HI!

I am using our same Go Fund Me that helped us start the restaurant, for the purpose of ease to collect some funds to help recover cash and valuables that were stolen from our staff members last week. Any new donations made will go directly to the staff! thank you so much for your generosity <3

love,

Kaylin

Old description below ...

Hello :) My name is Kaylin, the Founder and Chef of Ma-Makan, a Malaysian/Singaporean pop-up restaurant based in Berlin.

Growing up in a hard working immigrant household in Australia, meals were the most important time of day for us. It was a time to reconnect not only to each other but to a sense of home that we all knew was so far away, but we could at least travel there through food. Creating a sense of home through food is something that runs strongly in my family. From my father being one of Australia’s first tofu producers, to my parents selling classic Malaysian/Singaporean snacks at local markets to the few other immigrants living in the countryside as well as introducing their home food to other locals. Cooking nasi lemak, curry puffs, spring rolls and other dishes close to heart was the best way to stay connected to their roots and the home they left behind. The food prepared by my grandmother and aunties in Singapore and Malaysia also greatly impacted my formative years, and the food I share with the Berlin community is largely due to my family’s invaluable cooking knowledge and their use of food as a language of connecting, caring, and nourishing.

Ma-makan, translates to ‘Mum, Eat’, something that my mother would say to my grandmother before she started eating, as a form of acknowledgement and respect for my grandmother’s hard work. From there became the namesake of my pop-up restaurant I started over 5 years ago after recognizing the lack of Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine accessible in the city Berlin. In many ways I also craved a sense of home that could be created here. Corona brought on unexpected precarities with the various restrictions and lockdowns, and we tirelessly shifted business plans to stay afloat by organizing meal kit deliveries, jarred product production, takeaway window pop-ups, community markets and such. Like my parents taught me, we had to adapt to survive but at the sametime came a wonderful community of people that now enjoy this wonderful taste of home that I like to share.

After years of running and operating pop-ups and food events in Berlin, I am very excited to announce an opportunity to open my first Malaysian Kopitiam (coffee shop) in an excellent Kreuzberg location. We’ll have a permanent place to focus on expanding our food and beverage offerings in a modern and cozy Kopitiam atmosphere. A brick and mortar would allow my years-long vision to come to fruition and offer guests a complete dining experience. Through the 5 years of operating the pop-ups and events, I've had to adapt to many different and challenging situations. Through the varied experience of constantly changing locations, kitchens, staff, and even setting up our own delivery system during lockdown, I feel very ready to take the next step on this journey and have a permanent home for our growing community.

This is where I am kindly asking for your help. Your donations would help me to transform this wonderful opportunity into my dream Malaysian Kopitiam! If you have financial capacity, big or small, we would be so grateful for your support on this journey so that we can feed and nourish you for many years to come!

Your donations will be used to fund the following:

Thank you so much for your support! I can't wait to cook for you in our new space and share what we have built together.

Much love,

Kaylin