After 41 years, east-end eatery that championed southeast Asian cooking is closing

Subut Abdullah in the kitchen area of Chahaya Malaysia, which will be closing on Sunday and ending a 41-year run of business in Ottawa. Photo by Spencer Colby /Postmedia

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As the days count down to the end of Chahaya Malaysia’s 41-year run, the humble restaurant on Montreal Road is being besieged with demands for its much-loved southeast Asian dishes.

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“We’re just so ridiculously busy,” says owner Margaret Abdullah. “We’re booked until Sunday. The takeout is getting booked up. It’s just a torrent of business.”

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For more than half her life, she has operated the eatery with her husband Subut, the restaurant’s chef. One of the Ottawa area’s few restaurants to serve Malaysian dishes, Chahaya Malaysia launched in its original location in the Glebe in 1985.

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More than a month ago, Abdullah put up signs in the restaurant saying that its last business day would be Sunday, Nov. 8. “That brought a wave,” she says. Business has continued to crest thanks to word of mouth, social media posts and a CBC radio story.

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While the Abdullahs have spoken for years about closing the restaurant, the closure had to wait until they could sell the property, says Margaret.

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The free-standing building on Montreal Road just east of Blair Road has been sold to buyers who already have a restaurant, she says. “I think they’re going to do extensive renovations,” says Margaret. She is unaware of further plans for the property.

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“My husband and I are aging out,” she says, adding that they work 60 hours a week. “Running a restaurant is a lot of physical stuff. For both of us, it’s time not to do that.

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“I’m 72. There’s all those years that have gone by. How much is left?”

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Subut Abdullah, left, and Margaret Abdullah, owner-operators of Chahaya Malaysia, which will be closing down this coming Sunday. Photo by Spencer Colby /Postmedia

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She says she is looking forward to spending time with four grandchildren, helping their parents with day-to-day life, and taking a trip to Southeast Asia.

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Subut Abdullah got his start as a cook when he was a young domestic worker employed by a Malaysian diplomat in Ottawa. The woman of the house was a good cook who gave Subut a stack of cookbooks, his wife says. “He learned a lot in three years, and his recipes follow back to her, although they’ve become his.”

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The couple met when Subut was vacationing in Toronto and a friend asked Margaret to accompany him to Ontario Place. “Off things went,” she says. They decided to try to make a go of running a restaurant in Ottawa after Margaret thought it would be easier for her husband to be here.

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The restaurant’s food has scarcely changed since Chahaya Malaysia first opened. Popular dishes have included fried mee goreng, a Malaysian noodle dish, beef rendang, and Subut’s chef’s special chicken.

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“You put your heart into your cooking, everything will be good,” Subut told this newspaper in 2018.

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Margaret says she and her husband are grateful for the recent groundswell of loyalty, “the people who need to eat our food one more time.”

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She says that parties of two are coming to the restaurant and ordering enough food to feed six, taking home leftovers to savour.

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“It’s gratifying,” she says. “(But) I need to stop. I need to do other things.”

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