Would you walk in to a western restaurant and ask for Chinese food?
Would you ask the waiter give you some curry in Starbucks?
Most of the Malaysian would.
Some of my customers have the contact number of my café, usually they will call us to order some food before they come. Sometimes they blamed me why I didn't served Asian food in my café. I told them because my café is a western style café.
Then they said :' I'm in Malaysia now, I want Malaysian food, I don't care what kind of café you are, you have too serve me Malaysian food.I'm appreciated that they like my café, but I'm sad they thought my café was a "cafe" which is a cafe like 'Old Town'.
My friends asked why didn't I open a mamak.
It's because I like to cook western food or fusion food better. Beside I'm not interested to open a Malaysian style café which is some café like "Kopitiam", "Old Town" or "Paparich".
Actually I found that most of the Malaysian misunderstood the meaning of café, the "cafe" they know is something more similar to "mamak". The only different between the "cafe" they know and "mamak" is "mamak" served cheaper food and beverages.The 'cafe' which they know like Old Town and Paparich are serving some food where you can find in mamak but only more expensive.
Since I came back, I found that seems like every shop who served food can be named as a café. The restaurant next door which is serve Malay food named "cafe cova delight". Even A random food stall in a complex or beside the road named "cafe fatimah " and "cafe abu".
Now, I'm confused what cafe was?
* Café
1 a small restaurant selling light meals and drinks.
2 a bar or nightclub.
3 a serving of coffee, esp. prepared European-style [in combination ] : an assortment of cappuccinos and café mochas.
* Mamak
A mamak stall, also referred to as mapley, is a food establishment which serves mamak food. In Malaysia, the term mamak refers to Tamil Muslims, who generally own and operate them. Although traditionally operated from roadside stalls, some modern mamak stall operators have expanded their businesses into restaurant or cafe-type establishments. Mamak stalls tend to be popular among Malaysian youths as hang out spots, due to cheap food and beverages being served 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
People of all races, religions and ages frequent mamak stalls to gossip or catch a late-night football game while enjoying a cup of hot teh tarik. No other eatery has quite as much cultural significance in Malaysia, save for the kopi tiam.
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