Sunday May 3, 2009
Booming business
PENANG By HELEN ONG
A little publicity can give one’s business a big boost. Our Penang food columnist revisits eateries to catch up those who have felt the power of the pen.
TIME flies by when you’re enjoying yourself and I’ve had a ball doing my food rounds in food heaven Penang.
It’s difficult to believe that Sunday Metro is two years old. It’s been gratifying for me to meet many people who tell me how useful they find the pullout that’s focused on streetfood. Some people from outside the state even take the trouble to collect my articles in anticipation of their next visit to Penang, I am told.
But what about those who have had their food speciality published in Sunday Metro? Have the articles made a difference to them or to their businesses?
For this anniversary issue, I revisited some of the people and places I had written about in the past two years. If you can remember that far back, the very first place I wrote about was Ah Choo’s Hokkien Mee stall in the Sin Lee Hin Coffee Shop in Tanjung Bungah, which I had, rather naïvely, claimed was the best in Penang. Some wrote in to share my appreciation; others disagreed, but one thing was certain: the stall got a lot of new customers.
“For about a month we all hated you, Helen,” a regular told me just recently, “because the place was packed and we could never get a seat!”
Another vendor who had been featured is Ah See. Every morning the hardworking Ah See still pushes her cart out to Pulau Tikus Market, where she sells the nyonya food she painstakingly prepares herself. “During the school holidays, I still get many customers from out of town,” she beamed.
Cora Capel and Lina Keun who cook and sell at the Little Penang Street Market had also been featured in Sunday Metro and are now making a name for themselves as specialist purveyors of that unique cuisine: home-cooked Eurasian (Serani) food.
Eurasian fare: Lina Keun with her popular Corned Beef Stew. “Response to the article was excellent,” Cora said. “I had calls from as far as Johor Bahru and Singapore. Someone from Kuala Lumpur even asked me to open a shop there!” she laughed. Although flattered, she says she is unlikely to, but she’s delighted that her Debel Curry and Salt Fish Pickle are more popular than ever.
Lina was also contacted by her childhood friends and distant relatives from her father’s side whom she had never met before. They, in turn, put her in touch with relatives in Australia. “It’s changed my life,” she exclaimed.
Lina also feels that Eurasian food is now no longer a dying cuisine, as she is often asked to teach others how to cook particular dishes, especially her Beef Pies and Curry Puffs.
Also featured in Sunday Metro was Hameed, who runs the Mee Sotong stall in the Kota Selera Hawker Centre in Padang Kota Lama (Fort Cornwallis). He still gets visitors from all over Malaysia who come to try his cooking. “Even now about 15 customers a month come as a result of the article.”
In Tanjung Bungah, Mak Lal from the Lidiana Café told me she got a lot of response from all over the country after being featured. Her delicious “Ikan Terubok” (Grilled Fish) and Fishhead Curry are now her bestsellers.
As for Joel Jeyachandran’s Coconut Jelly, he has been inundated with extra orders ever since his products were featured. “Response was very good from all over Malaysia, especially Penangites who didn’t know about my products before,” he said. “Demand has increased threefold, and I even have an agent in KL now!”
He is in the process of getting a bigger machine to produce the jelly, and has applied for a loan to expand business.
Joel’s expanding in Penang to meet the demand for his coconut jelly. After lawyer Pamela Ong’s passion for making costume jewellery was publicised, she received “overwhelming response”. “I am grateful for the publicity Sunday Metro gave me, as it helped in the fundraising sale I was organising,” she said in an e-mail from Singapore, where she lives and continues to do charitable work.
“I got lots of calls. All were surprised that I am involved in this kind of creative hobby!” Many callers went on to buy her unusual hand-made jewellery.
Her addiction to beads remains unabated. “I travel often these days to buy beads!”
Identical twin brothers who run the organic Rainforest Bakery in Chulia Street, Jesse and Jerry Tan have also benefited from the publicity. “Two weeks after the article on us came out, a couple from KL actually flew up here specially to see us,” Jesse said. They apparently bought quite a lot of bread to take back with them. To date, they are still getting new customers who have read about them, and recently even received a visit from former MCA president and Cabinet member Datuk Ong Ka Ting.
“People tended to be slightly sceptical before,” Jesse added, “but they came to see what was available.” The twins are now supplying the goods to many more individuals and businesses, and are even thinking of expanding into KL.
New clients: Identical twins Jerry and Jesse (right) who run Rainforest Bakery had customers fly in to stockpile on their organic baked goods. These are among the many personalities and places of Penang which have been featured in Sunday Metro.
Here’s to another good year ahead and may Sunday Metro continue to be your companion to finding more good food.
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