This Kopitiam In Kelantan Serves Breakfast To Hardworking Monkeys
Monkey owners hand-feed their furry friends kuih at this humble coffee shop.
By Arisha Rozaidee — 13 Aug 2019, 06:26 PM
Warung Kopitiam Beruk in Kampung Melor Lama, Kelantan, gives 'monkey business' a new definition
Bernama reported that the quaint coffee shop is a favourite joint for local monkey handlers and their furry companions.
They gather every morning around 7am to fuel up, chit-chat, and conduct monkey trade before they head off to work to harvest coconuts.
The kopitiam is owned by 40-year-old Rohaida Ibrahim who started the business about 10 years ago in 2008
Her husband Mohd Saiful Mohd Sori, 45, is a monkey handler as well, and has been training monkeys to pick coconuts for more than 20 years.
It's fun to watch the monkeys eat, but it is even more enjoyable to watch them being doted on by their handlers who hand-feed them kuih like Cik Mek and doughnuts and drinks like milk or Milo.
Monkey owners treat the kopitiam as a lepak place for their pets to mingle and play with other furry friends
One patron who frequents the food joint is Mohd Saiful, who owns a 15-year-old monkey named Dolah.
He told Bernama, "Usually the monkeys eat what I eat. If the master eats rice, it eats rice too. If I drink Milo, it too, drinks Milo."
Dolah hangs out with the kopitiam's other furry friends, such as Mamat, Din, and a female monkey named Saripah.
The kopitiam regularly hosts coconut-plucking competitions as well, which has attracted a lot of interest, including from foreign tourists
Zaidi Zakaria, a regular at the kopitiam, says that the monkeys are given simple commands like "Ish ambil" or "Eh atas" to pluck a young coconut, while "Yak" means "no".
Yassin Awang Puteh, 72, from Kampung Merbau, said that he has had Mat Soyok, aka 'Koyak', for five years and the monkey is a good worker.
Koyak is able to pluck 200 to 300 coconuts a day when the pair work from 7am to 11am.
