Eateries along once-busy Little India hard hit

KLANG: Mention Indian fried noodles here and the restaurant synonymous with it, Baratha Matha Vilas, comes to mind.

Located in the once-busy Little India in Jalan Tengku Kelana, the eatery has been dishing out the vegetarian and non-vegetarian varieties of the fried noodles since 1946.

Business had been lucrative and good until recently.

According to restaurant operator D. Sivapathasegaran, the demand for the famous mee goreng has taken a sharp dive since the nation was rocked by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We used to sell about 100kg of mee goreng a day during weekends and now, touching even 25kg is a big challenge,’’ he said.

He noted that sales would usually be extra brisk during the two months leading up to Deepavali as busloads of people from within the country and Singapore would come to Klang for their festive shopping.

“I believe people do not want to come to Klang because we are a red zone with active Covid-19 infection cases,’’ he sighed.

Sivapathasegaran also said the conditional movement control period saw the worst decline in sales as opposed to the initial movement control order (MCO).

“During the MCO when people were not allowed to dine out, we had many takeaway orders but it is less during the current conditional MCO, even though we can serve two diners at a table,’’ he added.

He reckoned that consumers were tightening their belts due to loss of income and pay cuts.

Little India Entrepreneurs Association Klang president Charles Manickam said the Jalan Tengku Kelana stretch is very quiet for the first time in history during the festive season.

Deepavali falls on Nov 14.

He said people are probably too worried to shop and this has been made worse by unverified and irresponsible WhatsApp messages circulating in cyberspace.

“One message says some of the major roads leading into Klang have been barricaded and this is not true at all,’’ he added.

Manickam said besides restaurants and textile and costume jewellery shops, small-scale vendors are also hard-hit.

“Their case is really pitiful as they depend solely on people walking around the area to promote and sell their products,’’ he said.