Foreign cities to get a taste of Malaysian cuisine

Foreign cities to get a taste of Malaysian cuisine
By Marina Emmanuel

March 31 2007


MALAYSIA Tourism Promotion Board's (Tourism Ministry) plans to offer upmarket Malaysian cuisine around the world via its 'Malaysia Kitchen' programme is set to see restaurants mushrooming in cities such as Beijing, Hyderabad, Dubai, Frankfurt and Moscow this year.

The programme, which is a concept based on five-star restaurants offering Malaysian cuisine, will see Tourism Malaysia's investment arm - Pempena Sdn Bhd - and its three partners investing some RM40 million in the new eateries.

Pempena holds a 45 per cent stake in Malaysian Restaurant Co Ltd - which operates the swanky Awana Chelsea restaurant in London's Sloane Avenue, while entreprenuer- cum-restauranter Low Chin Meng holds a 35 per cent share and Coca Restaurant UK Ltd the remaining stake.

"We expect the RM3 million Awana Beijing to open next month, followed by another RM3 million restaurant in Hyderabad, India, in May," Low, who is also Malaysian Restaurant director and LCL Corp Bhd managing director, said in Dubai last week.

He said that the Awana name will likely be retained for all the new restaurants, including the one in Dubai where the company is set to invest between RM6 million and RM8 million and open it for business by August.

"For the Frankfurt and Moscow restaurants, we have earmarked between RM12 million and RM15 million to open each outlet," Low said.

The company is eyeing Malaysian expatriates living in the various foreign cities as potential customers.

Low said on LCL's part, it has a ready market for the Malaysian restaurants in Dubai and Hyderabad, where it is engaged in refit projects and has a sizeable Malaysian workforce stationed in both cities.

"Since it is Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2007, we can think of no better way in promoting tourism to foreigners living in these locations than via our own cuisine," he added.

The Awana Chelsea restaurant in London was opened in November 2005.
Pempena holds a 45 per cent stake in the restaurant and as of last year had invested RM3.7 million in the outlet, which has a paid-up capital of RM8.2 million.


The outlet currently rakes in about STG100,000 (RM679,000) a week.