Traditional home-cooked Macanese food is being added to the menu at a Nottingham takeaway - believed to be the first and only place in the city serving this style of Asian cookery. Asian Mama, aka Helena Ali, is being give the opportunity to showcase her dishes by established takeaway Rynos.
Her menu will launch alongside the usual pizza, burgers and chicken wings served by the outlet in Alfreton Road, near Canning Circus. Macanese food has a unique mix of Portuguese and Chinese influences.
Helena, 54, who came to Nottingham nearly ten years ago, said: "Macau is right next to Hong Kong. It used to be a Portuguese colony run by the Portuguese for 100 years. It's the same story as Hong Kong. Hong Kong went back to China and Macau as well. It became very crowded and too commercial. I have found Macau here now, quiet, friendly people."
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Her daughter came to the University of Nottingham to study microbiology and Helena followed soon afterwards and made the city her home even though she knew no one. "The first time I came to Nottingham I fell in love so I decided to move. I'm so excited," she said about her new business that will launch on Friday, May 19 with 50 per cent off.
Prawn cakes with a chilli dip, Portuguese chicken with olives, and beef in red wine sauce are some of Helena's homely dishes that will be on the menu. Another is African chicken, a popular Macanese dish made with peanut butter, coconut milk and chilli. If it takes off she will add soup and desserts.
"People used to travel to Macau for the food - it's different to other Asian food," added Helena, who has worked as a carer at a home for the elderly in Nottingham for the last seven years. "I used to run our family restaurant in Macau, which served mainly curry but Macanese food as well, a kind of fusion, Singaporean curry, Malaysian curry, all sorts. I learnt how to cook there. I helped out when I was a child. I have a great passion for cooking."
Rynos' owners Imran Haq and Alfie Pryor first met Helena when she came in as a customer and they started chatting. Imran, who took over the business last September, said: "Me and Alfie try to make it is a friendly place. We get a lot of young people here and sometimes they're away from home and they appreciate somewhere they can come and have a chat about things.
"Some places are very impersonal. When you go in they don't talk to you. Here we try and make it a little bit more of a community vibe and a welcoming atmosphere. We get some people just turning up for a chat.
"You get a lot of people talking about various things and it helps us pass the time and it builds community spirit. She said she was looking to set up her business. After listening to her story and the struggles she has faced with regards to moving to the UK alone and not knowing anyone in the town and still having the desire and drive to better herself, I decided to offer her a chance to launch her business from my premises
"She is keen to get back on her feet and to use her experience to bring authentic Macanese cuisine to Nottingham. You've got to have a lot of capital to set up a business and it's challenging times at the moment. It's tough for everybody and us guys are really small and we've got to work extra hard to compete with the bigger franchises down there and the more established businesses."
Alfie said he hoped the new venture will make Rynos stand out from all the other burger joints along Alfreton Road. "Things have become more strained as everybody is doing exactly the same thing. We inherited a model of gourmet burgers and we've had to expand and do other things. We were exploring new ideas and Helena turned up.
"We have to be open minded and expand our options as there is so much competition. To our knowledge there are no Macanese restaurants here. We have quite a loyal customer base. We get more people in because of our attitude to people and we make it very friendly for them. We talk to people about the things we might be doing and there was quite a buzz for Macanese amongst the Chinese students."
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