If
you were to ask someone who is the most popular chef in all of Malaysia, most
of the people would say “Madam Kwan”. Today she is 81 years old and lives in
Kuala Lumpur. When people get to know about her celebrity status in the
restaurant business and her cult following of admiring customers, they tend to
think that she must be someone who loves to cook and has
been doing so from a very young age. But the truth is sometimes stranger than
fiction. She actually hated cooking and used to despise the entire process.
Madam
Kwan was born in Kluang but at the age of 14, she moved to Kuala Lumpur. The
move was primarily motivated by better academic opportunities in Kuala Lumpur.
After moving to the new city, she joined Kuen Cheng Girls’ School. After
leaving the school she was exploring different career opportunities and finally
decided to become a hairdresser. But it didn't work as she had hoped and later
decided to become a beautician. Most of the people do not know that her first
venture was not in the restaurant business. She first opened a beauty salon on
Jalan Imbi. She named the saloon Sakura as she was very fond of the pink
flowers from Japan that were known as Sakura in Japanese.
Now
you must be thinking that soon after opening her first salon she must have
decided to quit the salon business and decided to venture into the restaurant
business. But again you would be wrong with this assumption. She stayed in the
salon business for more than two decades. She gave 24 years of her life to that
salon and it even became really successful. She recalls that when she was 42
she started feeling tired from the salon. She had done
hair and make up for 24 years and now felt bored at the salon. It was this time
when she decided to do something new.
She
once visited a close friend who used to have a small local restaurant. She
noticed that her friend used to cook for one hour and made decent money with
this minimal effort. She says that if she did a facial at the salon then it
would take about an hour and she would make only a few ringgits. Then the idea
came to her mind. Why not to cook for one hour and then make decent money from
it all day long. This way more people would be able to enjoy her work.
She
recalls that when she announced the idea to her salon staff, they were quite
shocked. Soon after that, the Sakura Salon became the Sakura Cafe. In its
initial days, people were very impressed to see the level of attention to
detail that went into designing the Sakura Cafe. All of the dining tables had a
glass top and all of the plates were imported from Japan. Back in those days non hotel establishments never used to invest so much.
The
restaurant business started gaining traction. But soon after things became
stable, disaster struck. Her head chef called it quits. It was this time when
she started learning cooking. She says that the first dish she learned to cook
was Nasi Lemak as it was also her personal favorite. As she got familiar with
cooking, she started experimenting with the original traditional recipe. She
knew what she was looking for so she kept on making the same dish again and
again until she got it perfectly right.
Today
it's the same Nasi Lemak dish that has become so popular in
Malaysia.
Madam Kwan menu has
so many wonderful and aromatic dishes to choose from, but we would highly
recommend trying her lasi nemak.
You
can even order food from her restaurant. The delivery via FoodPanda Malaysia is quick and hassle free. The food is packed in such a way that it stays hot and
retains its freshness and aroma.
