KUALA TERENGGANU: Terengganu’s famous traditional dish of nasi dagang is set to make its way into the European market next year.
Terengganu Incorporated Sdn Bhd (TI) chief executive officer Dr Wan Ahmad Rudirman Wan Razak said that they were in negotiations to market the dish, produced by T-Kitchen, with several companies in Europe as well as the United Kingdom.
“Our fast-food chain of Chicken Cottage in London will become one of the distribution centres for the frozen nasi dagang.
“We are optimistic that there will be a good demand as we plan to offer a variety of dishes such as ikan tongkol, prawns, chicken and beef, to go with the nasi dagang,” said Rudirman.
He added meal could be especially popular as Chicken Cottage caters for the Muslim community there.
The idea to promote frozen nasi dagang was the brainchild of Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman during his visit to London last year.
“As such, TI is all for promoting nasi dagang in Europe especially in line with the Visit Beautiful Terengganu 2017 campaign.
“We have already undertaken various promotional campaigns for nasi dagang over there, as it is a pride of Terengganu as the state’s traditional dish,” said Rudirman.
He added that Razif had similarly promoted nasi dagang during his visits to Melbourne and Perth in Australia recently.
It resulted in a memorandum of understanding between T-Kitchen and a distributor in Perth.
“For a start, we expect 1,000 packs a month of frozen nasi dagang to be sold in Perth. We are eventually targeting 30,000 packs a month in sales over there,” said Rudirman, adding that Malaysian students in Australia would be engaged as sales agents, too.
He added that a new T-Kitchen factory in Chendering, Kuala Terengganu would be able to meet the rising demand for their nasi dagang.