JOHOR BARU - Actress Cai Pei Xuan, who has made a name for herself in Singapore, is venturing into business by setting up a restaurant here.

The 29-year-old from Muar, who starred in a Chinese drama titled Holding Hands, opened a Baba-Nonya-themed non-halal restaurant in Taman Sutera Utama.

“I decided to venture into the food industry because it is a lucrative market,” she said.

Cai went into business early this year when she started a music school in Johor Jaya recently.

“I feel that the next appropriate step was to open a restaurant,” she told The Star at the launch of her restaurant, known as Bibik Kitchen, yesterday.

Several of Cai’s friends and Singaporean artistes were present at the launch, including Yao Wen Yong, Paige Chua, Yvonne Lim, and Belinda Lee.

Cai started her career as an actress in 2004 taking on minor roles with local production houses in Kuala Lumpur.

“I got my big break three years ago when I signed a contract to star in 180 episodes of Holding Hands in Singapore,” she said, adding that the show was slated to be the longest running television drama.

Cai said she hoped to open two more restaurants in Kuala Lumpur and Penang once her restaurant business has picked up.

“It took me nearly a month and more than RM200,000 to set up the business here,” she said.

Asked why she decided to set up the restaurant here, Cai said it would have cost more than twice as much to open up a business in Singapore.

The restaurant serves non-halal cuisine, including prawn mee, pork rib mee, wantan mee, mince meat mee, nasi lemak, fried bean sprouts, fried bittergourd with salted egg, sambal ladies fingers, and sambal eggplant.