R​​​estaurateur’s 'ikan keli masak kicap' whets the appetite of customers

KOTA BHARU, Feb 3 -- Mum-of-three, Nik Khairina Nik Abdul Razak, 41, is not just growing her own food, she is also growing a business selling an ikan keli masak kicap (fried catfish with soy sauce) rice meal with fish from a farm she started two years ago.

She said there are almost 300,000 catfish being bred at her organic farm and her main focus was supplying them frozen to supermarkets in the capital, but now she has started Kafe Cik Turquoise where the fish cannot get any fresher.

“I’ve never been in the field. I was just a home chef cooking meals for my husband and children.

“In fact, I never expected many people to like rice with ikan keli masak kicap,” said Nik Khairina about the idea she got a month ago.

She said she now receives up to 150 orders per day, with the meals only for takeaway or delivery around Kota Bharu.

“Customers can decide the pungency of the catfish and rice meal which comes with salted egg and costs RM8, or they can have it with ayam kicap (chicken with soy sauce) instead for the same price,” said Nik Khairina, while adding that she plans to open her restaurant to customers once the movement control order (MCO) is lifted.

Her other reason for opening the restaurant is to help her daughter, Wan Faten Nurnisa Wan Nazaruddin, 22, who graduated in January with a journalism and mass communication diploma.

“Despite attending many interviews, my eldest hasn’t been able to find a job because of COVID-19 and the MCO.

“Although it’s not what she studied, this business she’s helping me with is opening up a new career path for her,” said Nik Khairina.

-- BERNAMA