Asians account for just a little more than 4% of the city’s population of about 300,000 and, not surprisingly, Malaysians are hard to find.
That doesn’t stop young restaurateur Nurul Adila from openly identifying as a proud Malaysian. After all, she is a showrunner for Rendang, the first and only Malaysian restaurant in the city.
It seems like a far-fetched idea to establish a place like Rendang where people are more used to burgers and steaks. But according to Nurul, spreading the good word of Malaysian cuisine to the American public is a duty with its fair share of perks.
“I got here in the beginning of 2016 to continue my actuarial science degree at the University of Nebraska,” she told FMT Lifestyle.
After completing her degree at the end of 2018, she decided to stay in Lincoln to work as a state government statistical analyst.
It was all fine and dandy for a while, but cravings for home-cooked cuisine soon began to gnaw at her.
“I had spent my whole life in Malaysia and I ate nothing but Malaysian food when I was growing up. Living in a foreign land was a huge challenge for me back then.”
She said she rarely ate out because American mainstays like burgers and pizzas tasted too foreign to her.
While studying for her degree, Nurul sold Malaysian food from her apartment and worked part-time at a Hawaiian restaurant.
And then, one day, a restaurant owner bought an empty building and offered her the chance to start a restaurant. It was an unbelievable opportunity, and Nurul could hardly believe it herself.
“I started from nothing,” she said. “The capital that I used was my whole life’s savings and it was definitely a huge risk that we took.”
She had a business partner in Muhammad “Bo” Ehsan, an American citizen raised in Malaysia. They worked hard to learn the ropes of running a business, like bookkeeping and advertising.
Of course, running a Malaysian restaurant in the US has its challenges. Getting quality ingredients, for example, is tough.
“Ingredients like ikan bilis are impossible to get,” Nurul said. “Even if we can find it, it’ll cost way too high to justify the purchase.”
Nurul occasionally orders ingredients straight from Malaysia. That said, she does stay imaginative in filling in the culinary gaps. “We creatively try out substitute ingredients,” she said.
So, how has the public responded to the city’s first ever Malaysian restaurant? According to Nurul, opening day was a “crazy affair”.
“We had to close the day after opening day because we ran out of everything and we had no ingredients left to prepare for the next day.”
Since the locals do not regularly eat “ethnic food”, Rendang has been gradual in updating its menu, gently introducing Malaysian classics like nasi lemak and mee kari to first timers.
“Diners can mix rice or potato wedges or roti canai with the different kinds of chicken that we fry fresh to order and with different sauces like sambal, curry, peanut sauce and butter sauce.”
She said the compromise had been effective in attracting diners to return to try more Malaysian dishes.
In addition to hearty meals, Rendang serves Malaysian-influenced pastries like pandan gula Melaka cake and pandan basque burnt cheesecake, all made by Nurul’s baker sister.
Nurul is obviously proud to represent Malaysia with her cooking. “It is something that I never thought I would do and it is definitely a huge challenge,” she said.
“Whenever customers come up to the counter once they finish their meal, just to say thank you and how wonderful the meal was, it really touches my heart.”
Happy Malaysia Day, Nurul Adila – thank you for taking Malaysian cuisine to the US!
Learn more about Rendang here, as well as via Facebook and Instagram.