Strangers At 47 is no stranger to anyone who lives around the PJ area. This café is known for both their savoury and sweet fusion crepes which uses only the freshest ingredients. Not only that, aromatic roasted coffee and a comfy café interior would make you stay here longer than you might expect!
This iconic eatery in Seksyen 17 was brought to life in 2014 by couple and best friends, Sean Ooi and Lim Sing Yi. In the past few years, the business has continually thrived under the skillful attention of both the founders. Discover KL recently caught up with the founders of Strangers at 47 as they share about how they got into the business, which are their personal recommendations off the menu, and much more.
1) What is your backstory before getting into the business?
Sean (S): Prior to starting this business, Sing Yi and I have just both graduated from Taylor’s University where I majored in Culinary and Sing Yi majored in Hospitality Management.
2) Why did you start this business?
S: It was my dream to start a food business, ever since I was a kid, and thankfully I met Sing Yi, who is extremely interested to run a food business as well.
The restaurant concept came from a family discussion over meals. Both of us cooked at home and had many meals with my mom, who told us of her wonderful crepe experience in Melbourne. Inspired, I begun to explore the concept of fusion crepes and found that some which I have created have been hugely popular with my family and close friends. Added to the fact that it’s extremely rare to find a café that specialises in crepes, it was an unanimous decision!
3) What are your best and worst moments throughout the business?
S: The most memorable/best experience was us getting nominated as best café in Time Out KL Food Awards back in 2014, 2015. We have been recently shortlisted in this years’ Time Out KL Food Awards too! Therefore making it our 3rd year running! We hope to be able to take back the award this time round.
Back in 2014, we’ve literally just opened barely a month and to our surprise, we received news that we were shortlisted under the Best Café category. It was an amazing boost of motivation and morale.
The worst moment for us is when we had to pause our newly launched menu (Friends at 45) which consists of roasted chicken with side dishes as we are facing shortage in manpower. Manpower is our number 1 challenge as we hire only locals. It’s not difficult to come across people interested to work in the F&B industry, but challenge lies in that even when people are interested, they are hesitant to commit because of the perception that F&B has ‘no future’.
As we are an independent café with a young team, parents of graduates would rather their children work in bigger establishment like hotels.
We foresee this to be an ongoing challenge, and the best thing we can do is try to change the perception. We are driven not just by the rewards or satisfaction of success, but also by the fact that our success will be testament and proof to anyone that it is possible to have a bright and lucrative future working in the F&B industry.
4) Which meal would you recommend to your customers?
S: Usually for first timers, we would recommend both our crowd favourites: A hen’s crush for savoury, and Dark Side for sweet.
5) If you were to rate your business between 1 to 5, what number would it be?
S: Well, nothing is perfect but we would like to strive to be perfect. What makes us proud from this business is that knowing our customers enjoy themselves here. Receiving compliments and encouraging feedback from them, it makes our day, each and every time. So no rating for us!
6) Choose one dish from your restaurant that you wouldn’t mind eating for the rest of your life.
S: Shore To Please! Because the flavours of the Cajun tiger prawns, battered squid goes very well with the salted egg sauce! As a Malaysian, we seem to really like food which are able to “dance” in our mouth and this is the dish which has that flavour.
7) What are you looking forward to for Strangers At 47?
S: Right now, we’re enjoying ourselves and letting fate (and customers’ feedback) inspire us to explore the possibilities. Our ultimate dream however, is to have a beautiful boutique hotel that would include Strangers as the restaurant. Strangers at 47 was a dream before it became a reality, so let’s hope this works out the same way!
Feature Image Credit: Strangers At 47
DKL Gets Personal is a series with well-known personalities within the industry, be it food, events, or anything pertaining to lifestyle. It is a way to gain insight into the industry and to learn how these individuals managed to turn an idea into reality.
