A CLEAN environment and fresh ingredients are the two utmost important key elements to ensure returning customers. They are also crucial to grow the food business.
Young entrepreneur Ahmad Danial Muhammad Noor, 37, now holds a heavy responsibility to continue the legacy of the popular family-operated Nasi Melayu restaurant – Restoran Minah. His father Muhammad Noor Abu Bakar passed away last year.
Ahmad Danial said he learned the elements to run the generation-old business from his father and elders.
“We believe there are several key elements which we must have to retain our customers and grow our business. Having a clean environment, using fresh ingredients, strictly upholding our food quality, and retaining our ‘secret recipe’ are the key components of our success.
“We source our fresh ingredients daily to ensure that we do not compromise the food quality. The original (secret) recipes have been passed down for generations from the time this restaurant was established in 1957.
“This is the original premises,” he told Buletin Mutiara at the restaurant in Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Gelugor, today.
Ahmad Danial said the staff were mostly family members.
“Our family – my wife, younger brother, younger sister, aunt… everyone – helped to grow this business. This is so that the recipes stay with the family.
“The recipes have been passed down from my late grandmother, Aminahbi Sultan, and that is where the restaurant got its name – Restoran Minah.
“My late great-grandfather (Aminahbi’s father) Mohd Sultan Eusoff was from India, and he migrated to Malaysia to open the restaurant here for my grandmother, Aminahbi.
“Back then, the restaurant was only half the size of its current premises. It expanded when it bought the neighbouring lot in 1969,” he added.
Ahmad Danial said the restaurant had served many notable members of the royal family, leaders, and artistes, such as the current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“We look forward to enhancing our customers’ dining experience by transforming the front portion of the restaurant into an air-conditioned area.
“In a further future, we hope to expand our business to George Town or Bayan Baru to cater to the demands of our loyal customers,” he said.
Restoran Minah serves up to 60 dishes daily and can accommodate up to 100 customers at any time.
Popular dishes include ayam goreng Minah, fish head curry, beef rendang, beansprout kerabu, mutton kurma, and lamb shank.
Ahmad Danial said the ayam goreng Minah was one of the traditional dishes produced and passed down by Aminahbi.
Food hunters can check out Restoran Minah from Tuesdays to Sundays.
“It is best to come early. Weekends are mostly packed with customers,” Ahmad Danial said.
Story by Christopher Tan
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi