By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, Feb 28: Standing behind a hot barbeque pit station is a daily routine for 33-year-old Teo Min Lee, who has been grilling and selling mouth-watering, scrumptious chicken wings and succulent three-layered pork meats since she was just 15.
With a warm smile, the bubbly Teo shared that she had been doing this for the last 18 years and is pleased to serve her customers with a great culinary spirit like her late father had done.
Alongside her elder sister, she takes turns managing their beloved barbeque stall, ensuring the family legacy lives on.
She told DayakDaily that her late father, Teo Eng Chai, loved barbeque chicken wings and three-layered pork dishes. He would often treat his friends and family with these grilled delicacies over the weekends at their home.
“Over so many weekends of doing the scrumptious barbeque dishes, he eventually set up a barbeque pit at a foodcourt at Tabuan Laru commercial centre before moving to the present location to sell savoury versions of these dishes to the public.
“That venture kept him going for 20 years until his passing last year. To continue his legacy, my elder sister and I took over. We are proud of what he did to make a good living.
“Making the BBQ dishes isn’t hard at all. After cleaning the meat, we marinate it for a few hours and then grill it.
“We want to serve simple, savoury finger food dishes, and we are glad that after so many years in this business, our barbeque dishes are still known by many people.
“It would be hard for us to stop what my father had done,” she said.
“Many of my late father’s friends encouraged us to carry on his legacy, and the savory barbeque dishes have always been a crowd favorite, pleasing even the most discerning palates.
“We agreed with their advice as our mother and all of us knew the family ingredients to give the same consistency as my father did,” she enthused.
She admitted that managing the barbeque pit requires a bit of elbow grease, from lighting the charcoal to arranging the steel skewers. But after years of experience, she has mastered the ‘mechanics’ of it, making the daily tasks much easier.
“In twenty minutes, we can manage to get good charcoal embers going to grill the meats. The huge electric fans help to blow the charcoal embers to produce heat. It’s not a hard job and we can do it. We learned all this from our late father,” she shared.
To avoid the customers from waiting, Teo said they would usually pre-grill the meats and put them on one side or raise the skewer higher to prevent the meat from being charred.
“When the order comes in, we reheat them. This way, customers will have less waiting time. We have to be quick as customers are waiting. So, pre-cooking will save time,” she elaborated further.
She added that besides their savoury chicken wings and grilled pork, they have also started selling mochi, a Japanese rice cake.
“We want to try, so my mother had her own version. We are glad people are buying these sweet Japanese treats. Who knows, these mochi could take off, and another food we will sell in the stall,” she quipped.
Teo said she is optimistic that she and her sister will continue their father’s legacy.
“It reminds us of him and how he cares for his family and friends. He also never expected that something like a weekend treat for family and friends like this had given us such a good livelihood.
“If he is alive today, he would think the same. I am sure he is ‘looking’ at us now and is proud of his daughters taking up his legacy,” she chuckled.
Teo’s Ah Chai BBQ stall is at Expert Food Court at RH Plaza Commercial Centre. It operates daily from 5.30 to 9pm, except on public holidays. For more information, call 016-7013338 or 016-8948893. – DayakDaily
