Ahmad Faizal prepares his customers’ orders at the Ramadan bazaar.
SIBU (March 19): A Ramadan bazaar stall offering Royal Kedah Nasi Kandar at Dataran Tun Tuanku Bujang has been a hit among the public here.
The stall, operated by Ahmad Faizal Rino Rusli, has seen customers braving the scorching heat as they wait in line for their order.
Speaking to The Borneo Post when met yesterday, Kedah-born Ahmad Faizal, 40, said members of the public started queuing from noon even though his stall only opened at 1pm.
“We provide a variety of dishes, including nasi kandar honey chicken, nasi kandar onion chicken, squid, and lamb shank, which are among the most popular choices among our customers.
“We import all the ingredients to prepare this nasi kandar dish from Peninsular Malaysia. For the squid, we import them from Sabah,” he said.
Fondly known as Ajileh, he said the came up with the idea to start a nasi kandar business after getting ‘stranded’ in Sarawak during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I missed the dishes that are synonymous with the northern region, so my wife and I tried to cook the dish with our own recipe. We invited our closest friends to taste our cooking and they liked it and suggested to both of us to try and sell it to the public,” he said.
He said there are not many in Sarawak who sell nasi kandar and this gave him the confidence to do so.
“In the north of Kedah, the nasi kandar rice is yellow and comes with various side dishes. Although the dish is almost the same, people in Kedah call it ‘nasi lemak royal’ instead of nasi kandar.
“Therefore, when I opened a shop here, I chose to incorporate the name ‘royal’ to be better known,” he said.