MasterChef Indonesia Winner Opens Her Own Restaurant, Calls Malaysia's Nasi Kandar "Sandy"
"When I was travelling in Malaysia, I ate nasi kandar every day... but I found it was less flavourful, so I thought I could make it myself," she said.
By May Vin Ang — 20 Sep 2024, 11:57 AM
The winner of Masterchef Indonesia Season 5, Stefani Horison, better known as Fani, recently opened her own restaurant featuring Malaysian cuisine in Tangerang, Indonesia
The new eatery aims to cater to Indonesians missing the flavours of Malaysia. "For those craving Malaysian food, you can come here," she said.
The restaurant, called Panho Panmee & Nasi Kandar, offers a familiar range of Malaysian favourites, such as chilli pan mee, nasi kandar, curry mee, durian cendol, and more.
Popular Indonesia food blogger Boengkoes recently paid a visit to the 2019 MasterChef winner's restaurant to try out a few dishes.
However, some of Stefani's comments while introducing her restaurant have raised some Malaysians' eyebrows.
In the video, Boengkoes asked what led the 28-year-old to decide to open her own restaurant, especially centred around Malaysian food.
"When I was travelling in Malaysia, I ate nasi kandar every day... but I found it was less flavourful, so I thought I could make it myself," she said.
She emphasised that she only uses fresh ingredients in her dishes, which is different from Malaysia's typical use of pre-ground powders, which can give the curries a gritty texture.
"The difference is that the nasi kandar here uses fresh ingredients. In Malaysia, they use spice powders, so it feels sandy," she explained.
While the food reviewer only had compliments for Stefani's cooking by the end of the video, some of her comments about nasi kandar angered Malaysian netizens
The video has garnered close to 350,000 views on YouTube, with Malaysians criticising Stefani's spin on the local dish.
"We Malaysians will never say 'our bakso is better', because we respect Indonesia's local food, we realise may have not tried the best one. You Indonesians have no respect for other people," read an angry comment.
"If you want to eat original nasi kandar, you have to go to Penang; it's the birthplace of authentic nasi kandar. The spices are ground themselves. This feels like a stab to the heart," said another.
"Bro, that isn't nasi kandar, that's nasi kari. Nasi kandar is not like this, the colour of those fried vegetables don't look great and the gravy is too watery," opined another.
Nonetheless, some netizens defended the young chef, saying that food and taste are subjective, and that she is catering to local tastebuds.
