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  Roslan preparing Lei Cha in the kitchen, while Li looks on beside him.

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  A nutritious bowl of Lei Cha with its many ingredients and delicious soup only costs RM5.

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MELAKA: Before he started working at Semabok Inn, Roslan had never heard of Lei Cha. After he tried this Hakka dish, which he loves, he learnt how to prepare it from the hotel's Marketing Executive Li Xiuhua.

Roslan, a chef with 22 years experience under his belt, has worked in Brunei and on cruise ships before returning to his hometown of Melaka to work at Semabok Inn. He reckons that he is the only Malay in the whole of Malaysia who knows how to make Lei Cha, and that Semabok is also the only hotel that offers the dish in Malaysia.

During the interview, Roslan said: "Lei Cha is made from vegetables and is healthy food. It is also simple to prepare." Roslan's family hasn't tried Lei Cha yet, but because the dish is halal, he intends to popularise it by introducing it to other Malay chefs as well as his friends and relatives.

The hotel's proprietor, Datuk Zhang Yacai, revealed that he had loved the dish since he was a child. Before she passed away, his mother would often prepare Lei Cha at the hotel for him to share with his colleagues. After she passed away, this "tradition" of preparing Lei Cha at the hotel was taken up by Zhang’s wife.

Whenever Lei Cha was served, Zhang would invite his colleagues and friends to share in the meal. Although they enjoyed the food, they didn't want to take advantage of his generosity and eat it for free, so they suggested that he sell the dish at the hotel.

As a result, Semabok Inn now offers Lei Cha for lunch on Tuesdays. A bowl of Lei Cha only costs RM5, and office workers from nearby businesses often drop in for a healthy bite.