Eateries thrive with Sultan’s support

FOR years, these food and beverage businesses operated at humble roadside stalls until one day, Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar decided to build them proper facilities in Stulang to continue serving the dishes in a better environment.

Norshazlin Abdullah, who occupies one of the five stalls along Stulang Walk in Johor Baru, said her father started selling banana fritters near a power substation near Serene Park more than 30 years ago.

Back then, his stall was a makeshift one and customers used to park by the road to purchase the fried snacks, said the 44-year-old in an interview.

“Things took a turn one day some 12 years ago when three of Sultan Ibrahim’s officers visited the stall and told my father that His Majesty had granted him an audience at Istana Pasir Pelangi.

“During the audience, the Ruler had asked if my father wanted to relocate to a new location with better facilities. Of course he agreed,” she said.

Norshazlin said the Sultan and other members of the Johor royal family often stopped by their stall to purchase the snacks such as fried bananas with sambal kicap – the Johor way of eating the fritters with spicy soy sauce dip.

“Even when the stall was hot and crowded, the royal family was always friendly towards us and others. It was like there was no gap between us.

“We moved to Stulang Walk about 10 years ago and it was a more comfortable place for us to run the family business,” she said, adding that they sell more than 30 types of snacks from pisang goreng, keropok lekor and spring rolls to nasi lemak and fried meehoon.

Stulang Walk, located next to Istana Pasir Pelangi, has five concrete stalls, each with space for tables and chairs for customers to enjoy their food and drinks. Parking bays are also available.

The stalls, managed and maintained by the Johor Baru City Council (MBJB), are operated by a mix of Malay, Chinese and Indian businesses.

“Stulang Walk also reflects the Bangsa Johor concept and Tuanku’s vision for the people in the state to live in unity and harmony,” added Norshazlin.

Two doors adjacent to her is the popular Foon Yew Laksa stall, which serves piping hot curry noodles with more than 50 types of yong tau fu and other stuffed vegetables to choose from.

Ng Jing Ng (sic), the 36-year-old second generation owner, said it was a blessing to continue the family business at a lot built by Sultan Ibrahim.

The business was actually started by his aunt, where she sold laksa at the canteen of Foon Yew High School back in 1976 until 2003 before moving out of the school grounds.

“After that, she ran a humble stall in Stulang and subsequently in Jalan Pandan before the opportunity came for the business to be relocated to Stulang Walk about a decade ago,” he said.

Ng said the condition for the move was that they were not allowed to sell pork dishes, a term that his family had no qualms with as they used only chicken and seafood for their dishes.

He recounted a memorable incident shortly after they moved into the stall: “Sultan Ibrahim arrived unannounced one day and all our customers immediately stood up as a sign of respect at the sight of His Majesty.

“To our surprise, Tuanku asked our customers, some of whom were quite elderly, to sit down and continue eating as he only wanted to check on the condition of the stalls.

“Tuanku then proceeded to ask us how we were doing. We highlighted to Tuanku that there were no toilets at Stulang Walk so we often had to walk home, which was a few hundred metres away to answer nature’s call,” Ng said.

According to him, the Sultan promised them they would have proper toilets in a month’s time and true enough, MBJB built a toilet at each of the five stalls to provide convenience to the workers and customers.

“We remain thankful until today for the Sultan’s concern for his people. He did not have to take it upon himself to do these things but he did them anyway. At first we were also worried that business would be slow at the new location but thanks to a social media posting of Tunku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail and his family’s visit to our stall, business started to boom.

“Our customer base became more diverse and business has now increased by some 70% compared to before,” he said, adding that they could sell 300 to 400 bowls of laksa daily and more on weekends.

Ng now runs the stall with the help of 10 family members and employees.

“My siblings and I started helping our aunt since we were in primary school and that was where we learned her ways and recipes. We have kept her laksa and sambal recipes in the family and I personally blend the ingredients to cook them myself each day to keep it as authentic as possible,” he added.

Meanwhile, P. Kannan, who serves south Indian dishes at another stall, said his was one of the newest additions to Stulang Walk having just opened a year ago.

The 47-year-old said he jumped at the chance to take up one of the lots there when offered by one of the Ruler’s officers after trying out some dishes at his restaurant in Perling.

“It was an offer that I could not pass up and I aim to continue serving delicious meals that cost RM10 and below to provide people with wallet-friendly options.

“Our popular dishes are the chicken varuval, keerai curry and nasi briyani. We mostly use spices from India that we blend using our own recipe,” said the businessman.

He noted that his stall opens from as early as 6am to cater to those working in Singapore as well as residents staying in the Stulang area.

He added he was excited over the fact that Sultan Ibrahim has been sworn-in as the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, which has also been a hot topic among his customers over the past few weeks.

“As a Johorean, I fully understood how they felt and now other Malaysians will get the chance to enjoy His Majesty’s reign as he has done so much for the people in this state.

“I have been keeping up-to-date with his news on social media and I wish him all the best as the new King,” he said.

Unlike Norshazlin and Ng, Kannan said he has not had the opportunity to meet Sultan Ibrahim in person yet.

“My dream is to serve Tuanku some of my dishes one day, it would be a big honour for me.”