Malaysian landscape architect takes her cooking passion to greater heights
A new Malaysian restaurant scheduled to open tomorrow in this university town will not only satisfy palates, but also promote Malaysian cuisine in Germany, which so far, has only four Malaysian restaurants -- two in Munich and one each in Frankfurt and Hamburg.
"Serai", the new restaurant in Schillerstrasse here will open its doors to the public in what is seen as a "major step" that can lead towards raising the level of awareness of the local people about Malaysian cuisine. Heidelberg is located in the southern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
"Because Malaysian cuisine is not widely known in Germany, I am convinced that it has great potential to become popular in this country," said the owner, Juliah Rais-Morres, at the newly renovated premises.
Juliah, who hails from Negri Sembilan, has lived in Germany for 22 years and is married to a German information technology professional, Uwe Morres, who works for the local labour office.
Although she is a landscape architect by profession and worked for 11/2 years at the Selangor Economic Development Corporation, Juliah received an intense hands-on exposure to food preparation and cooking at an early age from her family.
Her father, who owned a food business, and her sister, proficient at cooking, gave her valuable training.
Juliah's passion for cooking helped her enter food catering business alongside her work as an architect.
In the course of privately catering meals to individuals interested in Malaysian food, she was also urged to start her own restaurant specialising in Malaysian food.
Along the way, she also conducts cooking lessons in Malaysian cuisine at an adult education school here.
She said the encouraging response from the Germans strengthened her belief that Malaysian cuisine would do well in a city that had a large number of international students and expatriates who were always open to foreign cuisine.
In the pipeline, Juliah plans to introduce satay, which she said was her signature dish, curry puff, roti canai, rendang and other Malaysian dishes.
"I am not going to depend on Malaysian customers alone for my business. Indeed, my customers will be mainly Germans, who are already familiar with Asian cuisine and would appreciate the rich diversity represented by our cuisine."
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