KOTA BARU: A food business operator here took a bold step in introducing Pek Nga - a northern traditional delicacy or better known as ‘lempeng’ (pancake), at his restaurant at Beris Jambu in Pengkalan Chepas since last month.
Zamri Sulaiman’s initiative has resulted in an astounding response from the locals here, with him easily selling an average of 1,000 pieces of `Pek Nga’s every day.
The 48-year old has managed to keep the crowd coming as he prepares a variety of Pek Nga consisting of cheese, onions, banana and coconut, served with anchovy sambal, chicken and minced beef curry.
Zamri said the idea came to light when he discovered that none of the food business operators here sold the traditional delicacy in the state.
He said he took that initiative to start his business on Aug 31.
"Alhamdulillah (Thank God), since starting the Pek Nga business, the response shown by the people is very encouraging.
"One of the bestselling Pek Nga is the coconut and banana ones. To make it different from others, I also changed other flavours by putting half-cooked eggs on it.
"My customers like this for breakfast especially. We even received requests from the customers to operate our business till mightnight," he said when met here yesterday.
Zamri said he was planning to diversify a variety of Pek Nga to give different choices to the customers.
"We start selling Pek Nga from 7am till 5pm with the price of RM2 each.
"Customers can also enjoy other foods such as the gulai ikan tongkol, gulai ayam kampung and gulai daging goreng as well as its special menu, gulai lemak udang," he said.
A customer, Hamidah Maidin, 55, said although it was her first time trying Pek Nga, the pancakes had its own unique taste and was delicious.