In the age of on-demand everything, a viral video from Singapore tested the boundaries of what delivery culture might one day become — and what it has not yet become. A man in Meituan's yellow uniform appeared at a Singapore mall claiming to have flown from China to purchase six curry puffs, briefly convincing the internet that cross-border food delivery had quietly arrived. Meituan swiftly denied any such service exists, leaving the episode suspended between spectacle and hoax — a parable about how easily the mythology of technological expansion outruns its reality.
Meituan denies viral claim of flying rider to Singapore for curry puffs
A man in a yellow Meituan uniform showed up to buy curry puffs
Mark
So someone actually flew from China to Singapore just to buy curry puffs? That seems like an expensive joke.
Mimi
That's what the video claimed, yes. The man said he was paid about 450 Singapore dollars for the flight alone, and the curry puffs themselves cost only 13.50 dollars. The math doesn't add up unless there was something else going on.
Luke
But we don't actually know if he flew or if that was just his story. We know a man in a Meituan uniform showed up at the shop on August 31. We don't know his origin or how he got there.
Mark
And Meituan says they don't do international delivery at all?
Mimi
That's their official position. When asked directly, they said through their customer service that they don't offer cross-border services and customers can't order from China to have things delivered elsewhere.
Luke
Right, but that doesn't tell us whether this particular person was actually a Meituan employee, or just someone wearing the uniform. The shop owner only found out something was odd when she heard someone shouting "Meituan" while filming.
Mark
So it could have been a prank, or someone impersonating a rider?
Mimi
Possibly. Or it could have been a stunt—viral marketing, maybe. The video got attention, after all.
Luke
But we don't have confirmation of any of that. We have a video, a shop owner's account of what happened, and Meituan's denial. The person who filmed it and the man in the uniform haven't explained themselves publicly.
Mark
So the real story is just that nobody knows what actually happened?
Mimi
The real story is that a viral video made a claim, and Meituan denied it. What motivated the video, or whether the claim was true—that's still open.
Il Polso
- A video of a Meituan-uniformed man buying curry puffs in Singapore spread rapidly online, igniting speculation that China's delivery giant had secretly gone global.
- The curry puff shop founder arrived mid-transaction to find a customer unable to pay — his Chinese digital wallets useless at her counter — while a woman off-camera shouted 'Meituan' for the filming audience.
- Meituan responded with an unambiguous denial, stating through its official customer service channel that cross-border delivery and errand services simply do not exist on its platform.
- The man's true identity, his actual employer, and who commissioned the trip remain unknown, leaving the story balanced uneasily between unauthorized brand use and deliberate viral theater.
- The episode exposes how potent the idea of frictionless global delivery has become — powerful enough that a uniform alone can make millions believe it is already here.
In the age of on-demand everything, a viral video from Singapore tested the boundaries of what delivery culture might one day become — and what it has not yet become. A man in Meituan's yellow uniform appeared at a Singapore mall claiming to have flown from China to purchase six curry puffs, briefly convincing the internet that cross-border food delivery had quietly arrived. Meituan swiftly denied any such service exists, leaving the episode suspended between spectacle and hoax — a parable about how easily the mythology of technological expansion outruns its reality.
A video posted to Xiaohongshu showed a man in Meituan's unmistakable yellow uniform standing inside Paya Lebar Quarter Mall in Singapore, claiming he had been paid around 2,400 yuan to fly into the country and buy six curry puffs from a local shop called Hong Lim Curry Puff. The items cost S$13.50. The clip spread quickly, prompting widespread speculation that Meituan had quietly entered the international logistics space.
The shop's founder, Victoria Loh, later recounted that the man arrived on August 31 and attempted to pay using WeChat Pay or AliPay — neither of which her store accepts. Her part-time employee, unable to speak Mandarin, called Loh for help. She treated him as any other customer and completed the sale. It was only when she heard someone off-camera shouting 'Meituan' that she understood the encounter was being filmed for social media.
Meituan moved swiftly to contain the narrative. When The Straits Times contacted the company on September 6, its customer service channel issued a clear denial: the platform offers no cross-border food delivery or errand services, and customers cannot place orders in China for fulfillment abroad.
Critical details, however, remain unresolved. The man never revealed who hired him or how much he was paid, and Loh could not confirm whether he was a genuine Meituan employee or simply someone wearing the uniform. Whether the video was an unauthorized stunt, a marketing gimmick, or an elaborate hoax, it succeeded in doing what viral content does best — making an impossible thing feel, for a moment, entirely plausible.
A video circulating on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu showed a man dressed in Meituan's distinctive yellow delivery uniform and helmet at Paya Lebar Quarter Mall in Singapore, claiming he had been paid roughly 2,400 yuan—about S$450—to fly into the country and purchase a box of curry puffs. The assignment, he said, was to buy six curry puffs from Hong Lim Curry Puff, a local shop where the items cost S$13.50. The video, which captured him making the purchase and attempting to pay via WeChat Pay or AliPay, quickly gained traction online, raising questions about whether the Chinese delivery giant had quietly expanded into international logistics.
The incident occurred on August 31, according to Victoria Loh, the 37-year-old founder of Hong Lim Curry Puff. When the man arrived at her shop, her part-time employee—who does not speak Mandarin—called Loh for assistance. She arrived to find him trying to complete the transaction using Chinese digital payment methods, which her store could not process. Loh treated him as an ordinary customer and instructed her employee to proceed with the sale as normal. It was only when she heard a woman shouting "Meituan" that Loh realized something unusual was happening. The woman doing the shouting was the Xiaohongshu user filming the encounter.
Meituan moved quickly to distance itself from the claim. When contacted by The Straits Times on September 6, the company issued a clear denial through its customer service channel. According to responses provided via the Meituan app's chatbot, a customer service representative stated that the platform does not offer cross-border food delivery or errand services. The company stressed that customers cannot order food from China and have it delivered to Singapore, nor can they request a rider to travel internationally to purchase items. Meituan emphasized that it does not support such ordering methods or provide any form of cross-border service.
The incident left several questions unanswered. The man in the video did not disclose how much he was paid for the assignment or identify who placed the order. Loh could not confirm whether he was actually a Meituan employee or simply someone wearing the company's uniform. The Straits Times reached out to both Meituan and the Xiaohongshu user for additional details, but the full story behind the video—whether it was an unauthorized stunt, a promotional gimmick, or something else entirely—remained unclear. What was certain was that Meituan's service boundaries, at least according to the company's official position, do not extend beyond China's borders.
Citazioni salienti
Meituan does not support cross-border ordering methods or provide any cross-border services— Meituan customer service representative, via Lianhe Zaobao
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Economy & Finance