COVID-19 has dealt a big blow to the hospitality industry; sparing no one, with businesses crashing down, and for some, doors shutting forever.
Sugendran Gopal of Roti King and Gopal's Corner in London knows the pain, dealt by the killer virus on his business too well.
Just as he was enjoying the expansion of his chain of eateries in central London, like other businesses, he had to cease operations. His kitchen in the three outlets, once flipping close to 700 roti canai a day and serving, among others, banana leaf rice and mee goreng mamak, ground to a stop.
'It has hit us bad, really bad," he said when I met up with him two evenings ago. I did not have to worry about the long queue outside his Roti King outlet in Euston, queues that never seemed to go away come rain, snow or sleet.
For now, only Roti King remains open while Gopal's Corner in the Market Halls in Oxford Circus and Victoria, remain shut with only a slight glimmer of hope that they will reopen in March next year. There's so much uncertainty in the air.
After two lockdowns and a reported increase in infections which has pushed London to a Tier 2 bordering precariously on Tier 3, things are still looking a bit bleak.
However, there is a glint in Sugen's eyes.
He is bringing back the brand Gopal's Corner to Malaysia to where it started. Thus, good news for fans of his Malaysian Tamil food that had been the cause of those long queues outside his restaurants.
Gopal's Corner which had its humble beginnings in a shed under a tree in Buntong, a suburb in Ipoh, had made a steady expansion to a double shop lot in Sungai Pari when Sugen's parents, Gopal and V. Padma, were asked to move as they were operating on state land.
It was there that Sugen kneaded and flipped his first roti canai, tutored by his uncle. The rest of the skills came from his mother.
"She is the, the …..man behind Gopal's Corner," Sugen said, struggling to find the right word to describe the mover and shaker behind the success of the eatery that brought people from the municipal council, state assemblymen and senior police officers for their fix of banana leaf rice, tiger prawn and fish head curry and sambal.
"Bringing back the Gopal's Corner brand to Malaysia after the success in London, is a tribute to them. I want to make them proud," he said.
It had always been the dream of Sugen and his brother, Summan, to have Gopal's Corner in London and one in Malaysia. And who knows then they can spread their wings globally to introduce the delights of Malaysian Tamil food.
The soft launch on 12th December was a culmination of numerous remote consultations and planning, driven fervently by the knowledge that the present location of Gopal's Corner in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, was the one he had set his eyes on some 20 years ago.
"Twenty years ago, I went to Kuala Lumpur to look for a site for a restaurant. What I saw and liked was so expensive and I had to abandon the plan. But recently, during discussions with my friends who found the shop, it turned out that that's the shop lot that I was looking at," he added.
Sugen's father, now in his 70's is not in good health, but his spritely mum, also in her 70's has been coaching and training chefs for the soft launch.
"She never stopped talking about Gopal's Corner, her dreams are filled with memories of working in Gopal's Corner. Now she is so excited," he said imagining his mother in familiar surroundings and in her element once again.
"I also want my dad to go there, to see the shop with his name."
The soft launch which was for friends and family who knew the original Gopal's Corner was only attended by Sugen and his family here via his phone app but he is hoping that he will be there for the proper opening, most probably in February.
The 42-year-old restaurateur who came to London to seek knowledge found himself the proprietor of eateries which have been acknowledged by not just his customers, food bloggers, but also culinary experts, culminating in a wonderful review in The Guardian and later The Independent newspaper in the United Kingdom.
I have been a staunch follower of Sugendran's food, from the time I saw him flipping his roti canai at a stall sandwiched between Yum Yum Thai and another eatery at Oriental City in north London, to the Taste of Malaysia in Willesden and later to Kopi Tiam in London's Leceister Square. I never failed to join the long queue at every Malaysian food fair in London when there's Roti King.
The re-establishment of Gopal's Corner in Malaysia, though a few hundred miles away from its original site under a tree, is much more than a business expansion. It is a son's tribute to his parents who taught him his first steps in his culinary journey.