Malaysian food could travel the globe but still return to be one of the most delicious and sought-after cuisines of all time. This was proven 10 times over in a recent TikTok video where one Malaysian man, who resides and works in South Korea, cooked the hearty and mighty classic for his local colleagues to try for the first time: nasi lemak.
In a clip posted to his TikTok page @fikriakram91, Malaysian content creator Fikri shared how he made nasi lemak for his colleagues, intending to introduce our native dish to their South Korean palettes. At the beginning of the video, Fikri displayed the lengths he went through by cooking up a storm.
From frying pieces of chicken to making his own sambal, Fikri even cut up slices of cucumber, boiled eggs, and added pandan to his rice to make it more flavourful. Wrapping the items in one bundle to present it to his colleagues, Fikri laid out all the elements he made on a table at his workplace before each of his colleagues dug their spoons and chopsticks into the meal.
Providing context to his fellow workers, Fikri told them that nasi lemak is the number one dish in Malaysia (and he’s not wrong!). Gathering around, Fikri mentioned how excited everyone was, piling on the sambal and fried chicken to their plates.
After starting their meal, each colleague seemed absolutely thrilled, coming back for second, and even third rounds. While one of his colleagues licked his fingers over how good the nasi lemak was, one of Fikri’s other colleagues wiped sweat from his head due to the heat from the food.
“They thought it was so spicy, but they wanted some more! Thankfully, they all loved it despite how hot it was,” wrote Fikri in a caption across the screen.
Towards the end of the video, even Fikri’s boss, whose name is Mr Park, came to join his team. Drenched in sweat by the end of his meal, everyone was thoroughly satisfied with the nasi lemak, helping to clean up by the end of it.
In a brief conversation with WORLD OF BUZZ, Fikri said that he has been working in South Korea for about 7 months now, and has plans to continue sharing homegrown Malaysian dishes with his colleagues to indulge in.
Receiving immense praise from Malaysians online, multiple people applauded Fikri for bringing this local dish to South Korea, saying that he could even start selling Malaysian food there full-time.
“He enjoyed it so much he was chewing on the banana leaf too,” said one user in reference to Fikri’s colleague.
Another user also mentioned how strange it looked to see one of Fikri’s teammates eat nasi lemak with chopsticks. However, Fikri defended his colleague by saying that it is part of their culture, and that South Koreans are used to using it instead of spoons. Nevertheless, another user even praised Fikri’s other colleagues for using their hands to eat the dish, saying that’s how nasi lemak is intended to be eaten.
All in all, one of the most fruitful comments of the bunch came from a user who called cooking Fikri’s love language.
“How wonderful it is to see your food disappear slowly. All the energy and tiredness you felt while cooking is worth it even though you spent time and money on this,” wrote another user.
Watch the full TikTok clip below:
@fikriakram91 Nasi Lemak Pandan ft Ayam Goreng Berempah untuk my Korean officemate. Ini kalau tak sayang lagi tak tahu lah. 😆 Alhamdulillah ,semua suka and the best part is My boss kata nasi lemak Pandan paling masiseosyo. 😜 Next nak masak apa? Bagi idea sikit. #koreanpeople #friends #korealife #malaysian #fyp #fypシ #melayuboleh
In any part of the world, Malaysian food will remain supreme! Thank you for spreading it to South Korea, Fikri!
