“Malaysian food, it’s not like anything really.” That’s how Juliet Moo, a co-owner of Chinatown’s newest restaurant, Kaya, puts it to me when we sit down for a chat after dinner.
Having just worked my way through piles of fiery curried Laksa noodles, buttery jam toast, tea, eggs, fragrant rice, cucumber, and fried chicken, I want to know more.
The special thing about Malaysian food, she says, is how it takes influence from the country’s three main ethnic groups – Malay, Chinese and Indian.
“Because Malaysia is a multi racial country,” she explains, “our cuisines are unique in the sense that it’s like a combo of all these different cultures and ethnicities coming together and sharing flavours.”
Heat, I have already learnt, is a must. Even the national dish Nasi Lemak – a mellow sort of Malaysian ‘picky tea’ with coconut milk aromatic rice, cucumber slices, boiled egg, fried chicken, peanuts and salty morsels of dried anchovy – has a chilli-based sambal on hand to spice things up.
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Curried laksa noodlees with chicken, prawn and tofu at Kaya in Chinatown. / Image: The Manc Eats
Toast with Kaya pandan jam at Manchester’s new Malaysian restaurant. / Image: The Manc Eats
Kaya hasn’t yet been open a month, but Juliet says they have been ‘overwhelmed’ with the response to the new opening – admitting that they weren’t quite prepared for the number of people they would get coming through their doors.
Most of the flavours here are big and aromatic, with dishes using a lot of lemongrass and galangal, turmeric and other spices.
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That said, there is also a surprising amount of toast on the menu served with homemade Kaya jam and thick chunks of butter that could’ve well been laid on with a trowel.
Eggs come two ways – half-boiled with a little soy and pepper with strips for dipping, or hard-boiled and halved – whilst noodle and rice dishes comprise the bulk of the mains.
It is, as Juliet has already explained, a real mishmash of flavours. But it totally works, with Kaya already drawing in the crowds.
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“It was quite overwhelming to be honest, in the beginning, because we were not expecting this turnout,” she reveals.
“I guess a lot of people are obviously curious as to what Malaysian food is, so we had a lot of people coming in just to try, but we also had a lot of Malaysian coming in, just to, you know, because they feel like ‘oh cool, I can come here and eat the food from home.'”
Fiery laksa noodles at Kaya in Manchester. / Image: The Manc Eats
Kaya can be found on Faulker Street in Manchester’s Chinatown. Image: The Manc Eats
She also says they’ve already found it to be a balancing act with spice tolerance levels. Simply put, some English customers – myself included on this occasion – can’t always handle it.
I don’t know if I was having a bad day, because I’m usually into it when my lips start to tingle and my mouth feels like it’s on fire, but on this particular afternoon, I confess to finding the spicy curry laksa noodles a bit of a challenge.
Juliet laughs and tells me their Asian customers say the opposite – that it should be hotter. It doesn’t do my ego any good, but I suppose I’m not that surprised.
Her goal, she adds, is to make Kaya “as authentic as it can be, but at the same time introduce this type of food to locals.”
“I’m trying to find a balance, it’s been quite overwhelming, but it’s exciting to try new things, see people eat the food and we’re always improving, definitely, we want to make things better.”
Eggs are served as a starter half-boiled then mixed with soy sauce and black pepper with toast strips for dipping. / Image: The Manc Eats
A plate of chicken satay skewers with a chunky peanut dip, diced cucumber and red onion at Kaya. / Image: The Manc Eats
Whilst Malaysian cuisine has exploded in London, here in Manchester we’ve been slower to catch on – at least in the city centre.
For Juliet and her family, though, the lack of competition in town is a plus. They had previously tried opening a different style of restaurant a few years back, she tells me, that was a franchise and on a “very different scale altogether.”
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By comparison, Kaya – she adds – is “very small, but it’s a nice size to start.”
“My brother, Nicholas, my older brother. He’s been in Manchester for I think about thirteen years. So we’re all from Malaysia, so we’re all born and raised there, so he came here for school and he stayed on,” she says.
“So the fact that there’s not much Malaysian food in the city itself made us feel like there could be a chance, so we just went for it.”
It certainly makes a very welcome addition to Manchester city centre.
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Whether you’re already a diehard fan of Malaysian food, or you’re curious to experience something new, take it from me: Kaya is well worth a visit.
Featured image – The Manc Eats
Eats
‘Do not let Britain’s independent businesses disappear on your watch’ – Manchester bakery makes heartbreaking plea to Andy Burnham
Clementine Hall
A beloved Manchester bakery has issued an open letter to Andy Burnham ahead of the Budget begging him for help.
Barbakan Deli in Chorlton is basically an institution at this point.
The legendary bakery and delicatessen has been serving the community for 62 years, famed for its freshly-baked loaves of bread, its handmade sandwiches, and its pastries and cakes inspired by bakes from across Europe.
Posting on Instagram last night on Thursday 18 September, Frankie Dyer the director of Barbakan, issued an open letter addressed to Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Images: The Manc Group
It read: “Dear Mr Burnham, As an independent business owner in the hospitality sector, I am begging you to please read this.
“Really read it. And seriously consider what businesses like mine are telling you before the upcoming Budget.”
It continued: “In just the last two years, we have self-funded new bakery machinery, new catering kitchens, essential repairs and renovations and opened a second retail site, creating another six local jobs. We have won more than ten national awards for the quality of what we do.
“We have invested. We have grown. We have employed more people. We have worked harder than ever. In short, Prime Minister, we are doing everything you keep asking British businesses to do.
“And our bank balance is finished. That is the reality.”
The letter finished by Dyer inviting Andy Burnham to come visit the bakery and pleading for a ‘fighting chance’ to save the business: “We need action. We need meaningful reductions in the tax burden placed on employers.
“We need Employer National Insurance looked at urgently. We need a business-rates system which allows independent high-street businesses to survive. We need VAT reform for hospitality. We need Corporation Tax to reward businesses which reinvest, employ and grow.
“And we need proper grants and incentives that help established independent businesses invest and expand — not schemes with endless criteria which most ordinary businesses can never access. We need you to do something.
“And we need more than one token gesture in the Budget. A band-aid for a bullet wound. So I am asking you, Prime Minister, to come back to Manchester and see it for yourself. Pop an apron on and stand behind our counter.
Images: The Manc Group
“Come into our bakery in the middle of the night and meet the people making Manchester’s bread while most of the city is asleep. Look at our payroll, our energy bills, our rates, our supplier increases.
“Look at what leaves our bank account every single week simply for the privilege of keeping 50 people employed and our doors open. You said you wanted a government that understood the regions. You now have an opportunity to prove it.
“Independent businesses across this country are not asking for a handout. We are asking for a fighting chance. I sincerely hope your next Budget gives us one”.
Drinks prices revealed as Manchester Airport’s first-ever Wetherspoons pub opens inside T2
Emily Sergeant
It’s official… Manchester Airport’s first-ever JD Wetherspoon pub has officially opened its doors inside Terminal 2.
The 300-seater pub – which welcomed its first customers earlier this week – is named The Belle Vue after Manchester’s historic showground.
Throughout the pub, you’ll spot design features that nod to the city’s sporting heritage – including vintage event posters and memorabilia, a ‘locker wall’ hosting trophies and other sporting exhibits, and a cricket-themed design in the carpets and bar panels.
Creating around 150 jobs in the process, The Belle Vue is the final planned new eatery to open in the airport’s redeveloped Terminal 2, marking one of the final steps in the super-terminal’s decade-long, £1.5bn transformation.
Manchester Airport’s first-ever Wetherspoons pub has opened inside Terminal 2 / Credit: Supplied
According to the MEN, pints are priced from £6.20 for Carling and Coors lager, £6.45 for Budweiser, £6.60 for Guinness, and £6.70 for Poretti and 1664 Biere.
Prosecco is £9.20 for 175ml glass and £37.10 for the full bottle, while spirts and mixers are £6.80 for singles and £10.20 for doubles.
There’s also the classic Wetherspoons tea and coffee machines, where you can refill as many times as you like for just £3.60.
“It’s a proud moment to see the final new retail unit opening in our new-look Terminal 2,” commented Richard Jackson, who is the Retail Director at Manchester Airport.
“To be rounding off this 10-year programme by adding such an iconic name as Wetherspoon to the terminal is particularly special and we know that it will prove extremely popular with passengers. We think they’ll love the nods to Manchester’s heritage in the décor and design – and of course the name.”
Georgina Pellant -
6th July 2023 
