Famous Ming Tien & Asia Cafe Officially Last Day Operating on 31th October

The famous Ming Tien food court is finally end their operation yesterday night. By 9pm, almost all food stalls is already packing and ready to end their business there. Anyway, dont worry, most of them will relocating their business to the building previously known as Zam Zam cafe near Bandar Utama Police Station. It is scheduled to start operating on 16th Nov 2017.

Hello, new venue: Several stalls from Ming Tien food court in Taman Megah will be relocating to the building previously known as Zam Zam Cafe near the Bandar Utama police station. Operations is scheduled to start on Nov 16. — M.AZHAR ARIF/The Star

Yesterday is the last day of operations for 17-year-old Ming Tien food court in Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya, as it makes way for a mixed development project.

The Taman Megah badminton hall located next to the food court will also be ceasing operations. Adjacent business Fun Cheer souvenir shop has already closed while Megaherbs and Food supermarket relocated to a nearby shoplot in Jalan SS24/8.

Ming Tien, comprising over 60 stalls, was known for its wide variety of hawker food, open-air ambience and waiters dressed in Hawaiian shirts.

On Aug 17, StarMetro reported that developer PPB Group would offer a piece of land near Cheras Leisure Mall as alternative site for Ming Tien’s hawkers to relocate.

Developer’s plans

PPB Group Berhad, through its property arm PPB Property Development Sdn Bhd, plans to build a mixed development project at the site currently occupied by Ming Tien food court and its neighbouring businesses.

StarMetro reported that the project comprising residential and retail spaces will occupy a 1.36ha of the plot in Taman Megah.

There will be two access points for the commercial side – via Jalan SS24/9 and Jalan SS24/8, while the residential block will be accessible from Jalan SS24/10.

PBB Group property division chief operating officer Chew Hwei Yeow said Taman Megah residents had been briefed since 2015 at several meetings and townhall sessions.

Traffic plans were modified based on residents’ feedback and the company also redesigned the project to accommodate concerns such as parking space.

Chew said the proposed redevelopment project received planning permission from Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) on Nov 2 last year while the approval for the building plan was received on May 15 this year.

Work is expected to start either next month or in December and will take four years to complete.
“PPB Group has identified a site in Taman Segar, Cheras, which we are offering to Ming Tien food court hawkers as an option in the relocation.

“We have submitted the necessary applications to Kuala Lumpur City Hall for their approval,” Chew added.

City council’s approval

MBPJ Corporate Communi-cations assistant director Abdul Hakim Khiruddin said the council imposed strict conditions on the proposed redevelopment project.

“The developer had to take into account issues such as traffic flow, pedestrian walkway, bicycle lane, community facilities, noise pollution and residents’ feedback,” he said, adding that the developer’s plan had to include building a covered walkway from the project to the nearest LRT station.

“Another condition was that the developer had to conduct briefings for affected residents and shopowners on their construction schedule and how they planned to mitigate traffic,” he said, adding that the entire process took about a year, before approval was given.

Residents await traffic plan

Taman Megah Residents Association chairman Alex Leong said residents had not received the finalised traffic plan from the developer.

“We are unclear about the traffic flow here during the construction stage.
“The developer last told us that they were awaiting MBPJ’s approval,” he said, adding that the association’s last meeting with the developer was in August.

Leong said the developer had also assured them that no workers would be staying in “kongsi” houses within the construction site and that only certain roads would be used by its heavy vehicles.

However, residents were unclear which roads would be affected.
SS25A Rukun Tetangga vice-chairman Steven Ng reiterated his concerns about the project’s impact on traffic congestion in the neighbourhood.

“No signage has been posted at the site, so we are still do not know the project’s final details,” he said.

An artists impression of the proposed development in Taman Megah by PPB Property, which will comprise a tower block with 228 residential units and a four-storey retail podium.

Swansong for SS15 eatery

Today is also Asia Cafe’s last day.

In August, it was reported that the famous food court in SS15, Subang Jaya, would close at the end of the year but no exact date was given.

Asia Cafe general manager Raymond Khoo confirmed that the date was brought forward, but did not elaborate why.

“We need to start the project very soon. We have already started relocating power cables,” he said.
The food court will be demolished in mid-November to make way for a 30-storey small-office-home-office project.

Khoo said he was not sure where the food court’s 25 tenants would move to as they were told to find a new location on their own. They were given three months’ notice to move out.

Asia Cafe, which began operations in 2004, was open from 7am to 4am daily.

In 2003, Mediaraya Sdn Bhd acquired the land that Asia Cafe sits on.

Speaking of how Asia Cafe was set up, Khoo said that initially, they did not know what to do with the land but realised that the crowd consisted of mostly students.

“Students want a place to hang out and so we created an area where you can have food and entertainment. In that way, we were different compared to the usual food courts,” he said.

Asia Cafe also housed a bird enclosure and the birds had been given to a pet store.
Khoo is thankful for all the support Asia Cafe customers have shown over the years.

“In the future, if we open Asia Cafe again, we hope they will come back and support us again,” he said, adding that they would consider reopening Asia Cafe in the future if there was a suitable place.
Khoo clarified that a banner advertising the opening of an “Asia Cafe 2” at the former PappaRich in Jalan SS15/8 had nothing to do with them.

“I have spoken to the person advertising it and told him that they cannot call it Asia Cafe 2 because we have already trademarked the name.
“If they want to use the name, they have to ask us first.

“It is good if they continue the concept but they must not use our trademarked name,” he said.

Refer from thestar.com.my

Asia Cafe, a popular food court in Subang Jaya, is packed at night and during weekends.