New Malaysian Restaurant To Open In Germany

BY Manik Mehta HEIDELBERG (Germany), Nov 29 (Bernama) -- A new Malaysian restaurant scheduled to open on Dec 1 in this university town will not only satisfy palates but also promote Malaysian cuisine in Germany which so far has only four Malaysian restaurants -- two in Munich, and one each in Frankfurt and Hamburg. "Serai", the new restaurant in Heidelberg's Schillerstrasse will open its doors to the public in what is seen as a "major step" that can lead towards raising the level of awareness of the local people to Malaysian cuisine. Heidelberg is located in the southern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. "Because Malaysian cuisine is not widely known in Germany, I am convinced that it has great potential to become popular in this country, " explained Juliah Rais-Morres, the Malaysian woman who owns the "Serai", in an interview with Bernama at the newly renovated premises of her restaurant. Juliah, who hails from Negeri Sembilan, has lived in Germany for 22 years and is married to a German information technology professional, Uwe Morres, who works for the local labour office. Although she is a landscape architect by profession and worked for a year and a half at the Selangor State Economic Development Corporation, Juliah received an intense hands-on exposure to food preparation and cooking at an early age from her family. Her father, who had his own food business, and her sister, proficient at cooking, gave her valuable training in the handling of the food business. Juliah's passion for cooking enabled her to enter the food catering business that existed parallel to her work as an architect. In the course of privately catering meals to individuals interested in eating Malaysian food, she was also urged to start her own restaurant business specialising in Malaysian food. Along the way, she also gave cooking lessons in Malaysian cuisine at a local adult education school in Heidelberg and she said that the "encouraging response" from many Germans strengthened her belief that Malaysian cuisine would do well in a city that has a large number of international students as well as an expatriate community open to foreign cuisines. Juliah has plans to introduce "satay" -- "my signature dish" as she calls it --, curry puff, roti canai, rendang and other Malaysian dishes. "I am not going to depend on Malaysians alone for my business. Indeed, my customers will be, mainly, Germans who are already familiar with Asian cuisines and would appreciate the rich diversity represented by Malaysia's cuisine," she said. -- BERNAMA