Malaysia, like any other country, has a unique way of ordering food in restaurants, especially in smaller scale eateries.
When ordering drinks to go, the phrase “ikat tepi”, meaning to tie at the side, is commonly used as a way to package drinks for takeaway orders.
However, a customer’s order for “sirap limau ikat tepi” was taken quite literally in this viral TikTok video by @shazztodak (https://www.tiktok.com/@shazztodak/video/7291557986076560641).
“This restaurant’s food seems to go against the law of nature more and more,” captioned the video.
In the video, he received his drink order in a cup filled with the syrup drink and ice with a cut lime strung through the rubber band tied at the side of the cup. This was far different from the usual lime which is typically placed inside the drink.
The video also showed the server laughing, explaining the blunder with the customer just confused at what he received.
The customer also explained in the comments section that he had never encountered an issue when making this specific order at other eateries.
WeirdKaya (https://weirdkaya.com/msian-man-gets-served-a-literal-sirap-limau-ais-ikat-tepi-after-ordering-it-at-stall/) reported that the man was a regular customer at the restaurant
and sometimes receives strange orders as part of a prank by the staff following their close relationship formed over time he has frequented the eatery.
“I always make the same order, but this is the first time it’s served differently. Usually, they deliver it normally. But since I’m a regular customer there, we’ve become close, and I consider these actions as their jokes.
“In fact, they’ve given me odd orders multiple times. This is just the first time I felt like recording and posting it on social media,” he said.
Netizens were amused at the error and even joked that the customer did “receive what he asked for”.
He was also advised to “make his order properly” to avoid confusing situations like these.
While as Malaysians we are used to ordering in a certain manner, not a lot of eateries would understand unless specified properly. What would you have done in this situation?
