LONDON (Tues): The atmosphere at the Malaysia Hall canteen on the first day of the reopening of its doors last Monday, was nothing short of a reunion of old friends at a place everyone calls home away from home.
In spite of a chilly wet day, customers started arriving for the long awaited breakfast of nasi lemak as early as 8 am and there was a steady flow of customers peaking at lunch time and continued till dinner and closing time.
The new operators of the canteen at no: 32 Queensborough Terrace, are familiar faces and are no strangers to the running of the canteen. Hairani Muhammad and husband Azhar Kamaruddin, of the popular Makan Café in Portobello, once ran Malaysia Hall canteen when Malaysia Hall was in Bryanston Square in the late 90’s.
According to someone who heard that the couple had won the tender the second time round, “It is Bryanston Square all over again” – the friendly warm atmosphere, delicious affordable food and a place to call home.
“I am very very happy to be back; it is like running the canteen 20 years ago. Only the venue has changed. I would love to bring back that atmosphere,” gushed Hairani or better known as Ani to all as she greeted familiar faces.
No one better to vouch that than Dato Yunus Raiss, 84, a former magistrate who used to run Sels English College in Covent Garden.
During the temporary closure of the canteen for renovation, I met up with Yunus at Jave-U Café in Edgware Road, for want of a convenient place for tea.
“I am lost without the canteen,” said Yunus, his face crestfallen. “It was like a little bit of Malaysia for me. I go there for the atmosphere, the Malaysian atmosphere. Not so much for the food,” he had said then.
Yunus must be one of the few remaining Malaysians who had enjoyed the hospitality of Malaysia Hall canteen since he was a student in 1954.
It was then located at Bryanston Square, near Oxford Street, a place that held a lot of wonderful memories for young Malaysian students back then.
Yunus was a young teacher sent for training at the Malayan Teachers’ Training College, Kirkby, Liverpool in 1954. He would come to London during the breaks and the Malaysia Hall canteen was the temporary home away from home. He went back to teach at Sekolah Dato Abdul Razak, in Perak and came back to do Law, practised as a magistrate and then opened up the College for English language.
“At that time, you have to dress up for dinner, the cooks then were mostly West Indians and you have to be careful as sometimes, there were sausages!” he laughed.
Those were the days when you paid just under a pound for the dishes and fruits but could eat as much rice as you like. Dato Lat's drawing of the Malaysia Hall canteen then, very much captured the mood.
“The Malaysia Hall canteen to me is a continuation of Malaysia. When they were going to close down the Hall some 15years ago, I met a Malaysian lady who was married to a local and had been here a long time. She said to me, if you close down Malaysia Hall canteen, I will lose Malaysia, I will lose the emotional ties.”
Not being able to travel home, Yunus very much needed that emotional link to the country he loves and had not returned for many years.
“There was a lovely sitting room with velvet curtains and a piano and a library. Most students went there because it was warm,” he reminisced.
Regulars to the `Malaysia Hall canteen, be it when it was in Bryanston Square or at the present place, are not unfamiliar to the gentleman, always smartly attired in his suit, muffler, hat and an umbrella, walking down the few steps to the canteen.
“It is another world. You take away the canteen, there’s nothing left anymore, not only for students but for the Malaysian community here,” he added.
As if to justify his regular presence there, Yunus had reinforced his ties to the canteen by giving free English lessons to Malaysian students.
“You know I teach here on Fridays. I always come here first to have tea, or just to sit down before going upstairs to teach. I feel very much at home here. I like the atmosphere. It is not a restaurant. It is not so much the food…it is the atmosphere. There are happy people, people you don’t know, they say hello to you. You smile and they smile back. This is very much like Malaysia to me…I have missed it very much,” he said sipping a glass of water as that is about all he could afford to drink giving his health conditions.
He is like the uncle figure. I remember those who came to Malaysia Hall after having had the misfortune to be victims of the famous London scams, and it was Yunus who offered not just advise but paid for their temporary accommodation.
On the first day the canteen reopened its doors, familiar faces trooped down the steps to the basement, happy that it is opened again. Backpackers, travellers and holiday makers came down with their luggage and strollers happy in the knowledge that there’s home cooked food here.
A group of former Tungku Kurshiah students led by Dato' Zuraidah Atan was also there to add to the merriment.
During the closure, I usually found groups of disappointed customers who had arrived not knowing it was still closed. But now, they can be restassured that the doors are open from breakfast until dinner..
Two nights ago at the Islamic Circle at the adjoining hall, I felt choked just looking at the unity, the togetherness that Malaysia Hall and the canteen offer.