She is exhausted from cooking for last night’s dinner service as well as takeaway and delivery orders, so a few more minutes of shut-eye would definitely do her tired body some good.
Instead of returning to bed, however, she stumbles to the kitchen to prepare the bao dough for the day as she anticipates more orders of her signature dishes, the Chinese Meat Pie and Pork & King Prawn Dumplings.
Born and bred in Penang, the 29-year-old uprooted her life six years ago to follow her husband James back to his hometown in the UK, and is now serving her three weeks’ notice as the commerce lead with an online food delivery service.
It was a tough but necessary move on her part, as she has big plans concerning the development of Lucky Lychee, her five-month-old cloud kitchen selling delicacies and dishes inspired by Penang’s diverse food culture.
“Growing up, my parents were always occupied with their jobs so I would be in the kitchen, whipping up my own lunches and dinners,” says Nicole.
“The passion to cook was also nurtured by my grandmother who is a Nyonya. So, we tend to cook a lot of Nyonya food at home in Malaysia.”
Due to the pandemic, she has been unable to return to Penang, and so decided to whip up a taste of home in the UK, where she and her husband are riding out the lockdown.
Missing home was one thing, but the decision to cook local dishes during the lockdown was partly because there are absolutely no Malaysian restaurants in Winchester.
“There is a Pan-Asian restaurant here, but the rendang is really disappointing and it doesn’t even look like rendang. It’s just curry with chunks of beef in it,” chuckles Nicole.
Like many others whose jobs were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, James, who worked in the out-of-home advertising industry had to accept redundancy in August last year.
But with lots of free time on his hands and Nicole’s dishes being such a hit at home, the couple decided to try their luck at selling food at the neighbourhood weekend market.
Since Nicole was still juggling her day job, they split the tasks; James cooked the curries using her recipes while she made the baos.
According to Nicole, “things just happened in a flurry in October”, as they did everything in-house, from the logo of their business to the photographs of the food and even the catchy rhyme that became their restaurant name.
Nicole laughs at the recollection and says, “Honestly, it was in the morning and we were scrambling for a name for our restaurant. Many Chinese restaurants in the UK tend to have the word ‘lucky’ in them and we decided to combine it with fruit.
“Lychees are native to Guangdong and Fujian, China, where my great grandparents were from before they migrated to Malaysia, so it seemed fitting. Plus it’s a win-win because it’s my favourite fruit!”
Customers at the weekend market lapped up Nicole’s food, with many raving about the Crispy Tofu Bao and Hoisin Peanut Sauce, Chinese Meat Pie and Beef Rendang.
But things didn’t stop there.
“In December, The Mucky Duck — a really popular pub in Winchester — asked if we were keen to move into their kitchen and serve our food. Back then, pubs were allowed to operate under the strict condition that they sold only substantial meals,” Nicole says.
As it turned out Lucky Lychee’s partnership with The Mucky Duck was a resounding success with their best-seller, the 8-Hour Beef Cheek Rendang, selling out within hours every single time. Pub-goers also couldn’t get enough of the Sweet and Sour Pork with Lychees and the Char Siu Baos.
There’s something for everyone on Lucky Lychee’s menu as 50% of the dishes are vegan-friendly – Sweet and Sour Tofu with Lychees; Mango and Cucumber Kerabu, and Crispy Rainbow Spring Rolls, to name a few.
“Thankfully, most of the ingredients are not difficult to source, or else we would have had to switch it up with the current local produce,” says Nicole, referring to her Nyonya Sweet Potato Leaf Curry as an example.
“Since sweet potato leaves are hard to source here, we substituted it with spinach and squash. We also made it vegan by using a vegan fish sauce so that everyone can try it. We even make our curry paste from scratch.”
Lucky Lychee has been stealing so many hearts (and stomachs), to the extent that it was recently listed among the top nine favourite incredible eateries, beating 15,000 other nominated restaurants across the UK in a cook starter initiative by Gousto.
“Although we didn’t get into the top five, it’s a really good feeling because we never saw it coming — we haven’t even opened an official restaurant yet! We owe it all to our amazing customers who have been extremely supportive of local businesses,” gushes Nicole.
She admits that even she was surprised by the huge interest in Malaysian food as most of Lucky Lychee’s dishes are foreign to her customers, owing to the fact that there are not many Malaysians residing in Winchester.
Nicole dreams of expanding Lucky Lychee into a full-fledged restaurant someday and introducing more Penang delicacies like char kway teow and Hokkien noodles.
“Char kway teow is not an easily accessible dish here, and even if some restaurants do sell it, it leans towards the Malay style of cooking instead of the Penang style that I’m more familiar with.”
At the moment, Nicole and James are looking for a suitable spot to set up shop. Though most of the places available are expensive, the couple remains optimistic about finding one that fits their budget.
“Southeast Asian food is getting more popular; Thai food is in demand and Vietnamese cuisine is beloved by many. Malaysians seem to be the only ones who know how special our food is, so I want to introduce more of it to the people here,” says a hopeful Nicole.
Lucky Lychee currently operates from Thursday to Sunday nights and is only allowed to accept takeaway and delivery orders, as pubs in the UK are still not allowed to open due to the pandemic.
Craving for Malaysian food in the UK? Place your orders with Lucky Lychee for a hot plate of home-cooked Malaysian food. For more information, head over to Lucky Lychee’s website, Instagram and Facebook.