In my blogpost yesterday, I mentioned that I walked over to this coffee shop in the next block to the left and I was appalled to see that there were so very few customers, maybe two tables only to the most, unlike that previous time when I dropped by when they were enjoying brisk business despite the pandemic.
I guess the problem started when the beef noodles…
…stall moved to their own shop here and their crowd of loyal followers made their way there as well.
Eventually, the lady selling the very nice Penang har mee (prawn noodles)…
…that I ate that day also moved to a coffee shop across the road from here…
…along Jalan Sena. My ex-student sent me a photograph of the coffee shop but I have not gone over to have a look yet.
A Malay lady has taken her place but it did not look like she had any business at all – I wonder how long she would last at this rate and for reasons unknown, the kampua mee stall was closed, not something usual on a Thursday – they usually take the day off on Monday or Tuesday every week.
In the meantime, this coffee shop…
…that used to be in the next lane from my house has moved here…
…to what was formerly the Football Cafe along Jalan Cherry, Lorong 10. A long time ago, my ex-student used to run his Art tuition class at the unit on the extreme left on the 1st floor and I used to send my girl there. Now he is a very successful gynaecologist in Bintulu, making tonnes of money.
I don’t know what happened at the old place – probably there were some rental issues but even though this new place is quite near my house, I am in no hurry to go over, not at all. The kampua mee…
…and the pian sip…
…were good but there are others elsewhere just as good or perhaps even nicer.
I loved the Foochow fried mee special, the moon version…
…and the tomato kway teow…
…and my girl loved the fried pek koi…
…from the chu-char (cook and fry) people but I am not fond of the guy’s peculiar sense of humour. I don’t know if he was being hurtful or what but the things he said were far from being funny – I saw the expressions on the customers’ faces change as he hurled his insults at them and I did hear people saying that they would never go back there again!
Word has it that business at the new place is as brisk as before so I guess the loss of some of his customers has not affected them that much, if at all.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
The Foochow fried mee special, moon version looks so inviting whereas for the tomato kway teow, the colour of the gravy looks different from what we have over here. One good point is they are very generous with the greens. That place where the row of shops stands looks so deserted.
Yes, just the building there among all the houses…and none of the units open. With this kind of attitude, I would never go and buy from this guy – there are others that are nicer even. Pity his poor Kayan wife – no wonder she always looks so sad, so miserable.
That Foochow fried mee is my kinda food for sure!
Everybody’s favourite!
It must be hard for restaurants that have become known in one location when landlords increase the rent. Stay, pay more and keep your following, or move out and find something cheaper but lose your customers.
The landlords should know that they must do all they can to keep their anchor tenants, the ones that draw the crowd. Problem is they see their business is so good and they want a slice of the pie. Once, those move away, the customers will all follow them…and the landlords will lose all their business after that.