Even in the big malls in Tiong cities, chain eateries are taking over and killing small proprietorships serving specialty or home-cooked food. And these chains specialize in only 3 types of food: mala, hotpot, grill. That's because these genres use standard ingredients and allow food to be mass produced and prepared with economy of scale, generating higher returns. You have to go to smaller shops away from the city centre to taste genuine local cuisine.
This is the Tiong version of American fast food chains, and this is what happens when you allow unbridled capitalism to take over: the big guys always win, and crowd out the small guys.