Medan Selera or Medan Bersih Selera

“Tauke, kopi-O nor”, said the elderly man to the coffee-shop operator. The hot steamy cup was a great booster for him to begin the day. The question is “Was that cup a clean one ?” In the past, charcoal was used in boiling the water taken from the well. The process of boiling has changed to using of piped-water to the use of gas and electricity these days. Only in a few air-conditioned eateries, you may find piped boiling water these days.

Whether Admiral Zheng He travelled to Malaqa in ancient times or you’re travelling to Melaka in the present times, after all the admiral and you needed, is food and bed. Technology makes differences if any, the food businesses and the lodging services to come and that in ancient times. Melaka is working hard to become an internationally-recognized Green City and such policy shall see the food operators making transformation to their outlets into Green restaurants. 

However, technology has not changed the basic fact that food services required the passions of the chefs and kitchen staff. They together with the stewards have to always focus on guest service. Food and beverage servers have to be clean and neat in appearance to provide an enjoyable experience for the guests. Beginning with the heritage zones, they are dust-free and smoke-free. Just go to any of these heritage zones in Melaka and check what your see. If you smoke, someone will advice not to light the cigarette there. 

Where "medan" is a place to enjoy your meal, "selera" is put as an emphasis that the eatery place is an enjoyable one. If the "bersih" is added to make it as "Medan Bersih Selera ....", then people would focus on cleanliness of the meal.

Foodies would like to have clean meal and not only tasteful meal.

The first thing that customer will see is the table they choose to take their meal. Sometimes, the table is dirty and was not well cleaned after the previous servings and we can see a coat of stain. It tells that the table cloth used to mob the table has not been rinsed well. This is a bad first impression that will make you lost your appetite even though the best bowl is put on your table. An old worn-out chair would not deter the customer of the best food in town but if it stains like the table it will.

What about fork and spoon dented or spattered with pin-holes which may give you the idea that smashed food sludge stuck unable to remove through washing. Eroded chopsticks could also pose problem to micro-organism thriving within the crevices. These problems recur with cups and glasses.

People may think that replacing fork, spoon, bowl and plate with those made from polystyrene is cleaner but is not. Polystyrene density is not as good as wood and metal and it is not environmental-friendly.

At the end of the day, everyone like to enjoy a clean and healthy food.