Three friends offer weekend healing with food and K-Pop culture

MALAYSIANSKINI | When Azliana Rashidah Abd Rahaman, 45, Haslina Rameli, 28, and Anis Syahirah, 24, opened their K-Pop themed café Woori Kape (which means Our Café) in 2021, they had to rely on their families and friends for support.

Now, their café is attracting customers from as far as the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

These three ladies went from strangers to friends to business partners within five years. Sharing the same passion, they opened a cafe together despite the Covid-19 lockdowns at the time.

In a short period, the business partners formed strong bonds fueled by similar passions, visions, and hobbies for their new life journey.

Despite the age gap between them, their high-spirited determination and passion did not limit their passion in opening the cafe.

“Kak As (Rashidah) and I met each other through a friend at an event where Kak As was a representative for Malaysia in a cooking competition and I was interviewing her to write an article,” said Haslina to Malaysiakini.

Then, they joined an event called Kfood 18, and they met Anis Syahirah, who likes to be called Anyara. After that, they constantly kept in touch and would frequently meet up.

“I think everyone has a dream to own their own cafe. Me and Kak like cooking, especially Korean food. Meanwhile, Anyara is more into K-entertainment.

“Starting from there, we decided to...