From Kelantan to Klang Valley in time for breakfast

While most people are asleep, thousands of packets of Kelantanese food are on the move.

Packed into vans and collected from locations such as Tumpat, Wakaf Che Yeh and Machang, nasi berlauk, nasi kerabu, kuih and other favourites begin an overnight journey towards the Klang Valley and beyond, arriving in time for early-morning customers.

One of the key people involved in this nighttime delivery chain is Syafrini Azmi, who has been running Nasi Berlauk Kelate Express for about a decade.

The 38-year-old told Bernama that the venture started modestly with around 200 packets per trip. Today, a single run to the Klang Valley can carry more than 3,000 packets, while another of his routes serves parts of Terengganu and Pahang.

He said the idea first came from his friend Yusri Yusoff, who saw an appetite for familiar Kelantan flavours among those who lived outside the state.

“When I started, I used a Myvi car and at one point rented an Avanza,” Syafrini recalled. “But as the orders grew, the cars could no longer accommodate the orders. The food could also be damaged because packets were stacked on top of one another.”

He eventually switched to vans, which have remained the backbone of the operation.

From nasi lemak, the offerings have since expanded to include a wider mix of Kelantan dishes – from rice with chicken, fish and beef to nasi kerabu, lompat tikam, nasi tumpang, ketupat and nasi kapit sambal.

More than 20 food suppliers and operators now contribute to the nightly load, turning the journey into a moving link between home kitchens and customers hundreds of kilometres away.

For the Klang Valley route, collection begins in Tumpat at around 10pm. The van makes other stops along the way and usually leaves Kelantan at about 11pm to reach Gombak by 4am, where agents and runners wait to take over the final stretch.

Punctuality matters because some sellers begin serving customers as early as 6.30am, particularly commuters looking for breakfast before work – a schedule that leaves little room for delays.

Syafrini still remembers an incident in 2017 when a van skidded on a slippery road near Lipis, Pahang, spun and overturned. His first concern was for the driver, who escaped safely, although the company later had to absorb the cost of the food and refund agents for the missed delivery.

Such risks are part of a routine that has grown steadily over the years, but Syafrini said the appeal of the business goes beyond the number of packets moved each night.

“Indirectly, this effort also provides a source of income for others”, including food operators in Kelantan as well as agents and sellers in the Klang Valley and other states, he noted.

One restaurant operator in Puchong shared that the food supplied through Syafrini’s network has sold strongly, with one morning seeing about 2,000 packets snapped up within three hours.

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