It started with a bowl of noodles in Hong Kong.
A recipe found abroad, rebuilt at home — no flour, less oil, and bold enough to eat with your food.
Our founder asked, and kept asking.
On a trip to Hong Kong, our founder was served a snack alongside a bowl of noodles. Not on the side — in the dish, scattered over the top, adding crunch to every mouthful.
It was fish skin. And it was different from anything they'd eaten at home: no batter, no flour, nothing padding it out. Just the skin itself, fried until it shattered.
So they started asking. Chef after chef, until one experienced enough to have made it for years was willing to sit down and explain how it's actually done.
That recipe came home to Malaysia.
A recipe travels. A snack has to be rebuilt.
What works in a Hong Kong kitchen doesn't automatically work in a Malaysian packet. Three things had to be solved.
The texture
Light and properly crunchy — the kind that shatters rather than sits heavy. Fish skin will happily go tough or chewy if you let it.
The oil
Fish skin loves to hold oil. We developed a de-oiling method so the crunch stays light and the packet doesn't leave your fingers slick.
The flavour
The real work. A subtle seasoning that suits Hong Kong would disappear next to what we actually eat here.
Twelve years, one recipe.
Hong Kong
Our founder tastes fish skin served over noodles, and spends the next year tracking down a chef experienced enough — and willing — to share how it's really made.
Two years in development
The recipe comes home to Malaysia. Two years go into a lighter, crunchier texture, a de-oiling method, and flavours built for local tastebuds rather than borrowed ones.
Carlos Newfood Marketing
The business starts. One recipe, ready to sell, and nobody yet asking for it.
onwards
Into the kitchens
We go restaurant to restaurant, arguing that the beancurd skin on the side plate — nutritionally close to nothing — could be omega-rich, high-protein fish skin crackling instead. Then we persuade Japanese restaurants to put it in their sushi.
The siblings come home
Two siblings return from different countries and different professions, and together agree to build Carlos Newfood Industry Sdn. Bhd. — turning one founder's recipe into a family brand.
2026
Onto the shelves
Carlos lands in AEON and Jaya Grocer — from a side plate in a restaurant to a packet you can pick up on your own weekly shop.
Bold enough to sit next to nasi lemak.
Every flavour is punchy on purpose. A snack that goes with Malaysian food has to hold its own against it — which is why people don't only eat Carlos on its own. They put it on things.
Try the one everyone starts with.
Order direct, where members get the best price, unlock the bundles and earn points on every packet.