GEORGE TOWN: The customer who paid RM100 for two pieces of fried squid at a restaurant here has come forward to apologise for any misunderstanding caused by a post on social media that has since gone viral.

       The message of apology, which was sent by a woman requesting anonymity, was posted on Hameediyah Restaurant's Facebook page on Wednesday (Nov 24).

       In the post, the unidentified woman said she had visited the restaurant to buy food with her partner and took two fried squid priced at RM50 each.

       "I saw the owner of the restaurant key in the price of the food and did not object to the price. I used to come to the restaurant and ordered the same dish and I know the price," she wrote in the message sent to Hameediyah director Muhammad Riyaaz Syed Ibrahim.

       The woman said she only uploaded the picture of the receipt and the food in an Instagram post and did not put any caption indicating the price or about it being expensive.

       She however said an individual had shared a screenshot of her post and uploaded it on a Facebook page.

       The woman added the individual also tagged about 70 people with the post and added a caption that caused the misunderstanding.

       She said the price of the fried squid was reasonable as they were large in size.

       "I have no intention at all to make my post viral, but there was some other party that screenshot my post and purportedly tried to portray me as the one who complained about the price," she said.

       The woman hopes that with the explanation, the public will have a better understanding of the issue.

       The post had irked Malaysians with many criticising the famous restaurant for selling the dish at such a price.

       Meanwhile, Mohd Riyaaz said the Penang Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry had told them to furnish details by Thursday (Nov 25) to assess the next course of action.

       "We explained that the fried squid price was 'according to size' and displayed on the board. The customer did not say anything when given the bill and he paid for it," he said.

       He said the restaurant had been selling the squid since last year and this was the first time they have faced such an issue.