comparing it to horse piss. It's like when someone says it's 'hot as hell'. Apparently they took it to mean exactly that."

Ms Huang said they have "no hard feelings" towards Ms Loo and the campaign is meant to be a "light-hearted" affair where everyone can just have a laugh.

adrianl@sph.com.sg


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