AS PREVIOUSLY pointed out, issue of a restaurant’s halal status is of great importance to Muslim diners.
This was again highlighted by a post by popular culinary influencer Amin Sukor a.k.a. Abang Ameen in a Facebook post where it was claimed that a restaurant popular with Muslim diners had “mystery meats” stored in its cold room.
The issue was originally highlighted by Rose_amalina (profile locked) which asked what meat was pictured next to the poultry carcasses in the freezer.
The enquirer further cast aspersions on the manner the poultry that was slaughtered in the supposedly halal-certified restaurant.
Aside from being stored next to the mystery meat which the restauranteur claimed was mutton, she asked if the slaughter was done in accordance to Islamic requirements.
Editor’s Note: A quick check on the Farmer Village restaurant’s social media does not show the Bandar Teknologi Kajang eatery claiming to be halal-certified or even Muslim-friendly. But its menu seems to be porcine-free. In fact, mutton seems to be heavily featured in its various dishes.
The “mystery meat” was discovered by a staff member who has since reported the finding to the authorities. But it appears no action has been forthcoming leading Rose_amalina to wonder if the owner of the Farmer Village restaurant was “protected”.
The post sharing the uncomfortable discovery has since generated 3.2K likes, 875 comments and 1.6K shares, denoting that the issue has plenty of traction.
One commenter claimed that the younger generation of Muslims were too keen to be “hipsters”, an insinuation that they were modern and casual to halal requirements. This was not what their parents taught them.
She also lamented that any query on a restaurant’s halal status was often met with rudeness even if it is a cashier who will retort as if they were the proprietor.
It was further claimed that Chinese eateries cannot be trusted even if they possess the halal certification given the Chinese tend to just prepare food as they see fit. It did not matter if Muslim diners were deceived as long as there was profit to be made.
One observer was stunned at how many Muslim customers would queue to dine at obviously non-Muslim establishments when he travelled through Ipoh. They seem very confident of the ‘pork-free, no lard’ claims by these restaurants, he opined.
One commenter was at pains to highlight the differences between properly certified halal restaurants with one that merely denotes ‘no pork or lard’ is used to prepare the food.
Another confirmed that the restaurant is NOT listed on JAKIM’s website as a halal-certified establishment.
For many, the fact that the restaurant is Chinese-owned is reason enough to NOT dine there regardless of whether it is halal-certified or displays “pork- and lard-free” signage.
Many Muslim diners would only be satisfied and feel at ease if the restaurant was Muslim-owned. This underlines their belief that no other Muslim would knowingly feed a fellow Muslim haram food.
It boils down to an issue of trust.
If in doubt, Muslim diners are free to patronise any number of halal-certified eateries.
But as this issue rumbles on, it will be a matter of time before the more conservative elements demand that Muslims can only dine in halal-certified restaurants as mandated in PAS-ruled Kelantan.
Such a decree will not only affect restaurants like Farmer Village but thousands of Muslim-owned businesses that do NOT possess such certification.
Is this the route Malaysians want to take? – Aug 18, 2025
Main image credit: Amin Sukor/Facebook
