The reason why restaurants like Kayu and Pelita can still stand despite the crazy prices are the apathical customers.

Without demand, there can be no supply. These restaurants continue to make business this way because people keep buying from them, not exactly for the food, but for the social caste game; The wealthier segment of the population do this, subconsciously or otherwise, as a declaration to others that "I CAN AFFORD TO PAY THIS MUCH FOR FOOD AND YOU LOSERS CAN'T! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!" Same explanation can be applied for why people continue to buy overpriced shit from Apple and drink at Starbucks.

Sure, it's your fucking money, so you can spend it however the fuck you want. Then again, your apathy will affect everyone else. Since businesses are now used to charging as much as they can, they will continue to do so without any sense of social responsibility. Inflation will rise and people stuck at middle class and lower will have to pay much, much more than they needed to just a few years ago. The trend with mamak restaurants in particular is especially telling; people used to go to these restaurants for authentic meal at prices that are only slightly higher than the makcik selling nasi lemak at the roadside stall, but Kayu and Pelita showed mamak restaurant owners all across Malaysia that they can set us their business model as 'premium oriented' and gullible people will buy into it.

I mean, it was damn near unthinkable in a small town in Kedah just 10 years ago that a nasi campur serving of rice, fried chicken and gravy mix can be sold for RM5; you'll sooner close your shop before even surviving for one year. Nowadays, you'll have to look hard to find one that charges even just RM1 less than that as mamak restaurant owners everywhere are taking advantage of the gullible nature of Malaysians, not just in big cities.