Tranquera House

01/09/2026

Maybe I never gave my Dad enough credit.

Today, I realised that a part of Tranquera House came from him.

We both struggled in school.
We both probably carry a little dyslexia.
We are both better with our hands, tools and instincts than with books.

I am, in many ways, his reflection.

He was never a perfect father.
But he taught me something no school ever could — respect, people, and the way you see business.

He taught me that a good bowl of food can bring people together.

And maybe that became the soul of Tranquera House.

While others sell excellent food,
I want to sell unity.

Because a great dish isn’t made from spices alone.

It is made with heart.
With memories.
With soul.

A bowl of Lemak Nenes Udang isn’t just food.

It carries a piece of us.

And Dad, after all these years, I finally understand.

Some of the best things I built didn’t start with me.

They started with you.

29/08/2026

心有泰山，不惧风雨.

Long before Tranquera House became a business, there was simply the two of us—building a marriage, learning to trust each other, and figuring out life together.

Years later, we found ourselves building something again.

This time, a little home beneath Mount Kinabalu.

Running a business has tested many of the same things marriage has taught us: patience when things move slowly, humility when we make mistakes, courage when the future is uncertain, and the willingness to keep showing up when things become difficult.

There will always be storms in business. Costs rise. Plans change. Some seasons are quiet, others overwhelming.

We cannot control all of that.

But we can control our foundation.

For us, Tranquera House was never built only on rooms, food or numbers. It was built on family, heritage, hospitality and the belief that meaningful things take time.

Perhaps that is what the mountain continues to teach us:

Stay grounded. Keep building. Let the storms pass.

Because when the foundation is strong, you don’t have to fear every change in the weather.

— Tranquera House ❤️

24/08/2026

We will continue to strive for the very best, while staying true to who we are and why we started.

20/08/2026

When I was younger, I always dreamed of owning a business.

And even before I really understood business, I knew one thing:

Connection first. Perfection second.

I never wanted to build something people admired because it looked expensive. I wanted to build something that made people feel.

I tell my brother the same thing as he prepares to launch Seraya. When you design your sambal packaging, don’t make it look premium just for the sake of looking premium.

Make it nostalgic.

Make someone hold it and remember something.

Because sometimes, the most valuable things in life are not the things we desire to own. They are the things that bring us back to somewhere we thought we had forgotten.

Recently, Dad cooked for some of Mum’s friends.

Watching him cook made me realise where I learned all this from.

Long before I knew words like branding, customer experience or company culture, Dad was already teaching me how connections were built.

Through food.

The food we grew up with was never created to be luxurious.

Many of these flavours came from generations who knew hardship. People who had little, wasted nothing, and somehow turned the simplest ingredients into something extraordinary.

Maybe that is why these flavours are so powerful.

They carry the memory of struggle.

Of mothers stretching what little they had to feed a family.

Of recipes never properly written down, only remembered by the hands that cooked them.

Of families sitting around a table when life wasn’t easy, but somehow, there was still enough to share.

And perhaps that is what I have been trying to build at Tranquera House all along.

We don’t sell premium perfection.

We serve memories.

A taste that reminds you of your grandmother’s kitchen.

A smell that takes you back to a home that may no longer exist.

A dish that, for just one moment, makes you remember someone you wish was still sitting beside you.

Because one day, beautiful things will fade.

Businesses will come and go.

But the feeling of being loved around a simple table…

Somehow, that stays with us forever.

16/08/2026

I used to think Tranquera House was simply a place we built for people to stay and eat.

But over time, I realised we were building something else.

So much of Tranquera came from memories — recipes passed down through our family, stories from our childhood spoken over warm kitchens, lessons from our parents, our Baba Nyonya heritage, and the quiet decision to carry all of that with us into the cool, misty highlands of Sabah.

You can still feel it in the air here — the faint aroma of spices lingering from the kitchen, the soft clink of plates during busy meals, the distant hum of conversation blending with the rustle of trees outside. Even the mornings feel different, with light spilling gently through the windows and the mountain air carrying a kind of stillness that slows everything down.

And somehow, those memories became a place where other people started creating their own.

Families gathering around our table, the sound of laughter rising between shared dishes. Children running barefoot across wooden floors, their footsteps light and unbothered. Friends travelling together, leaning in over cups of tea as stories stretch long into the evening. Guests celebrating small, ordinary moments — the kind that feel simple at first, but later become the memories they return to years down the line.

Maybe that’s what Tranquera House really is.

A place where people come to make memories, built from the memories of the family running it.

Rooms can be copied.
Food can be recreated.
Designs can be imitated.

But nobody can copy the story that brought us here — or the feeling of being here, in this exact place, at this exact moment, surrounded by it all.

And perhaps, that has always been our greatest asset.

09/08/2026

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Experience authentic Baba Nyonya hospitality, comfortable rooms and home-cooked Peranakan cuisine in Mesilau, Kundasang.