According to the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry, there were now 1,004 restaurants taking part in the programme as at Oct 14.

“We were supposed to achieve the target of 1,000 restaurants by December, but we achieved it three months earlier,” he told a press conference after a lunch with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at Restoran Ukhwah in Lorong Medan Tuanku yesterday.

“The Prime Minister came just to eat. He wanted to taste the food eaten by ordinary folk. He also wanted to find out whether the lunch menu served at RM4 and breakfast at RM2 under the programme were really of quality,” he added.


Paying less for more: Najib smiling as he pays for his meal at Restoran Ukhwah in Lorong Medan Tuanku, Kuala Lumpur, yesterday.
Ismail Sabri said Najib's lunch experience at the restaurant also proved wrong the perception of some quarters that cheap food at the eateries were of low quality.

He added that in the peninsula, the restaurants could offer breakfast at a maximum of RM2 and lunch at RM4. In Sabah and Sarawak, it's RM2.50 for breakfast and RM5 for lunch.

Ismail Sabri urged more restaurant operators to take part in the programme and offer food at affordable prices while helping people reduce their financial burden.

Restoran Ukhwah serves a RM1 breakfast menu that includes teh tarik, roti canai and a piece of kuih while the RM3 lunch menu includes a plate of rice with meat and one vegetable dish and a syrup drink.

Asked how the restaurant could maintain its profit at such rates, Ukhwah Cooperatives president Datuk Rahim Baba said they carried out volume selling while offering other menus at regular prices.

Regular customer Ramlee Salleh, 76, said he ate at the restaurant with his wife Zaleha Salleh, 63, and grandson daily to reduce their financial burden.

Ramlee, who has two wives, said he earns RM700 a month as a petition writer and gets a RM400 pension.

“But it is still not enough for us and I sometimes just eat bread,” he added.