POP CULTURE

from Breeze #145 - The Automotive Issue

FITNESS

go through the drive-thru pop culture

Drive-through or “drive-thru” is no new concept today. It’s been a few years now since the first drive-thru was established in Sabah. But did you know the first ever drive-thru in the world came in the United States almost 90 years ago?

If you’ve been living under a rock, drive-thrus are usually found at restaurants. With them, you won’t need to get out of your car to go order inside. Just drive up to their window counter, order, pay, and you get your food. It just makes things a bit easier especially if you’re all comfy in your car.

Before drive-thrus, there were drive-ins. First established in 1921, Kirby’s Pig Stand introduced the first drive-in to the

people of California. Customers would park their cars in the lot of the restaurant as the servers, called carhops, come and take their orders. When the food was served, the customers would “dine-in” in their cars, or have it as takeaway. Then in 1931, the carhops were bypassed, hence the drive-thru was born.

The most famous restaurant with drive-thrus is McDonalds. There are at least 3 McDonalds drive-thrus in and around Kota Kinabalu itself. Other than McDonalds, there’s also a Starbucks drive-thru in Sandakan, which is the first of its kind in Sabah. There’s even news that it’s coming to Kota Kinabalu soon.

Big name restaurants aren’t the only ones implementing drivethrus though. There’s a small cafe in Penampang, called Pit Stop Cafe, that has a “Pau Drive Thru” for people on the go. Our government hospital now has drive-thru pharmacies to allow patients to take their prescriptions without waiting too long at the hospital. That’s just plain convenient if you hate waiting in line at the hospital.

Drive-thrus are real life savers now in times when we need to socially distance ourselves. We don’t need to wait in line with people or even sit to dine-in with other restaurant goers. That’s just the F&B sector, who knows how it’ll evolve in the future, maybe we’ll even see drive-thru grocery stores or the reincarnation of the drive-in movie theatre.

by Noel Jinguli Images | Unsplash

Kedai kupi of the month

THE HYPHEN

Established by three friends - Kin, Alex & Wee, The Hyphen located @ Damai Plaza offers everything from coffee and teas to non-coffee beverages and in-house concocted mocktails. The interior aesthetics is intimate with polished concrete walls. It is sleek and minimal; dominated by a black, white and grey palette. For coffee aficionados, you can choose from their house blend selection, Americanos, Lattes to Cold Brew. Otherwise, their non-coffee selections are recommended like the Borneo Chocolate or Something Refreshing made from cucumber. Pamper yourself with their authentic and uncomplicated French and local desserts selection, where you’ll be whisked away by the impeccable presentations and textures full of delightful flavours like the Ondeh-Ondeh Cake and Choco Hemisphere; other desserts too like Lemon Mille-Feuille and Matcha Biyori. Don’t miss out on their all day light dining menu too; for a healthier option, the Beetroot Healthy Sandwich is scrumptious and similar with the Teriyaki Chicken Rice. The cafe is also partially a co-working space, for more information please contact within.