Why this M’sian opened a Kelantanese Peranakan restaurant named after the insult “mangkuk”

Have you ever heard of the expression “mangkuk”?

While it means bowl in Bahasa Melayu, it’s taken on a different meaning colloquially. According to people I’ve asked, it typically refers to “dumb” or “silly”.    

In any case, there’s actually a restaurant in KL that’s actually named after the slang term.

“Back in my high school days, most of the teachers would call my batchmates and me ‘mangkuk’,” Ding, the chef patron of the establishment said.

While many people take this word to mean “dumb”, Ding explained that there’s actually a secondary meaning.

“One of our teachers explained that we were called ‘mangkuk’ because we have the potential to do great things, yet we don’t know or refuse to apply that potential, kind of like how a bowl can only be filled with all sorts of food but can’t be eaten it on its own,” he said.

As Ding was coming up with the concept and brand name for his own restaurant, which revolves around sharing plates to be eaten with rice, he was reminded how rice is typically served in bowls. From there, he was reminded of the “mangkuk” story.

Inspired by the message, Ding named his restaurant Mangkuk by GC (Mangkuk), home to people who are constantly working towards fulfilling their potential.  

A foodie at heart

Born and bred in KL, Ding has always been a lover of food. He pursued his Bachelor’s in Culinary Arts & Foodservice Management at Taylor’s University. After that, he mostly worked at European restaurants in KL and Singapore.

Later on, he decided to further his studies in Switzerland, where he got his Masters in Culinary Business Management. Here, he experienced an internship at a one-star Michelin restaurant.

Although he’s been interested in food and cooking growing up, it wasn’t his first career choice after SPM. He had wanted to pursue something in science, but had to reconsider due to his grades.

But perhaps that’s just not what his “mangkuk” was meant to be filled with. Because in March of 2023, after years of experience in the kitchen, he opened up his very own restaurant.    

Mangkuk’s goal is to serve Malaysian comfort food, inspired by the rich culinary traditions found across Malaysia, as well as from the chef patron’s own heritage.

Ding’s mum is Kelantanese, so he spent a good part of his childhood in Kelantan, enjoying his grandmother’s and mother’s Kelantanese Peranakan cooking. This is reflected in the signature dishes served in Mangkuk.

This includes bites such as the Pomelo & Long Bean Salad (inspired by kerabu salad) and the Laksam Umai (a fusion between Northern Malaysian laksa and East Malaysian cured fish salad).

For main dishes, there’s the Signature Hong Bak (a braised pork dish with spices, gula nisan, and taucu) and the Kelantanese Kerutuk (a rich, rendang-ish curry typically found in Kelantan).  

“While my professional experience and background has always been classically French, I was utterly inspired in recent years by a lot of Modern Malaysian restaurants throughout the country and the things they’re doing, and slowly found myself gravitating towards rediscovering our own colourful culinary landscape,” he explained.

Just look at the Michelin-starred restaurants in Malaysia, including our first two-starred Dewakan, which focuses on modern Malaysian cuisine.   

“While I had no prior experience with entrepreneurship, I’ve always wanted to take up the challenge and create something that I can truly call my own,” Ding explained. “That was when I just hit my 30s, so I thought maybe it’s a good time to try.”

Marketing the mangkuk

Ding believes that Mangkuk’s direction is pretty unique for its area, so much so that it took them a bit longer to convince people to dine there.

“We were hoping to attract nearby office workers when we first opened, however we slowly found out that they’d still prefer mamak shops, kopitiams, and mixed rice shops nearby for something quick and affordable,” he explained.

Even offering a set lunch promotion on weekdays didn’t do much to increase reception. Yet, they couldn’t lower prices too much.

“That’s when we knew we had to rethink on who our main target market is,” he said.

As of today, mostly families within the Kepong and Bandar Menjalara area make up Mangkuk’s clientele. They also have the occasional visits from young foodies and affluent retirees from other parts in Klang Valley.

To reach their audience, the team has been upping their social media presence. This effort, which involves high-quality videos sharing the founder’s story, was actually what caught our attention,  

“We’ve gotten feedback while our food looks visually appealing on social media, people couldn’t really connect with us due to the lack of brand identity. That’s why we worked with a third-party marketing team as they helped create content and further solidified the brand,” Ding explained.

He said that the store definitely saw improvement once those videos went live.

Steadily filling up the bowl

Lately, business has been “not too bad”, Ding said. However, he believes Mangkuk still has ways to go before it can truly be stable.  

“Our first year wasn’t great,” he opened up. “We had to suffer losses up until CNY 2024 where we started breaking even. Start-up capital was an estimated RM300K, funded by my own savings and a personal loan from a family member.” 

Ding believes that staffing has been and still is one huge challenge in terms of operating a restaurant. The same goes for Mangkuk.

“It’s not easy finding the right people with the right mindset working with you,” he pointed out. “There were many instances throughout the first year where we have to run at the absolute bare minimum, to the point that the team and myself was slowly burning out or falling sick.”

Thankfully, things have improved. Everyone in the team learnt how to communicate and manage expectations when it comes to their workloads.

“I am happy with my team today and how far we’ve all come,” he proudly shared.

Planting the seeds for an F&B group

Mangkuk’s full name, actually, is Mangkuk by GC, which refers to the registered company name, Grub Community Sdn. Bhd.

“The dream is to have a few other brands under the Grub Community brand, where our mission is to simply bring people together and share unique culinary experiences with them,” he explained.

Before they can get there, though, Ding needs to work on stabilising their turnover and diversifying revenue streams first.

“As a chef, I will continue to work on reinventing myself, creating exciting food and slowly defining my own culinary identity,” he concluded.

Featured Image Credit: Mangkuk by GC