THE Hokkien chatter pauses to make way for the standard Japanese greeting as another customer enters the dimly lit restaurant in search of something a bit uncommon in Minato City. As if enchanted by the aroma wafting from the kitchen, the customer, dressed like a typical salaryman, orders a curry rice.
With ingredients sourced with much hassle, the chef behind the counter, 73-year-old Teo Ghin Boon, whips up a bowl of curry rice a la Malaysia. But it's not just ingredients that are hard to come by. "Hidup susah (life is hard)," confides Teo's husband, Robert McLean, also 73, as his wife moves on to preparing a plate of chicken rice.
The couple run Penang Restaurant, one of several Malaysian eateries in Tokyo. Despite their age, they don't have any employees and do everything themselves. They opened the place in 2012 in an area surrounded by offices. Business was good until Covid-19 hit.
"Business is tough… after Covid-19, everyone is struggling," he shares, adding that there are fewer customers these days. There are also other challenges, not dissimilar to those faced by restaurateurs in Malaysia.
NO SLOWING DOWN
McLean shares that the price of ingredients has gone up, and increasing prices isn't an option with most of their customers being salarymen used to their 800 yen-a-plate meals. Fortunately, they still have regular customers from Malaysia and Indonesia, and this is how McLean practises his Malay.
The former lorry driver left Penang when he was 40 to work in a hotel here and did so for over 20 years. He and Teo decided to open the restaurant as they were "too old" to find work. "No one wants to hire someone over 60," he says, playfully describing himself as a "Burung Kakak Tua, Gigi Tinggal Dua".
The couple, who have a son, still have family in Malaysia and try to return once every four to five years, if they can afford it. "I miss Malaysia all the time. I miss the people," confides McLean.
Still, as tough as times are, he says life is good and that they have no plans to slow down. "We'll take it day by day. As long as we can work, we will," concludes McLean wistfully.