Mamak Food Is About to Become World Famous

Can you imagine enjoying nasi kandar, roti canai and just mamak food in general when you travel overseas? The Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association (Presma) might just make that happen! The association wants to make our local mamak food famous around the world and Presma president Ayoob Khan Muhamad Yakub is targeting top European destinations frequented by Malaysian travellers, like London and Paris, as well as ASEAN countries.

Image: Food Infographics

“We want to see mamak restaurants expand to other parts of the world. We believe the food we serve has global appeal,” Ayoob said. He is also looking into involving foreign investors in this global expansion plan.

As a start, Presma is planning to gather more than 100 mamak restaurants at a food festival happening in Dataran Merdeka mid-2017, which is targeting to attract over 100,000 tourists. As if that isn't enough to get your tastebuds excited, food served at this festival will be FREE OF CHARGE!

Image: Metro Online Broadcast

According to Ayoob, efforts to improve hygiene at mamak restaurants are also in place. Presma also plans to promote job vacancies to locals through JobsMalaysia as well as the Human Resource Ministry to curb shortage of workers. “We need at least 15,000 more workers. With the acute shortage, customers are having a long wait. We really need the Government’s help in resolving this issue,” Ayoob said. Over the past six months, 60 restaurants have been forced to shut down because of this.

Image: Hype.my

On a lighter note, despite the price increase in raw material and commodities such as oil, sugar, flour, milk and rice, Presma has assured the public that there will be no price increases at mamaks in the near future. So the next time your local mamak fella decides to charge you more for your teh tarik, make sure you show him this article!