Last update: 20 July 2020. As always, individual posts and photos later. Ranked roughly in order of preference

1. Soul Sacrifice – chalk it up to familiarity if you will, but foodgae is happy to rank this at the top. From the breakfast truffled cheese scrambled eggs bun to the lunch fare (steak sammich, miso siakap rice, chicken curry rice) to the lighter bites (coney dog, Thai embassy, spicy cold noods), expect solid flavors that don’t necessarily astonish with a gastronomic uppercut but may well surprise from the solid execution alone. Compound that with the good coffee, hidden-away setting, and the cats out back, and it’s no wonder Soul Sac has such an entrenched spot in our cold black hearts. It’s a shame the brilliant scotch egg is gone though.
2. Gavel – Is it a pub? Or a restaurant? Or a cafe? Gavel is potentially the most non-cafe cafe on the list, where coffee takes a backseat to some really solid food and a fridge of craft beer. We are of course long-time proponents of their legendary Sunday roasts – which they’ve extended into Saturdays as well, for long, luxurious afternoons lounging around with beer and a waterfall of really solid grub. It’s not just about the roasts (which are always solid), but the sides which sometimes even outshine the main event.
3. Ebony & Ivory – No surprises that this one makes its way in. Perhaps the most “traditional” cafe menu in the top 10, but boy does it earn its place. Comforting flavors, solid cookery, and an idyllic setting mesh to form quite a place. And bearing in mind we also ranked it in the top 5 for best cafes for coffee, this could well be the gold standard for a cafe in KL. And just purely on the food aspect, a Japanese-inspired menu (oyakodon, salmon sashimi rice bowl etc etc) and a propensity for some of the best-formed rice bowls in town makes this a definite-entry in the list.
4. Smith Breads – it speaks volumes that I haven’t had any food here apart from the Dutch pancakes and the bread (+ accompaniments), and yet it still catapults its way right into the top 10. Perhaps not too surprising given how much our resident sourdough slut loved the loaves here – a solid new entrant in the growing pantheon of sourdough shacks, and our current firm favorite. The Farmhouse Caraway loaf here is our reigning champion with an unbeatable rich complexity. We said early on that they had room for improvement and improve they did. It’s the condiments that secure them a spot on the list though. From the butter (sumptuous) to the fruit compote (sticky-thicc and not too sweet) to the hummus (unapologetically garlicky), everything is done well. Same goes to the Dutch pancakes. And the coffee.
5. Li / Provisions – we knew long ago that they had the capabilities to stretch their culinary wings, and we couldn’t be more pleased with their newly launched Li-neage series, where tasting menus reign supreme during dinners that traverse their crowd-pleasing dishes from the past and speak to the future as well. Plus Provisions Pizza is new too! And yet at its core, the indefatigable team started out with just Li before the influencer-attracting Provisions rose from the ground. And we always did love Li for brunches and lunches. A very small, very focused menu, built around simple but solid classics (rice bowls with spam or pork belly or chicken or all of the above, great chicken chop, legendary pork toast), there’s little to dislike here.
6. Alta – No point dancing around it – it’s expensive. Although that’s always relative, so I suppose we mean it’s expensive to the paupers here at Foodgae. And yet it’s been a beacon of stability and a rallying point for some fantastic parties – like we said before, “Alta consistently beckons and we consistently heed the call“. The stracciatella and sourdough are nigh insuperable.
7. Nutmeg – remember back in 2013 or so when it wasn’t as insanely packed as it is now? Honestly haven’t been there for years but from what I remember, the salt beef and gravad lax were all very decent – especially in a time when we saw the sharp decline of Antipodean. Also, why aren’t we including Yeast in the list? Hmm. Not too sure, to be honest. It’s not half bad, but it always felt more like a bakery than a cafe – same reason Bakerry La isn’t here despite the great pastries and best-in-town croissant. Arbitrary rules, eh! Aren’t they a bummer.
8. Fittie Sense – healf.
9. Front Room & The Kneady Baker – hidden away, with some pretty solid food.
10. Littlepeople – who can forget how well they did during the MCO period? Almost in lock-step with the lockdown, their speedily-launched DIY pasta sets were the talk of the town. And yes, we first went there years ago, but for the most part the food is still solid – with the main difference being even larger, more fulfilling, portions now for the pasta. Always a good thing, especially when it actually tastes good.
11. Strangers at 47 – they’ve been around for ages, their post-MCO SOP is unrivaled, the service is good, and the food ranges from satisfying to very good. Hard to fault them, especially when they keep innovating. Interestingly enough, this place always reminds me of Thirdwave (I’m not sure why). What a shame about Thirdwave too – they would be a top-10 entrant if they were still around, but Sunbather (what they resurrected as) is so so underwhelming. Even after 3 visits, I’m hard-placed to name something I like there. Business seems to be booming though, so I’m sure they’re doing something right!
12. Sunday Coffee and Cakes – pretty place and the food is pretty good too. Tamagoyaki sando executed very well. Bread not as pillow soft as Japan’s usual bread – I prefer the slightly harder texture here and it makes perfect sense with the rest of the sando. It sort of ‘extends’ the textural crunch of the crust. The batter is nice and light btw, with just the right amount of mustard. It’s not the ‘best’ tamago, but it works great in this sando. Lovely textural bite, with the blend of crunchiness almost a flavor in itself, chased down by a perfect blend of mustard and sweet egg. Very satisfying. Although to be fair it’s a very small menu and so it’s kind of debatable if this should be on the list. Oh well.
13. Wizards – ok, it’s expensive. Some dishes are nice though.
14. Dough & Dolce – the grilled cheese is pretty good. The pizza is pretty good, though it sometimes feels more like pizza-biscuits.
15. Soft Launch Cafe – Sri Petaling represent. Chicken waffles here are good, the coffee is good, it’s just always too packed whenever we try to visit. Oh well!

The post Best Cafes (for food) in Klang Valley appeared first on Foodgazer.

Last update: 25 July 2022

Tier 1

• Cream / Neutrals – Used to be tgt before they closed that and opened Neutrals! Somewhat arbitrary to pick between the two since the coffee is essentially the same, but so far all experiences here have been very good, coffee-wise. Gorgeous filters, espresso-based, you name it. Both cafes are unfortunately very far away from Foodgazer HQ. Expect a packed situation on weekends but that’s the new normal. There’s a new The Roast Things branch at Jln Raja Chulan, but…it ain’t open on weekends.
• Ebony & Ivory – no WIFI, which does make sense since it’s small and always bustling and you’re unlikely to hang around and work here, but on the upside the coffee is great. Whether filter or espresso-based, you’re unlikely to go wrong. Food is great too – remember when we put it in the list of best rice bowls in town? And yes it’s in our list of best cafes for food
• Dissolved Solids – good place to work too (or used to be, before they got really popular). Plus you can bring outside food from Universal Bakehouse or Bakerry La or whatever. WIFI can be spotty at times though, and they open relatively later in the day (12pm on weekends?). Cocktails etc have been a bit more hit-and-miss, but all the coffee I’ve tried has been solid. Espresso-based stuff is generally good but I particularly enjoy the handbrew cups here. And they have a lot of neat popup events, which is great.
• Breathing Space – have been back repeatedly, and the coffee is consistently good. Tasty cakes too
• Smith Breads – previously said: “only tried an espresso once but that was great. Might move positions once I try more times“. Have since tried several more times, and damn they do some tasty cups. Better to stick to the espresso or magic etc though, and avoid the Dirty – that one is just espresso in cold milk, which is a far cry from the delicious rendition at Atelier. Could be one of my fave espressos around though. The caraway sourdough is also my fave sourdough in town, as you’d know from our sourdough list (blog post upcoming)
• 28 Fireplace – strangely underrated. Doppio and the piccolo / magic were both excellent the last time we tried it. But also…pricey.
• The Hub @ Zurich – wow what a gorgeous place inside. Affordable handbrews, delicious espresso-based stuff, noice evaporated milk. Can’t go wrong here. Impressive, impressive place with coffee to match it. Though recent visits have shown some consistency issues. There’s also another one at DC Mall.
• Ground Coffee @ Uptown – needs a bit more revisits but so far so good!
• Three little birds @ Sentul – despite the stupidly heavy chairs and the fact that it’s always bloody hot inside all the time, because this is purely about the coffee. Granted, we haven’t been back for quite some time, but the coffee was always spot-on when we did. There was also a shortlived 3 little birds at Isetan Lot 10 before the renovation. RIP.
• Stellar @ Rex – gotta love them! I’d personally go with handbrews over espresso-based here, or at least stick to espressos etc rather than the lattes, especially since they tend to go for darker roasts. But they have lots of other options too. Think funky kombucha brews, cocktails from Botak sometimes, some natural wine etc. And their cold brews are nice as well!
• Maven Coffee – formerly known as Blaq. I like the layout inside. Good filters last time, good filters now. Haven’t had the espresso-based stuff since they changed to Maven, but that one filter was good. Looks like they have a decent weekend crowd from around the Cheras area too, happy for them!
• Hide n Seek coffee – solid. Nice secluded spot. Coffees are good. The place itself is gorgeous – great before the move, and still interesting now after the shift to Paramount
• Page 2 @ BSC – colour me surprised. Had some damn fine coffee here. Only two visits though, so not a big sample size.
• Lonely Crowd – granted I only managed to try them twice (hey, similar sample size as Page 2) while they were popping up at the sneaker store in Mid Valley, but the filters from Nylon were great and I’ll always stan anything Nylon-related anyway.
• Draftsroom – long black is served too hot (consistently) but tastes pretty damn good once it loses some of that heat. Shame that they seem to be closing (for now?)
• Soul Sacrifice – I don’t know if it’s a case of repeated exposure but I’ve grown to like their espresso-based stuff more and more. Tasty batch brews too. Also, great food. Up there for best cafe food together with Ebony & Ivory
• One Half x Ilaika – RIP One Half Uptown. Granted, that place was super noisy and packed on weekends anyway so we never went. Although, of course, you have to expect crowds at this spot too. Generally solid coffee here, for the most part, it depends quite a bit on the barista. Quality a bit more up-and-down of late – as of 2022, it’s been a lot more down the last couple of visits
• Transparent Coffee – And…they’re back. Like One Half, quality swings up and down. Last 5 visits, took espresso-based stuff and they ranged from meh to good. In the earlier (pre-Dou Dou) days, they generally had very good filters and good espresso-stuff. Have had more consistently good cups at One Half though.
• Littlepeople – good but the WIFI is always randomly intermittent and iffy here. Purely based on the coffee, this should probably be higher. But I do also like their food and other stuff anyway.
• Artisan TTDI – good. Seating area kind of reminds me of Seniman (or vice versa).
• Kissa X Coffee – yeah, it’s good, and the place is gorgeous inside (surely one of the nicest interiors around in KL? It’s plucked right out of Japan), but the water charge is annoying.
• Kita Coffee – Good but for some reason doesn’t quite hit the spot the way Artelier used to. Only 3-4 visits here so far, will need to go back for more. They also give an option for iced filter coffee with ice directly into the carafe so, as you can imagine, end result is a pretty watered down drink. Nice that they have the option though. Very value-for-money prices for the filters as well.
• Awan – only had filters. Good.

Tier 2

So you’re probably wondering, what makes a place tier 1 instead of 2 or 3 etc? Frankly, we don’t have a clue. Food rankings and ratings are often arbitrary. Go with the flow, fam.

• Thirty Seconds – good coffee
• Patina by Three – really tasty espresso but no filters (I think)
• Cottle Coffee – love the espresso-based stuff but no filters available. Only been to the one at Masjid Jamek area.
• Analog Cafe – yes coffee is good but this place is so uncomfortably hot every single time I go without fail
• Hetam – tried once, pretty decent long black. Like the pop-up setup
• Artisan PJ – always hot and stuffy, so it detracts a bit from the experience eh
• Ting Coffee Roastery fka 103 Coffee Roastery – for some reason, coffee is better here than at the original 103 across the road. WIFI used to be very intermittent but I think it’s fixed now. Expensive for espresso-based stuff. RM 11 for an espresso, RM 18 for an ice latte etc. Steep prices! Handbrew starts at around RM 21 I think, so might as well stump up for that. Not the cheapest of places, but the best coffee in Sri Petaling at the moment.
• Sunday Coffee – pretty good filters. Nice cheesecake.
• Kopenhagen @ Mont Kiara- decent coffee. Gorgeous place! But prices sure are high. Note: tried a RM 13.15 ice long black at KL Eco City and it was HORRID
• Optimist Coffee @ Ampang Park LRT – not too shabby

Tier 3

• Artelier – used to be great but quality has really plummeted for the filters. Apparently, poor for white and cold brew now too. Dirty doesn’t taste the way I remembered it either.
• Aitch – micro-roastery. Nice place. Still open?
• Peep Coffee @ Vernakular – if you’ve nowhere else to go in Telawi area
• Alta – heard the sourdough quality has slipped – hope not! Probably due for a revisit specifically for food and coffee, have really only been going for the events. Coffee was good initially then eventually decent.
• Room 203 – ridiculously cheap, quite acidic in current iteration though. White is fine and probably cheapest decent white in town. Cheap beans close to expiry probably?
• Pulp – you used to be alright, what happened
• Urban Daybreak – only had it twice, unlikely to return a third time because food was very underwhelming but the coffees were decent. Drinkable.
• Rage – kinda hard to rank since there are so many outlets but generally decent coffee, lots of choices, great concept. Good place to go for non-dairy milk, they have a wide selection
• Flying Duck Coffee – decent choice if you’re in the area, especially for milk-based. Makes sense if you work nearby and get the packages etc, super convenient.
• Kohi Yatta – decent
• VCR – if you’ve nowhere else to go. Used to be very good back when they first opened at their first spot. Don’t expect much now. Haven’t been back in quite some time, after I tried the “can’t-fuck-it-up fried chicken” which uh they fucked up. To be fair, the coffee is probably better than I can remember but I can’t quite bring myself to return. Anyway, it’s always packed

What does it all mean?

Tier 3:

Better than Starbucks etc on any given day. Generally decent coffee that you wouldn’t complain too much about if they were your daily cuppa

Tier 2:

A step above tier 3, where you’d expect to find good third wave coffee. In less-developed markets, you’d expect to see the bulk of places being tier 3, with some in tier 2, and only a couple in tier 1 – usually a more-recent specialty coffee joint with its own roastery.

Tier 1:

Luckily Malaysia has quite a robust scene with numerous tier 1 cafes. They’re another step above tier 2, although quality amidst these cafes (and individual cups of coffee) tends to increase logarithmically

The post Best Cafes (for coffee) in Klang Valley appeared first on Foodgazer.

There’s just…too much. Of everything. The food is endless, the second-hand clothes are insane, you can drink at dressed-up cocktail bars and whisky shrines, or at tiny hole-in-the-walls masquerading as wine bars, or at a local izakaya that seats a maximum of five people, four of whom are already very much drunk, or you can forgo alcohol and instead spend the time eating and queuing up to eat and browsing used cameras, slack-jawed, and standing shoulder-to-shoulder at Mandarake to skim through manga, and taking photos of the pachinko and the people, who, by the way, are everywhere. Which is all to say: I don’t fancy cities, I don’t like skyscraper skylines, I don’t like masses of people, but I am absolutely addicted to Tokyo. There’s nothing like it.

So, anyway, it’s an impossible task to summarize Tokyo. I’m nowhere close to scraping the surface. But here’s what we’ll do. This is a summary of my personal must-visit spots, you can Ctrl+F to read more about each of them below. The full post also covers other spots that may be worth visiting. Read to find out, I suppose!

Last update (9 Jan 2024): 

The Takeaway (kind-of in order of must-go):

• Kappo Sanoya (sublime kappo. Every dish a hit. Sake pairing sensational, brought it to the next level)
• Gracia (fantastic tasting menu)
• Konjiki Hototogisu (best ramen ever for me. Clam based soup)
• Kagari echika fit ramen (top 3 ramen spot for me. Top-tier chicken ramen)
• Terunari (possibly my favorite food experience in Tokyo. Modern kaiseki at a bargain price. Best to book online beforehand)
• Bar Unknown
• The Hisaka Bar
• Mantensushi Marunouchi (some of my favorite sushi ever are from here. Modulation of temperature of the rice is so cool. Recommended to book online for dinner) 
• Ten To Sen
• Mantensushi Nihonbashi (possibly even better that the Marunouchi branch, at least the time I went. Lovely pieces. Though lacks the variety of the temperature modulation)
• Bar Ishinohana (my favorite bar in Tokyo)
• ENEKO (very unique experience, some very good dishes. Best to book online beforehand)
• Savoy Azabu-Juban (‘24 update: still good but nowhere near as good as before. I wonder what changed. best pizza in the world. Warning: it’ll ruin you. Pizza in Malaysia in comparison isn’t just in a different league, they aren’t even playing the same game)
• Gyukatsu Motomura (‘24 update: a lot more touristy now, with loads of branches. Still good though, but maybe not as shocking as the first time. Revelatory gyukatsu, prepare for crazy queues)
• Nata de Cristiano (perfect Portugese tarts. Take away only)
• Bear Pond Espresso
• Standing Sushi Bar, Shibuya (good sushi for cheap. Casual setting, and it’s a standing sushi bar! You kind of have to try it, don’t you)
• Glitch Coffee (best coffee in town)
• Bonjour Records (records, clothes, coffee. Good coffee)
• Ita Soba (best soba I’ve had, not too expensive)
• Torikizoku (cheap but very good yakitori)
• Jinroku (izakaya near Fuglen, Monocle etc)
• 麺屋 みちしるべ (Menya Michishirube) (great tonkotsu-style ramen)
• Kuriya Kashi Kurogi (warabi mochi is incredible, but expensive)
• Seirinkan (original bad boy of the pizza scene)
• Tsukiji Eel nisshin tasuke (great value eel if you’re in Tsukiji market)
• Chuuka Soba Tomita (a living legend dishes out a legendary bowl, but it’s more cerebral than enjoyable. Definitely not recommended for ramen beginners)
• Nakajima (go for the lunch sardine set – Yanagawa Nabe, enjoyable and comforting)
• 4/4 Coffee (good long black, heard the hand drip is great)

Bonjour Records is such a crazy dope store. Records, brilliant music played loud enough without being obnoxiously so. Brilliant books and zines. Vinyls, casettes, CDs. Clothes. And a coffee stand. Amazing stuff really. The vibe is exquisite. Slightly sub culture and street without being gaudy garbage like Supreme, namean. Y 302 for Guatemala pourover. Yeah I’m paying that price any day sir. Not the most refined pour but it’s very nice regardless. About the same or better than the one I had at Onibus. Goes on the list of must visit stores.

Kamasi Washington to Lana del Rey to Harriet Brown, the music here is exquisite. I find it difficult to even leave. What a place. So good. Listening to killer tracks properly played out loud while reading the Monocle Guide to Cosy Homes and sipping on a filter. Bliss.

Seirinkan
– what a crazy looking place. In a good way. Bgm is Beatles. Winding stairs up to multiple floors below and above. Pizza itself is…interesting, and great. Two types only. Very Neapolitan style in a way: watery-ish sauce, slightly soggy base, not sliced. The cornicione is killer. It’s not Pizza Savoy but god damn is it a million times better than Dihyang.

Shout out to Brooch – one of the best used stores so far. Fantastic selection and very reasonable prices. Bought a Givenchy sweater there.

Torikizoku

Cheap Y 321-a-skewer yakitori that beats almost everything in Malaysia (apart from Palillos). It’s a damn chain but God is it good. Keep the skewers and beer flowing (the beer goes for the same price too). Soft bones are great, pretty much everything is good. Come hungry, and come with friends. Thanks again, Ken, Ryan.

麺屋 みちしるべ (Menya Michishirube)

If you like tonkotsu, come here. Great broth. Noodles squiggly and stunning. Tsukemen perhaps even better. Simple joys in life.

Also, you know how Fukuoka is the birthplace of tonkotsu etc? Yeah, well, this place beats every tonkotsu there hands-down. So good.

Gohanya isshin daikan-yama

Right underneath some police box thing. Place looks ridiculously nice for lunch sets that start at 950 and top out at 1890. Most are 1300. This stupid gaijin went for 1.8k of course. And a tiny Kirin draft for 400 which is a rip-off for the size. At least the place is great! Dimly lit, but not too dim. Frank Socolow (sp?) plays in the background, amidst other great jazz tunes.

The rice is very good. But honestly Menya Hanabi in Malaysia has really great rice – probably even better than this one here. Not that this place is too far off. Nice bite, almost as good as Onigiri Bongo’s rice.

Sashimi : the maguro is great. Only slightly less fatty than Yamazaki’s. Nice resistance and creaminess to the salmon too. Lovely. Tempura good but a bit oily. Doesn’t compare to proper tempura spots like Tempura Tenko at Fukuoka or even Tempura Kohaku in Singapore. Still pleasurable though.

Avoid the Kirin draft. Tiny size. At least it’s not swill like Carlsberg and Tiger though, very very drinkable. Basically not the greatest food in the world. But atmosphere is stunning for the cheap prices.

Kagari echika fit ramen

Close to a religious experience. The tori paitan soba is just..something else.

Where to even begin with this ramen? I would be ecstatic if I could cycle between this and Afuri every other day. It’s an incredibly creamy chicken broth that isn’t overly oily and fatty. It’s rich in all the right ways. It’s silky. Luxurious. And the chicken breast is very good though I wish it was seared a bit for some textural contrast – but I’m nitpicking the best chicken breasts I’ve ever had. And it looks stunning for a sub 1k bowl of ramen. It matches the place itself – a super comfy and cramped oasis that shutters off the sounds of the world outside apart from the soft rumbling of the train overhead and the pitter patter of feet. It only sits a few people (of course), so queue up and wait outside. It’s worth it.

I want to eat this out forever until I get lockjaw, but even the creamiest of things come to an end eventually, and so this gluttonous slob mulched its way back home after (with a quick onigiri pit stop at Onigiri Bongo along the way).

Note: the rice with raw egg is good too. The egg is good, yeah, but the rice is excellent. Would love to try the risotto next time.

Kuriya Kashi Kurogi
A must-try but it’s a bit too pricey for multiple return visits, in my humble wallet’s opinion. Warabi mochi set is Y 2700, for instance.

But, hey, it’s in a gorgeous, gorgeous spot inside a campus. Beautiful layered roof and wall. Small indoor seating. Very comfy. Much larger space outside, which I bet is great during spring and summer.

The set comes with filter coffee (delicate, sweet, but decent body to it too), and some jelly thing (deliciously savoury and umami). The mochi itself is layered around daintily like iceberg…pebbles on a gorgeous lake. With pink flowers on the water. Presentation is top top notch. Very noice.

The texture of the mochi itself is incredible too. Not just soft and sticky but luxuriously, lusciously layered. Really stumped how to describe the texture but it’s a singular experience. Much more jelly-like than regular mochi but still retains a satisfying bite and the underlying flavour bursting through right at the end. Both kinako taste markedly different but both are great complements.

What a place! Expensive, very expensive, but very good.

ENEKO
What a sublime experience.

Food generally all stellar except for the doneness of the duck. And the desserts and petit four were too sweet for me, but that’s personal preference. Excellent service too. Y 10,692 including the meme egg, which is a bargain.

First, I started off with a picnic in a greenhouse garden. Crazy stuff in test tubes, lots of pruned plants and stuff to smell and touch and uh photograph. Some lubrication to start with. Then the picnic basket: a delicious crunchy brioche with mild-tasting unagi inside and punchy anchovy cream, foie gras with orange (this shit is wild. Foie gras and orange is a GENIUS combo), and a…kaipiritxa? Cherry tomato looking thang, with wine inside. Intense, sour, boozy, sweet, lovely. Spanish bloke walked me through the entire thing, then escorted me up to the dining area upstairs. Very much felt like walking from a garden up to a dining hall.

Truffled egg add-on: For an additional Y 1500! Not really worth it, but it’s a cool experience. Part of the yolk is removed and replaced with truffle injection.

Starter: Basque-style mushrooms, sliced super fine. Great texture, great technique, but so-so taste-wise. Good, not amazing. The tempura yolk is the star imo. Light tempura, and the yolk (removed from the truffled egg!) explodes in the mouth. Gorgeous. Take me back, please.

Fish: Bacon-rolled monkfish fillet, roasted red peppers sauce, pickled grapes. The bacon wrap is super thin! Almost looks like the skin of the fish itself, and feels like it (super light and crispy). Monkfish was perfect. Texture almost like scallops. Can taste the individual strands of the meat as it flakes away in the mouth. Moist as anything.

Meat: Charcoal-grilled duck breast, apple, basil, served on a very warm (nice!) marble (probably not?) plate. Duck unfortunately quite chewy. Lots of flavour while you chew away, gamey, bits of smoke, but the parts in the middle are just a bit too tough on the old jaws. Great with the sauces though – basil sauce, apple puree give the dish a sparkling new layer of flavours.

Dessert: Strawberries and roses. Comes with coffee (below-average espresso). The dessert was very interesting. Marshmallow base. Tastes more like super soft foam. But somehow both rose and strawberry flavours inside! Wild. Too sweet for me (y’know I like Sitka-style desserts), but wild.

Petit four: Basil and yogurt lollipop (it’s a shell! The shell cracks apart. Very cool. And tasty. Waitress gave me a second helping!). Raspberry and mint macaron (actually prefer the macarons from Tiny Temptress last time lol). Berry and pepper jelly (could do with more pepper, super sweet). Red wine bonbon (meh).

So, yeah, not the best ending. But a great meal nonetheless. And a great price imo.

Mantensushi Marunouchi

It’s a magical place. It really is.

Y6k for the dinner omakase is a crazy good bargain. You get 27 different dishes and yes, that’s not a typo. Nice, cozy space, everything comes out at a fast pace (but far from Jiro-style fast) over the 70-80 minutes meal, and there’s notably less of an emphasis on ebb and flow of flavours that you’d expect from the more premium, top-tier omakase courses. But it’s Y6k, so who gives a shit? The sushi is fantastic. The interplay of temperatures is stunning. Selected dishes below.

Snapper: crazy sweet fish. Paired with very very warm sushi rice. Surprising. Delicious. Great start.

Unknown drink: looks like diluted cum. Salty and warm. Nice.

Octopus sashimi: interesting. Salty, squiggly.

Sawada (spanish mackerel): skin delicately fired up. Wonderful. Just wonderful. The smokiness danced around the tongue and lingered for the rest of the Tokyo trip.

Saba: initially alright, just alright. Then the oil starts coming through slowly at first, then all at once, like a gushing oil well. Delicious. The saba itself is warmer than the snapper, and the rice is correspondingly less warm here. Interesting!

Tofu: Not jiggly, quite firm outside. Bite in, though, and it’s an explosion. Softer and creamier than cream cheese. Amazing. Incredible. In the note book, I just wrote: “Amazing!” five times, so yeah

Oysters: Intense. Briny. Sweet. Mouthwateringly good.

Enoki sushi: enoki colder than saba, so the temperature of the rice hikes up once again. Very warm, more vinegary.

Mentaiko: faintly spicy with wasabi, then the beads of roe explode into a million constituents in the mouth. Texturally, a goddamn delight. So satisfying. Better than the mentaiko in Fukuoka

Red snapper (kinmedai): Slightly too heavy-handed on the wasabi but still a good piece. The last time I was at Oribe, Nao-san served a better kinmedai though. This piece is a bit less sweet and bold.

Steamed egg: temperature too hot to eat straight away. Egg was alright. But the crab meat inside was great! Lots and lots of it. Delicate but held together enough to feel the chunks and chunks of crab.

Abalone sashimi: Immediate top note of yuzu opens up into an earthy mushroom umami I’ve never really associated with abalone. Firm texture, and each bite releases more earthiness. Wow!

Shirako (milt): Hey, isn’t this sperm? Milky, creamy.

Shrimp: warmest rice yet. Very very warm. The shrimp bursts into a creamy explosion but I’ve had sweeter shrimps before. Rice is the star.

Akami: Has to be the most flavourful lean tuna I’ve ever had. Gives way willingly to the bite, but has such a depth of flavour.

Otoro: Slightly, delicately warm rice. Super super fatty, melting, glistening, rich, oily beast of a fish slice. Best tuna I’ve ever had, hands down.

Ikura roe on rice: ikura itself not too cold, which is nice. Taste-wise, the Hokkaido Izakaya in Singapore still has the best ikura I’ve ever tasted.

Uni from Hokkaido: pretty good, but sadly uni was a bit too cold. Not the best I’ve had.

Tamago: pretty good. Layered nicely. About on par with Sourakuya at its peak, though less sweet.

Tiny clam soup: warm, sweet, fantastic. So satisfying. Vaguely tastes of sake at the back end.

Sea eel (anago): cold rice because…it’s aburi anago! Very very light smoke right at the back end but the juxtaposition of warm, almost hot, anago with cold rice is so good.

Tuna onions rice roll: Mmmm warm rice, chopped tuna, onions. Onion lingers a bit too much at the end but still very very good!

Sole strawberry as the ending! Perfect sweetness, IMO. Barely any tartness, just there at the back end. Better dessert than Eneko’s sweet stuff, lol.

Bar Orchard
Place feels like a dream, walking in. Size-wise, it’s about the size of Omakase. Bar counter is lovely. Lots of cool stuff and the ‘menu’ are the fruits.

Apple base first – very good. Pulpy apple. Bit of vodka flowing here and there. “Medium level” alcohol is surprisingly boozy. Egg white. Tasty, very tasty.

Persimmon – super sweet, fleshy. Delicious. I love persimmon. Comes with liquid nitrogen matcha liqueur (Wow! Sweet, bitter, delicate). Scoop the matcha and sip the persimmon and white wine. Sublime. Tasty, boozy, not too sweet.

Red pepper base – blowtorched bacon on top. Tastes almost like bak kwa without the sweetness. 7-spice etc, so it makes sense. Super foamy drink. Intense body and a fresh, spicy pepperiness. Bit of black pepper on the foam too. Bright and punchy.

Overall thoughts? Generally very good, but also overpriced. Y1000 cover charge (ouch). Total bill of Y7000 (insane). Preferred Bar Ishinohana.

Tompachitei @ Ueno

Katsuraisu for weekday lunches. 900 gets you pickles rice katsu etc. 5 counter seats and 4 tables. So you queue outside quite long lor. Tokyo like that lor. Super cozy homely feel inside. Run by an old couple.

Prefer the cabbage to maisen. Katsu is very good. Understandably the pork itself not as good cut as maisen. Less rich and deep in flavour. Then again this isn’t their recommended rosekatsu. It’s just the cheap lunch cut. Half the price. I really like the miso soup and the silky tofu. I love the homely feel of the place. I love that two people run everything. The chef actually leaves the counter to come and serve you. I love the crunchy crust, can’t fault that either. It’s just the inferior pork cut that lets it down a bit. I have no doubt their rosekatsu will be killer though.

Kagura (if you must eat sushi in Tsukiji, eat this)

Notes on Kagura in Tsukiji (outer market). Also, shout-out to the amazing grilled eel on a skewer (up to Y200 from 100, but it’s still to me) and the beef dumplings in the outer market. Y’all the real champs to this penny-pinching pauper.

But hey what’s Tsukiji without a sushi set or two. Kagura was my first stop before Yamazaki, and it took first spot in my hearttu. It’s a ramshackle hole in the wall, with vinyl curtains to keep out the winter chill (and cast a red hue over all the photos). There’s a bit of jazz in the background, like basically everywhere in Tokyo. The chef is super friendly. Sit by the counter if you can, there are only two small seats. Get any set that has a good mix of the usual nigiri and their aburi (grilled) specialties. Rice is generally alright here though would prefer a more vinegary style. Love the amount of wasabi though, perfectly balanced for each piece. The scallops? Stunning. Smooth, gentle, tender, ridiculously fresh.

And the whole course goes that way, pretty much. The shrimp, the tuna (even the least fatty cut feels absolutely infused with a rich fatty mouthfeel), the uni (incredibly rich and creamy without being overwhelmingly salty), and then there’s the grilled boys. All the seared stuff is on some nother other shit. The grilled char is like a flavour bomb overwhelming the senses. Gotta try this stuff. Only downer is the rice (not the best), the tamago (there are a lot of better ones around) and the negishio (ok ok la). Still a must visit though imo.

Tsuta

8.15am on a Thursday in winter, CNY eve. Waltzed in with no queue to collect the ticket I wanted: a 3pm slot. Can we all agree that the queue system is weird af though. You queue up then you have to go in and use the vending machine to order then give your ticket then get a card thing then go back in line.

Shoyu soba with chashu and wanton: Wanton sucks. Noodles soft and mediocre.

Chashu very soft and thin. Bit like bacon and ham in a way. Nice. The soup is good though, have to admit. Much better than the shoyu at tsuta Singapore. And strangely enough much less salty. Almost like two completely different bowls really. Really like the broth. It’s not top tier but it’s very good. Wouldn’t queue up for it again.

Ichiran @ Ueno

You know what, the Ichiran here was better than the Ichiran in Fukuoka. And it’s 24/7, which is great. Also, it’s definitely not as isolation chamber as you might think. If anything, it gets a bit noisier / more distracting than the regular ramen spots, since it’s so small and cramped.

Broth: good. Balanced. About the same level as the broth at Haneda Airport, which is to say it’s pretty good. Kind of around-ish the same level as Menya Shi Shi Do’s black garlic (Kuro) in KL. The chili doesn’t do much for me. 

Pork: decent, nothing to shout about. Better than some of the stuff in Fukuoka, worse than some of the spots in KL. Salted soft-boiled egg: alright. Can skip and spring for kaedama (extra noodles) instead. Noodles: good! The ones I had here were much better than the noods at Ichiran Fukuoka. Firm, very firm, and tasty. 

Best ramen? Of course not. But it’s a fun experience and the convenient times are commendable. Sometimes you want a bowl after and before 11 and nowhere is open. Plus them noodles are good. And Ueno is denim central*. So hell yeah I would return if I was in the area. 

* Don’t miss out on the denim stores in Ueno. Lots of next-level stuff around. Area feels a bit like Petaling Street collided with Shibuya, but if you’re focused on your Barbour or your Momotaro, there’s really no point buying from anywhere else. Place is crazy. 

In particular, check out Hinoya. Super knowledgeable and friendly staff. Recommended and let me try on all sorts of jeans: Momotaro, PBJs, etc. Believe it or not, I actually ended up with their house brand collab w Warehouse. Loved (and still love!) the slubbiness. 

Next level customer service, really. Dude gave me a bunch of different jean releases to look up online and jizz at afterwards. 

Tsukiji Eel nisshin tasuke @ Tsukiji market- fucking good. Blows away the tare Unagi in Malaysia easily. 200Y a skewer is a bargain but get the bowls for even better value. Tempted to get more.

If you’re still at Tsukiji, get the Yoshizawa Shoten (Matsuzaka minced beef cake). This is killer. Huge huge matsuzaka minced beef. Delicious dumpling. Really massive, you have to get it. Nice and fatty and meaty too. Lovely.

Yamazaki @ Tsukiji

Place is like 4 times bigger than kagura. Still small but doesn’t look as painfully cramped and rushed as Dai. And a queue of Chinese and white tourists is so off-putting. Fuck that. Worth getting omakase here for 5k? Maybe. Think kagura is a better bit though. Rice a bit grainier too compared to kagura.

Tamago here much better than kagura. Really top tier this one. So good. Surf clam good. Nice sweetness to it. Scallop very good too. 

Salmon is salmon. Good salmon but still. Prefer grilled. Squid. Interestingly textured. Love the chew and almost sliminess. In a good way. Snow crab. It’s okay. Shrimps. Crazy sweet. Builds on the slimy squid

Tuna. Not bad. Also fatty but not as good as kagura. Salmon roe wew salty. Not as good as the Hokkaido ikura in Singapore eh.

Anyway overall good but prefer kagura. The aburi there is great and the normal nigiri solid too. Rice here a bit disappointing. Super friendly chefs though. And they speak English well. Worth a visit if you have to but would return to kagura instead. Dai and daiwa ew. Those queues. Those tourists. No thanks. Yeah I dunno. If youre coming to tsukiji I would say hit up that amazing eel and matsasuka dumpling and kagura at the outer market. Then head to a random sushi place slightly off from the Dai alley in the inner market (couple of steps away into another alley and you can see spots that actual locals are at). Doubt there’ll be a drastic difference in quality plus you don’t get the off-putting tourists vibe. You’ll be the offputting tourist instead! Just keep chanting sumimasen and apologize for your intrusion and existence etc.

Onigiri bongo
Hey, a specialist onigiri spot!

Great rice. Fillings bit salty. Nice big portion. Overall pretty nice. A step above the typical konbini onigiri, which is by no means bad anyway. 

Maisen

The super hot towel feels wonderful in winter.

Radish appetizer a bit too strong, until you add the yuzu soy. Lifts it up a bit. The tea is very good.

The pork itself is very good. Fatty but nice bite. Good crust. Essentially, it’s slightly better than the best tonkatsu I’ve ever had in KL – but the differential is not that big vs KL’s offerings (as compared to the difference when it comes to ramen, sushi etc). It’s not massively better. FOr the price, wouldn’t really bother returning. Would go to the standing sushi bar nearby AND the gyukatsu place for the same total bill. 

Gyukatsu Motomura – original location

Shit on me, why is this so goddamn satisfying. Queued for close to 2 hours in the cold, and every second was worth it. Tender, succulent beef inside, perfect crust outside, perfect setting etc etc. I don’t know, man. It just hit the spot so well.

Chuuka Soba Tomita

The legend. Honestly, too hardcore and experimental to be really enjoyable. Like post-modern art and avant garde noise music, you kind of have to appreciate the history leading up to the movement to “get” the movement. You have to know what it’s upending, after all. Here, every component of a typical tsukemen is taken to its logical extreme.

Noodles – you like them chewy? Of course you do. Soft, soggy ramen noodles is a fucking travesty (ahem, unless you’re Hototogisu). Malaysian Chinese love their flaccid, limpdick noods, but most good ramen temples in Tokyo are going to be serving up the hard stuff. Tomita goes 3 to 4 steps further and churns out the chewiest, toughest noodles you’ll ever have. It’s a struggle, a full-on battle, with each bite. And to give it extra slurpiness and make it more of a challenge, the noodles are also extremely long.

Broth – thick, beyond goopy, and extremely salty. It’s almost all about texture here. It’s slimy, thick like pulped down sardines, it sticks to the noodles and your mouth, it barely moves in the bowl.

Pork – varied in doneness. Goes from barely cooked to deliciously blowtorched.

In summary? It’s a top 10 bowl in terms of how much I enjoyed it, but boy was it a cerebral struggle to enjoy. It’s not easily accessible, that’s for sure.

Fuglen

Legit beautiful place. But way too packed with tourists taking photos. Place was ruined for me, tbh. Coffee alright.

Nata de Cristiano

Perfection, basically. 

Terunari
Y 6500 is an insanely good bargain. I’m 100% penciling Terunari down for every single Tokyo trip from now on. Possibly the most enjoyable experience I’ve had in Tokyo.

Beautiful bar counter, right up next to the young chefs. Gorgeous open kitchen. Love, love, love it. Right up next to the action. And the seating is super comfortable (the leg support, the railing etc etc). Bar counter seating is a must if you’re not in a large group, and the service is beyond top notch (kept chatting with the chefs, main chef exchanged a few food and drink recommendations, insisted on taking photos together etc).

Okay, let’s go step by step.

Appetizer: stir-fried shrimps from Kochi. Juicy, plump, but with a gentle touch of smoke. Tiny egg yolk. Delicious start.

Congealed puffer fish: welp, does nothing for me. Fish in jelly. But nice snappy, crunchy cucumber slices.

Tuna: mediocre. Squid: the lemon really steps up the broiled white squid to another level. Bright without being sour, it lets the wisps of smoke slowly seep in while eating. Very subtle but incredibly rewarding.

Egg custard: very watery. Smells amazing. Tastes stunning. Like essence of beef. Is this boiled down beef sinew? Very oily, meaty, umami. Insane. It’s more like drinking beef consomme with floating bits of egg. Like a sort of inverted chawanmushi. The egg is not the focus, it’s there to add texture – and they feel like light floating icebergs that dissolve against the tongue. Easily my favourite chawanmushi ever by far.

Chicken liver mousse sandwich: excellent. Super light cracker biscuit shell – delicate, slightly sweet. Rich, cold liver with bits of very thinly diced up sour pickles. Best liver dish I’ve ever had. Flower has a very mild spiciness to it. Sweet potato chips don’t add much but sort of echo the sweetness of the liver shell. Pate itself so pink it looks like strawberry ice cream. Remarkable dish.

Kochi yellowtail, lightly deep fried. Served in a soup. Sweet fish. Firm flesh. Not bad.

Yamagata roasted pig is the main dish, and what a main dish. Fantastic pork. Slightly pink, slightly resistive, but not too chewy. Each bite bursts with an almost agonizing crescendo of flavour. Unabashedly porky. Sherry vinegar reduction. Only sore point is the meh salad (and the chef insisted it’s a “taste-good salad”!). Can sub out meat for the more expensive stuff (eg. +Y800 for Hungarian duck, +Y800 for Ezo dear, +Y1k for ostrich, +Y1.2k for wagyu – and the wagyu looks phenomenal). 

Sawanoi sake: added this on, of course. Haven’t had any sake I’ve fancied before, but this was fantastic. Really the best by far. Mild initial nose, mild initial taste. Gradually sweetens in the mouth then blooms with light notes of subtle spiciness as it warms. Sharp and spicy towards the end. 

Rice with bamboo shoots, baked chicken. Love watching them prepare the claypot and rush it to the stove. Tastes like a posh, polished claypot rice! Lovely smell. Glistening oily rice. Chicken bits have the faintest hint of charring from the blowtorch. Toasted sesame seeds. Heavenly. Eat 3 bowls of it and still have enough to pack back for the next morning’s breakfast.

Miso soup with aka dashi was meh. Mantensushi still has the best.

Dessert: tea and new hand towel first, and damn the tea is delish. Dessert: strawberry and mint jelly. Looks great. Tastes great. Better than Eneko’s desserts. 

ALSO there are more desserts? Meme-y Pocky stick with callebaut ruby chocolate. Milk ice cream. Very creamy. Taken with the cold cheesecake and Japanese orange? Delicious and decadent.

Random wine bar

Sorry, I forgot the name. But I loved the place. Tiny space, fits about 6 people at most. Super comfortable bar seats. Super chill vibes. 

Date No Gyutan 

Actually pretty damn good curry rice. The beef was flank – moderately tough but plenty of flavour. Lots of depth in the curry itself. And very nice salad.

Ita Soba @ Ebisu

What a great place. Sick jazz. 2 super long huge tables. Sesame cold dipping sauce so creamy, so good. Soba itself is perfection. Hard and mean to the bite. Great, great soba. 

Switch Coffee

Lovely small cafe. Great espresso.

Jinroku

Great izakaya near Fuglen, Monocle etc. Cover charge, but it gets you very tasty stuff (we had lovely oden, some of the best I’ve ever had). Great music played from CDs. Love the vibe. Goes from old school R&B to jazz to chill trip-hop to the entirety of Snail Mail’s album. 

Tuna sashimi: lovely, huge chunks, very buttery. Light hand on the wasabi sauce. So creamy and soft. Almost, almost as tasty as Mantensushi! Which means it’s a damn sight better than anything in KL.

Eggplant: smells captivating. Tastes brilliant. Lovely bits of char, not too slimy, firm flesh. Smoky and firm, goddamn. Delicious.

Deep fried lotus root: mediocre batter but the lotus root itself very very crunchy and juicy.

Karaage: Batter seasoned perfectly. Juicy and tender inside. Also, on a separate note, Family Mart does some damn fine karaage. Particularly like the boneless spicy one.

Octopus, tomatoes, bell pepper, broccoli, garlic, cheese: so good I almost cried. No joke. So satisfying. Home-cooked-tasting in the best possible way. Just an absolute bomb of flavours and a perfect way to end the meal.

Bar Ishinohana

Long bar counter seats about 12 people comfortably, with space for another 5-6 at the back. Lovely space. Better than Bar Orchard, probably my fave bar so far in Tokyo. Very much has the heart and soul of Bar Shake in KL, but with the bells and whistles of Omakase+Appreciate.

Strawberry pistachio Alexander: strawberry from Chiba. Strong nose of pistachio, very nutty and robust. Pulpy strawberry. Milkshake-like consistency. Very enjoyable.

Strawberry earl grey collins: super refreshing, not too sweet. Very well balanced.

Kiwi x Lavender Martin: kiwi from Nagano. Very tart-tasting, but addicted to the mouthfeel of the fruit pulp. Housemade lavender-infused gin. Fresh pineapple in there too, and housemade honey syrup. What a drink.

Claudia: rum, pineapple, ground peppers, caramel syrup, so good.

I’m picky with cocktails. Most place in KL just throw some alcohol together with a shopping list of other ingredients and try to add a ‘twist’ to it that sounds good on the menu. Give me simple stuff done right, please.

Oribe: beefeater, matcha, milk, wasabon sugar, gold powder. Gorgeous glass befitting of a gorgeous drink. Lovely fresh milk. It’s like matcha with excellent cold milk. So tasty. Beefeater just sort of rounds out the back end of the drink – really just feels like you’re drinking the tastiest matcha with milk ever.

Espresso whisky, cacao liqueur: very nice but boy oh boy does it caffeinate you up.

Larceny bourbon (92 proof), Pernod absinthe, etc (custom off-menu): almost singed my eyebrows off. Super strong. Crazy alcohol level. But what a way to end. A real uppercut of a drink.

Glitch Coffee

Best damn coffee around. End of.

Konjiki Hototogisu

Number one. The best ramen I’ve had. 90 mins wait and it’s worth it. Noodles soft but for once, it actually makes sense to be soft here. I’ve always wanted the firmest, hardest noodles possible, but the soft noods belong to this bowl. They fit perfectly with the amazing clam soup. Super clammy, super delicious shoyu. Pork brilliant too. Layers of flavour everywhere. Orgasmic. The shio is intense too, perhaps even better somehow. Insane bowls.

Savoy Azabu-Juban 

Even if the pizza was mediocre, I’d come here over and over again if I could. The place is amazing. But of course the pizza isn’t mediocre. It’s unforgettable.

Seirinkan deservedly gets all the plaudits – Susuma Kakinuma is the Holy Father of the Tokyo pizza scene and was a springboard for some of the best pizzerias in town. They all trace their roots back to the master. As does Savoy Azabu-Juban.

So, yes, Seirinkan deserves all the plaudits, but Savoy Azabu-Juban is pretty much a case of the student surpassing the master.

There’s a quadrant that seats about 8 people, all of us bunched up around and facing the massive wood-fired oven, with the chips and blocks lined up neatly under the furnace. You can feel the waves of heat immediately as you walk in. The dough is fingered gently, the rich red tomato spooned around it. You hear the spit and snarl of the wood, and watch as the maestro shaves away at a head of garlic, letting it fall liberally on the pizza. Surely it’s too much garlic? Well. Of course it isn’t.

The pizza goes in, some wood chips are thrown in to flare up the fire, and barely a minute later, your pizza is in front of you. 

The dough is…magical. Transformative. Orgasmic, even. It’s crispy and smoky and slightly, just very slightly, pleasantly bitter and acrid on the outside. Bite in and it explodes with air pockets of smoke and sea salt. It’s chewy, springy, bouncy, elastic, chewy, fluffy, buzzing with olive oil, chewy, and the gently pulsating shaved garlic is almost fully melted and embedded into the dough. It’s insane how good it is. It’s almost too good. Superlatives float gently to the surface, buffeted by the digesting dough, and they each melt away against the searing reality of the meal.

There’s really no way to explain the experience of the place. The pizzas are magical, the jazz dances around the spitting of the fire, the boys running the place are hilarious, the atmosphere is warm and jovial and…unforgettable.

There are only two pizzas on the menu. Both are sublime and beyond the bounds of what I previously thought possible. 

Passage Coffee

Along a very long strip mall-ish set of roads. Lovely space, bright and pretty spacious for Tokyo. Good hand drip, enjoyable. Drinkable. Comfortable, chill spot.

4/4 Coffee

Lovely place near Shinjuku-Sanchome station. Cool, small spot. Long black delicious. Lovely smell, cakes look great, heard hand drip great too. The sort of place you wish you could get your daily coffee from.

Nakajima

Michelin star spot that is famous for doing sardine stuff for lunch. Cute concept.

Y900 for the yanagawa nabe set. Cool place. Very spacious and comfortable for a basement spot. Sardines are big. Taste-wise, no ‘wow’ factor but tastes like the best home-cooked food ever. Deep fried sardines are lovely. 

Overall: sweet, warming, comforting. 

And of course there are about a billion or so other places I haven’t tried out yet in Tokyo. If you’re there, try out some of these and let me know how they go. I’m told they’re good. And of course, it’s not my actual exhaustive to-go list, that one is a good deal more extensive.

• Toritsune Shizendo (Y1-2k oyakodon lunch set, Michelin bib gourmand)
• Narikura (one of the best tonkatsu)
• Kintoki (tantanmen, great chicken ramen) (1-2-7, Tokyo, Nerima-ku, Kotakecho 1-2-7) (nearest station: Ekoda) (Open 11-2pm; 5.30-8.30pm; closed Mon & Tue)
• Taishoken ramen (Tsukemen)
• Nikunchu (yakiniku – tenderloin, daily offal)
• Isshin (Asakusa) – 1 michelin. Lunch sets start at Y 6000
• Sushi Kanesaka – 1 michelin. Lunch starts at Y 5000
• Pizza Strada (great pizza, dude moved to Savoy though)
• Pizza Studio Tamaki (potentially better than Savoy?) (must-order lemonade too)
• Pizza Dada (great pizza too)
• Yakitori Ebisu Nishi-Ogikubo (Y 100 Yakitori which are all good)
• Mugitooribu in Ginza (ramen – chicken broth, dashi, clam)
• Mensho Tokyo @ Kasuga (ramen – lamb bone soup)
• Fuunji (tsukemen – get nami (normal))
• Den
• Zuisetsu @ Setagaya (1 Michelin star) (set lunch from Y1620) (Cantonese food w Jap flair)
• Toyoken (expensive black curry – Matsuzaka wagyu beef, cooked for a month)
• Sushi Ryusuke (Y5000 for 10-piece nigiri lunch set)
• Yoshino Sushi Honten (Y2200 lunch set for 8 pieces)
• Tateru Yoshino Ginza (2 michelin star French joint, about 13k for lunch)
• Path @ Shibuya (dutch pancake with ham, wait 8am)
• Utsura Utsura @ Shibuya (hot sake, great otoshi)
• Forrester @ Nakameguro (Jap curry and 100 types of gin)
• Cocktail Works Jinbocho (great cocktails, e.g. matcha chai latte, opens 11.30am)
• Marugo Tokyo for tabi boots
• Tempura Nakayama (black tendon) @ Nihonbashi
• Yoroniku Ebisu (one of the highest rated restaurants on Tabelog, around Y10k, foreigners not allowed to make reservation. Must arrive and wait in line after 9pm. Last order 11pm. 150-0013 Tokyo, Shibuya, Ebisu, 1 Chome−11−5 GEMS 8F (2min walk from JR Yamanote Line or Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line Ebisu Station)(5:00 pm – 12:00 am
  – Nakiryu ramen (Y1000) (1 Michelin star) (dandanmen is great but long line) (queue up 1 hr before opening time)
  – Tamarawai (Good soba miso and yuba (tofu skin). Doesn’t take reservations)
  – Tai Shio Soba Touka (top Shio)
  – Muginae (Tsukemen) (3rd highest in Tabelog)
  – Menya Ishin (near Meguro) (Michelin bib gourmand) (yuzushio special for Y 1100)
  – Menson Rage (hidden gem, far away. Shoyu and mazesoba both great)
  – Mengyo (ramen broth from seabream and chicken, pork smoked with cherry wood)
  – Muginae (6 types of shoyu in broth, buckwheat noodles)
  – Kanda Matsuya (Best soba?)
  – Ibuki (dried sardines in broth)
  – Shichisai (order the Kitakata Niku-soba – Niboshi – one of the best noodles around) (2-13-2, Hatchobori, Chuo-ku) (11am-3.30pm; 5.30-9pm everyday)
  – Naniwaya (original taiyaki) (1-8-14 Azabu-Juban, Minato-ku)
  – Ippodo Tea (#1 ranked tea room in Tokyo)
  – Rokurinsha amazing tsukemen opens at 7.30am – ramen street at Tokyo station
  – Kajitsuen fruit parlor
  – Ahiru Store @ Shibuya, closer to Yoyogi-Koen station (natural wines by glass from Y1k upward, great breads, homemade sausages and pates) (1-19-4 Tomigaya, Shibuya-ku Tokyo) (Mon-Fri 6pm-12midnight, Sat 3pm-9pm / closed Sun) (no need reservations, but go early fam)
  – Gyoza Shack @ Setagaya (special gyoza + natural wine) (2-3-10 Sangenjaya, Setagaya-ku) (5pm-12am)

– Higashi-Mukojima Coffee-ten (coffee, great no-bake cheesecake) (1-34-7 Higashi-Mukojima, Sumida-ku – near Hikifune station) (8.30am-8pm / closed Wed)
– Good People & Good Coffee (3-4-11 Higashiyama, Meguro-ku, Tue-Fri 9am-6pm; Sat, Sun & hols 10.30am-6pm / closed Mon
– Cafe Obscura (specializes in siphon coffee) ( Setagaya-ku, Sangenjaya, 1-9-16, Tokyo)

– Gen Yamamoto (apparently a MUST GO. Also recommended by Mona so there’s that. 4 cocktail tasting menu Y 5k + Y1k cover charge 〒106-0045 Tokyo, Minato, 麻布十番1-6-4 アニバーサリービル 1F)(need to make reservations by phone though) (Tue-Sat 3pm-11pm, Sun 3pm-10pm / closed Mon)
– Beer Pub Ishii (craft beer – 3 rotating taps)
– Jazz Spot Intro (6.30pm-12am) (near Takadanobaba Station) (go Tues-Thurs for gigs)
– Intro @ Shinjuku: narrow, cramped jazz bar with live music 3-4 nights a week (jazzspot.intro.co.jp)
– Iron Fairies @ Ginza (cool vibe, great drinks, cotton candy cloud drink)
– YYG Brewery & Beer Kitchen (try the house brews at 1st floor. At 7th floor, there’s food to go with the beer – probably stick to biru eh)
– Beersaurus Ikebukuro
– Bar Ben Fiddich (Yamatoya Bldg. 9F, 1-13-7 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku) (near Shinjuku station) (6pm-3am the next day) (completely custom)

– No., Shibuya

– Beer Bar Ushitora @ Setagaya (great home craft beers, and great pub food!)
– Grandfather’s Inn, Shibuya (Flat Bld. B1F, 1-24-7 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, walking distance from Shibuya station) (vinyl, atmosphere, whiskey decently priced)
– Le Labo: Tokyo exclusive – Gaiac 10. 

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We tried the seasonal menu at Fifth Palate (no longer available) as well as another dish from their ordinary menu and were impressed enough to recommend this place as a go-to cafe destination. For food, at least! And particularly if you’re in the area.

In today’s review, we look at a number of limited-time-only dishes from Fifth Palate that are no longer available…and why Fifth Palate still warrants a visit despite our very much out-of-date words.

During 18 August to 18 September 2017, Fifth Palate launched its limited-time Merdeka Specials. Attentive readers will note that this time period has long passed. We are in October’s realm now – or rather, we are close to November now. But we are still contractually obligated to deliver our unbiased thoughts on the meal, regardless of whether said meal is still available at good ol Fifth Palate. (Editor’s note: can someone check this please is this how it works). And so we begin our time travelling journey with the MALAYSIAN BREAKFAST (RM 25).

Soooo this is a nasi lemak, right? Yes and no. The marketing material reads “Pandan infused coconut rice with pork rendang, fried squid, papadum, sambal and condiments“. The palate reads a fascinating little twist and shout on our national dish. We dig in very, very quickly indeed. Half the plate is gone before we consciously make an attempt to slow down, isolate and identify individual ingredients, and write out notes beyond just “Damn” and “Good“.

First: the pandan-infused coconut rice. It’s very, very fragrant. Hover the spoon below the nose and the laces of pandan immediately waft in. The scent of pandan is particular, unique, a fragrance caught in between basmati rice and banana leaf and freshly cut grass. It’s a distinct scent. It’s a scent that brings to mind a Malaysian childhood.

But back to the rice – the first surprise is that it isn’t what you’d expect from nasi lemak. It’s sticky without being mushy. It’s almost like pulut, texture-wise, which strangely turns out to be a very good thing indeed. Because lord is it tasty. And then there’s the sambal. The first note is a strong sweetness which immediately horrifies us. Could this be Village Park all over again?

Not quite, friends, not quite. The note of sweetness quickly deepens and darkens in the mouth, then morphs into a pleasant heat coating the back of the throat. It’s not an oppressive spiciness that blots out all other tastes and sensations. Instead, it’s a warmth that lays down the picnic blanket for the rest of the plate, and we happily oblige. In goes the pork rendang, tender as anything. It’s large and chunky but a quick chomp shreds through the willing flesh. Taste-wise, it’s perhaps not quite as punchy as we would want our quintessential rendang to be. It’s a bit of a muddled, muted taste. In go the papadum crackers, still crispy and crunchy, with splotches of oil all over. In goes the sotong, which is the first disappointment. It’s overloaded on the batter outside and disappointingly rubbery inside. Squid is a tough dish to pull off, and Fifth Palate falls short on this account like many others.

On an overall basis, this was a highly enjoyable plate though. It tastes like a sort of amalgamation of lemang and nasi lemak, and strangely enough it works! Now to wait for the Merdeka month of 2018 for this dish to roll out once more.

But that’s not all there was to the MALAYSIAN BREAKFAST. This is Malaysia, after all. We don’t stop at the point of obesity. The feeding never ends. And as such when we ordered the pandan lemak, we also received a complementary gula melaka teh tarik.

Yes, we know it sounds like a terribly overly-sweet idea. That’s what we thought when seeing it on the menu. That’s what we thought while waiting for it to reach. And that’s what we thought up to the point we brought it to our lips and took a few sips.

Because damn this gula melaka teh tarik is good.

It’s like a milky, frothy, creamy teh tarik. The gula melaka gives it a very interesting Xanthan gum-like effect, thickening the tea almost to a latte texture. You can just about chew on it. The mouthfeel is that thick. And it’s really not overly sweet, somehow! The body of the tea still manages to slice through the sugar, and there’s that lovely caramelized-sort-of-taste you get from gula melaka.

But, you ask, what about their non-holiday menu?

Well, there’s this, for starters. Or for a lazy Sunday brunch where you need something to jolt you out of the haze of last night’s alcohol. Yes, folks, it’s the Peruvian Seafood Pasta (RM26). The sauce is bright, zesty and zingy. It’s quite a curious little sauce, actually. There’s the tingling sensation of green chili (a bit like the one from Real Sambal) but without any of the heat, if that makes sense. It’s a bit like…essence of chili? It’s certainly not very spicy. We’re told the inspiration for it is from a small place in Ipoh that the founders visited and fell in love with.

Also, seafood. There are some nice salmon bits in here – proper small chunks of salmon/trout too, not the shredded canned tuna some places opt for. I like it. The squid is very rubbery though. YMMV. Squid-y failings aside, this is a pretty good bet for pasta if you’re in the area.

And they have cold pressed juices too (of course). We sampled the CLEANSE: pineapple, spinach, green apple, mint and lemon. It does feel nice and clean. Which isn’t to say I felt particularly cleansed afterwards, but take what you can get, right? The flavours were bright and bold but did get a bit mushed up together which made it hard to isolate each note. It’s a healthy mush-up, at least.

And oh boy, we almost forgot the Appam Eggettes. These were on the Malaysian Breakfast special menu and it had me scratching my head a bit. It felt structurally precarious, on the verge of collapsing like melted steel beams. It could be the way we cautiously picked at it, gingerly holding the base and taking nibbles while keeping both eyes fixed at all times. Perhaps the proper way was to grab it with conviction, lift it firmly into the air like a burrito, and go to town.

Flavour-wise, it was pretty decent. There was a satisfyingly sturdy exterior outside, shielding the pleasantly fluffy pandan innards. It didn’t get too mushy and soggy inside either. There was some mild (very mild) coconut ice cream, and some corn and desiccated coconut for texture. Nothing particularly spectacular but it looked good!

We also note that the Drunken Frenchman is apparently a hit here and it bears more than a few shades of resemblance with Standing Theory’s BBC: there’s french toast, caramelized banana, bacon (pork bacon ie real bacon), Guinness reduction and in-house peanut butter.

In summation:

Some pretty decent grub…though I suppose it can be notched up to be considered great for the area. It’s slightly off the beaten track but there looks to be a solid lunch crowd on weekends. Worth the visit especially if you’re in the area. May even become your regular neighbourhood haunt, who knows? We all could do with a home-base cafe.

Fifth Palate is located at Block D-G-1, Encorp Strand Garden Office, Kota Damansara. They’re open from 8.30am to 5pm and are closed on Wednesdays. Give them a call at 03-6144 0055. Ask them to bring back the Malaysian breakfast. 

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Ziffy pairs a pun-packed menu with dishes of varying levels of promise, all plated quite prettily. It’s another in the long line of Klang Valley’s ongoing cafe offerings and may well merit a visit if you’re in the area. We didn’t have anything spectacular during our visit but we do hope they continue working on the dishes.

Kota Damansara has come a long way from being a forest reserve. Now a melting pot for various gastronomic points of interest, in recent times it’s undergone a (dare I say gentrification) shift towards more than just local eateries. A short drive (misnomer, the traffic here is something else) through the lanes will showcase the sheer variety of food on display. Dim sum delights, Korean barbecue, modern takes on wantan mee, Melbourne brunch inspired cafes and this Foodgazer’s go-to Penang Nasi Kandar are just a few of the choice ingredients floating to the top of this stew of good eats.

Amidst all the noise is Ziffy, situated inside Sunway Nexis. The facade with all its geometric blocks lends a certain order to the chaos of Kota Damansara and walking in, the feeling of comfort further sinks in. Well-lit, the cafe is modern indeed with wood and metal co-existing in a sort of compromise between the two elements. Up the stairs sits a loft area which lends an air of privacy to caffeine consumers and brunch munchers alike. A little alcove sits at the back, where plans for live music nights are soon to take shape.

The brain-child of a Melbourne University alumni, Ziffy aims to bring to Kota Damansara all the cafe chic from the owner’s student days. Armed with 2 ex-Jibby & Co. cooks, the menu is a puntastic and varied range of brunchy food with local twists. If you’re taco-ing about Mexico, there are tacos and quesadillas. Their salad section is Inspiralized by many eclectic influences ranging from sensual Prawn Stars to the noble Roman Julius Caesar.

We start with some drinks. The Longan Mojito (RM13) is a sweet, light refreshing concoction that teases the palate with that green hit of lime with some longan skewers to go with it. Refreshing, although the longan doesn’t really shine through. Better is the Boss Mojito (RM13), a very interesting mixological concoction of coffee with shots of lime and mint. The combination is surprisingly balanced with the subtle nuances of the coffee being brought out by the lime, tempering the darker shades of the roast.

A trio arrives to save the Foodgaes from their incessant hunger pangs. Not quite Alexandre Dumas, Ziffy’s bao triple threat consists of 2 birds and their fishy friend, chivalrously defending your right to be free from hunger. First up to the tasting plate is the Duck, glazed with teriyaki sauce and sandwiched in between that fluffy bao. The texture of the meat here is quacking, moist and soft while retaining a good bite. Bound to please the local crowd with the sweet and salty interplay. Up next is Chicken, proudly Malaysian with its sweet sambal chili dressing. While the chicken here is well-cooked like the duck, the sauce here falls on the wrong side of sweet and, if not for the absorbent bao, would almost be cloying. Picking up the slack is the Fish, with its crispy batter, flaky meat and a flourish of mayo showing that simplicity can win the day. The best of the bunch in our Gazerly opinion.

There’s something about Mari... nara. Ziffy’s rendition of this ever-popular seafood pasta takes the heat up a notch to match our tropical weather. Two Prawn Stars (hehe) join the flavour orgy, lying temptingly over a bed of spaghetti, each strand slick and wet with passion… actually, marinara sauce. Damn, this has some good heat actually. The Foodgazers are in disagreement. One contends that this indeed is a good sauce, the other is again let down by that tinge of sweetness that slightly offsets the delicate balancing act. As we all know, positioning is of paramount importance in the industry in which these two crustaceans perform in. Mussel-bound fans surround the pasta pedestal upon which their objects of desire lay so seductively, beseeching them to pay notice. The Gazers don’t care. We eat all of them. They’re fresh and tasty. Did we mention that the spice here kicks? We did? Good.

The Salted Egg Chick (RM20) is a revamped, spruced-up version of a kopitiam and taichow favourite. Pieces of chicken coated in that addictive salted egg goodness rest above a vegetable medley. Ziffy up the ante by using Basmathi rice in place of the usual short or long grain. They do it right, the rice retaining its bite and providing a medium of transport from plate to palate to stomach. Alas, while the salted egg coating hits the right buttons with its savoury flavour hammer, the chicken inside is slightly dry and not quite up to par. Green is good, however, as the vegetables pick up the slack with crispy, fresh flavours. The peppers crunch well and have a pleasing sweetness.

And so the Foodgazing is done. Ziffy Cafe has potential. The food and drink are all prettily presented in neat, Instagram-worthy packages. When the flavours align, the food is interesting and tasty. Perhaps a bit more work on balancing the flavour profiles is needed. It’s a comfortable spot, as you can see from Yummy Yenchie above, planning his next bout of fat-assery. It’s pretty. There will be live music soon. They offer set lunches too. So! If ever you’re in Sunway Nexis and in search of a quiet spot for some reading, productive thinking or just to laze around away from the humidity, go to Ziffy. See you in a jiffy.

Ziffy Cafe

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Can a kiosk transcend its form? Can it make itself more than just a kiosk, can it devote itself to an ideal, and become something else entirely? I dunno. Maybe. It’s trying to be a neighbourhood eatery in the middle of a mall. But in the capitalistic hell of a KL mall, what is the neighbourhood in question? And more specifically – given that there are some pretty tiny malls out there in actual tiny neighbourhoods – what neighbourhood does Nu Sentral serve? It’s a center of criss-crossing public transport. There aren’t really any houses in the visible vicinity. This is a neighbourhood of hungry office workers.

In any case, we sampled the food at Quartet Nu Sentral at their bequest, and sat on this review for ages. Here’s what we thought of it.

The above photo is a cold brew raspberry latte. It’s peculiar. The uninitiated palate struggles initially to situate the contrasting flavours on the same plane. It strikes one as the sort of vaguely unnecessary flourish done in the name of experimentation by inebriated, moneyed minds. The sort that laugh at the serfdom and subject them to stranger things while simultaneously mocking them for just not getting this intellectual pairing and how it’s a metaphor for the human condition – the milk stands for sustenance and the first elixir of life, the coffee is a stand-in for awakenings and enlightenment, the raspberry is a reference to the Raspberry Pi and its attempt to popularize cheaper technology to a wider audience previously blocked from access to the web at large due to, you know, money, and the combination stands for the encroaching expansion of gentrification and how we move even further from the fundamental truths that constitute a human being and – well, the point is it’s a peculiar little latte.

Here’s a pulled beef sandwich. Upon dissection (digestion?), we discovered slow-cooked beefu, caramelized onions, and good old cheddar. No frills, no worries. Or some aphorism to that effect. The bread is good. It’s baked in-house at Quar Tet TTDI, we’re told, which is the home base to our Quar Tet NuSentral neighbourhood satellite station. There’s a nice crust on the bread. The crumb has a good lattice to it. Very lattice-y. Airy, in other words, and that’s air with a tinge of yeast. Vaguely. It’s there. Somewhere. I may have imagined it. I don’t have my notes on this place anymore. It’s from some time ago and I procrastinated and then dropped a water bottle on the notebook and now I no longer recall the initial impressions of the sandwich in particular and the place as a whole. I’m sorry. We don’t really “remember” anything, I’m told. Each attempt to recall distorts the memory itself, and at some point you can no longer tell if you’re recalling the recollection or the thing in itself.

Mild mustard, tender strands of beef, and cheese that’s nothing much to shout about but this sammie sammie wham bam really surprised us. Great for the price in my opinion. Granted, I can’t remember the price (thank you, alcohol) but if there’s ONE thing I can remember, it’s value. They don’t call us the Valuegazers for nothing!

This is a grilled chicken sandwich. It doesn’t look like much from outside. Inside:

I. Sundried tomatoes that taste like normal tomatoes
II. Cheddar cheese that doesn’t really taste like it’s there
III. Grilled chicken that doesn’t really taste like it’s there
IV. In-house pesto that’s very, very fragrant with a punchy smell to it

The pesto carries it to the finishing line. It’s enough to elevate the sammich to a much better version of what you’d get at London Sandwich Co, that joint that used to serve great value sandwiches once upon a time. It’s really quite a surprising pesto – one imagines pairing it with better quality ingredients all around would lead to a very good sandwich indeed. It’s a pesto even a shortcake could love. Or like at least. In any case, we enjoyed it a fair bit.

In general, these are good sandwiches though I would have loved a good craft / in-house hot sauce with them. Imagine Blair’s Ultra Death on these suckers. Or some caramel sticky spiciness from BLiS. I’m still waiting for hot sauce to be the next trend that Malaysians ride on. Would be worth the hype train if I can get my hands on those beauties once again.

Before our alcohol-drenched minds forget, there’s also coffee on offer. Regular espresso-based wholesome stuff without the pairing of raspberries and other strange bedfellows. It’s a very dark roast, brewed very hot. It’s palatable. It’s certainly not the monstrosity that LOKL, for instance, deems fit for public consumption. If you need a quick caffeine fix, there are worse ways than getting a long black here, I can tell you that.

All things considered, it’s quite a decent little kiosk, is Quar Tet NuSentral. It’s a humble little stall selling better-than-average food and coffee to go, typically manned by a single person (or maybe there’s two at times, we don’t really know). There’s something romantic about the solo kiosk, of course. We love the coffee-only one at Publika (Room 203). The popups Nowhereman Coffee and Outcast Coffee were legitimately some of our favourite places to get coffee before they shut down. We’re romantics! We’re sorry. Go and try Quar Tet if you’re passing by.

Quar Tet NuSentral

Inside NuSentral mall. Opposite 4 Fingers. At that bridge connecting NuSentral to KL Sentral.

Phone: +603-2276-0360

Hours: 8am-10pm

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First of all though, it’s probably pertinent to mention that Battery Acid Club has evolved quite a bit since their debut late-2014. Their lofty initial goals remain largely unchanged (to foster a space for the exchange of ideas between designers and other creatives, all amidst some good food and even better coffee) but much like the functional aspect of design itself, they’ve tweaked the means to the end along the way. The impressive personal library has given way to the no-less-impressive barbershop The Oven Cuttery, with Kevin running month-long waitlists. The menu has seen tweaks and re-jiggling. The no-WIFI rule has been removed to reconnect patrons to the Cloud.

Despite that, some things – the most important things – remain the same. The coffee is stellar (okay fine, this was our first time trying the coffee but we’ve always been told by moderately-reliable sources that the coffee has been good). The food – well, we’ll get to that in a bit. And their ever-popular events continue to run, with the stationery event coming up on 8-9 July.

What’s that? Less talking, more foodguzzling? Ever ready to oblige.

The miso espresso chicken or MEC (RM 22, with an option to + RM 6 for a long black) is quite a dish. It’s visually striking, especially atop their gorgeous plates. It draws the mind and the limited pokedex of the foodgazer to the sublime charred chicken that Littlepeople serves up. Does this chicken dish match the dizzying heights of that purple-mash plate? Not quite, but it stands out enough to be its own beast. Yalar, both also chicken leg, but they taste different wan.

Mr. MEC comes to us with a pretty little coat of its namesake miso espresso caramelised into its crispy skin. Those dots of dark-green around the plate rim? Seaweed mulch. And yes, that’s a nest of alfafa sprouts. And some sweet potatoes to round out the offering.

The clucky chicken leg is always a tricky one to cook. MEC stops just shy of hitting the gold standard with fairly juicy meat being let down by a not-quite-crispy enough skin. We are, of course, to an extent needlessly nitpicking here. This is still one of the stronger chicken dishes out there – especially considering the interesting little dress it has on. It’s a curious marinade that hints at a referential amalgamation of miso cod and a traditional roasted chicken. The espresso gets lost somewhere in between the other prominent flavours though. This Foodgazer also couldn’t help but wonder what this would taste like with the heavenly hickory goodness of My Toast N Roast’s smoked chicken. The flesh is weak to idol thoughts.

Oh, and the seaweed mulch was a tasty little accompaniment. The alfafa I could do without, though that may just be down to personal bias. The alfafa bed has always struck me as a useless accompaniment when some shrubbery is needed, second only in pointless overuse to the default-lettuce-salad. Plant Cartridge‘s arugula has a mean peppery bite to it that would likely be perfect in this dish, though I imagine it would cost a pretty penny. Maybe once the Foodgazers brush off the Half-Baked Ideas book and get started on a farm?

< COFFEE INTERMISSION >

The long black here jolts the eternally-tired synapses, but in a rather pleasurable way. It’s comforting, like getting bespoke shearling gloves or slipping into moleskin pants for the first time. The board says it’s a blend of beans from Columbia and El Salvador. The uncouth, unpolished tongue of the Foodgazer says it’s pretty damn delicious – albeit with more expletives before our editor washed through this copy. It comes at a close-to-perfect drinking temperature. This is good. It also immediately reminds me of the coffee I had at LOKL which, other than being horrendous to the point of being offensive, came at a couple of degrees above burnt-to-shit.

Anyway, this is proper coffee. This beauty has a faintly oily mouthfeel, with just enough heft in the body without being chewy. There’s also the curious property of tasting like a rich, dark roast with the oppressive shadows and darkness being reduced and recovered during post-processing. Strange. But tasty.

And now back to regular programming.

Sweet Potato Fritters (RM 18, same coffee deal thingamajig as before) pictured above. The fritters are perfectly crunchy with enough heft and bite for it to be substantial and not just, well, a crisp. My mouth approves. This rivals some of Fahrenheit 600’s offerings, which has been one of the most surprising breakfast finds recently. I would link to our post on Fahrenheit if not for the fact that we’ve been naughty, lazy, procrastinating boys and have yet to complete it. I did finish this plate of fritters though, because I’ll be damned if it isn’t one of the better breakfast plates around.

We’re told that’s smoked chicken ham inside, but it sure does taste like turkey. Strange inversion of the usual “it tastes like chicken”. Also interesting to note is the poached egg – we’re pretty much at the peak age of eggs in sous vide baths at the moment, and where a perfect one like this would have been cause for celebration a couple of years ago, it’s funny how blasé one becomes to it now. Maybe it’s because this one was verging on cold and could do with a bit of seasoning. Similar problems to the non-descript egg at Common Man’s Malaysian outpost.

The perfectly-ripe avocado gives the fritters a delicious fatty mortgage, and uhm everything else on there is decent as well, but that sauce sure is something else! Our thoughts immediately jumped to a mayo-curry-kunyit blend. Swiss Ooi, part owner, gently navigated us back on course. Turns out it’s a mix of dijon mustard and curry spices in an almost-cliche West meets KL-avocado-eaters twist. Shades of Portofino, that. The mustard is more for texture, we feel, with the graininess giving it a fantastic texture.

As real life begins creeping back in, we quickly move on to the affogato. The kacang tumbuk affogato (RM 13). And what an affogato it is! Easily one of the best I’ve ever had, this is a potent little cup of deliciousness. It’s delightful. And all those other similar adjectives – feel free to apply them here as long as they’re not too superlative. We already established the coffee here is great. Now imagine pairing that with some pounded nuts (phrasing!) and good ol ice cream. Makes a grown man moan and just about forget the Great Beer Bar-y excesses of last night.

Battery Acid Club also features magazines for sale (usual suspects like Monocle and Kinfolk feature prominently) and as a curious collection of clothing. Curious because the vintage Americana appears initially at odds with the modern stylings of the space – one would expect In Aisce a bit more than LL Bean, for instance. In a strange way, it sort of works though. The florals are a substitute for the live specimens they represent, and they add a splash of subdued, desaturated colours right at the entrance. And what says post-modernism quite like the intentional rejection of trends? A number of things, one would assume, but regardless the re-purposing of “vintage” wear is still going strong and Battery Acid Club taps sagaciously into the zeitgeist.

And that’s really the story of Battery Acid Club, at the end of the day. Their owners are shrewd operators who know just when to make measured iterations to build on a very impressive foundation. It makes it a curious little spot to review, but a very rewarding one to visit. And re-visit, once the stationery event lands shortly. And re-re-revisit after, just for some of that coffee. And some grub too, based on the solid primers we had. And…well. You get the drift. We’ll let you know when we’re here again of course. Just check our Instagram stories.

Battery Acid Club.

Located in SS2. Waze it.

Phone: 03-7733 9682

Hours: Tue – Sun // 9am – 7pm

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J&D Espresso sits quietly at the top of Pavilion Elite and provides a decent post-shopping fuelling station with a generally alright menu – and one delightful pork burger.

What’s so elite about Pavilion Elite? Sure, you have COS (probably the best spot for basics at a relatively affordable price point though it’s just that slightly bit more expensive than other high street offerings to dissuade excessive impromptu splurges) but what else is there? The overwhelming majority of the occupants are the usual run-of-the-mill mall fillers. It’s like a strangely self-aware parody that doesn’t merit a wry, knowing laugh as much as a quizzical raise of the eyebrow. But hey, it does have this J&D Espresso branch right at the top, far away from the regular footfall of the hoi polloi. Kinda elite I guess?

We popped over recently to assess. And by we, we mean the Foodgazer team + the illustrious @euniceeunny.

One half of Foodgazer had already had an excellent caffeine dose at Artelier Coffee in Pavilion proper, so the remaining Foodgae took on a sole long black. Here is a photo of it:

With that out of the way, the team moved into the food-eating portion of the meal.

Most of the fare ranged from decent to good to pretty good to not-too-bad to the standout dish The Pork Burger. We can’t remember its actual name, but we’re pretty sure there’s only one porku burger on the menu. And what a burger it was!

Wondrously juicy and fatty, this was easily the highlight of the meal. Ah, Foodgae, I hear you crying out excitedly, you’ve messed up now! Surely only the most fresh-faced of food critics would place their highlight dish at the START of the review! To which I say, yeah okay, maybe. But I have a peculiar weakness for porcine pleasures and I’m already being rushed on this review so maybe I’ll just write what I remember the most first, okay? Okay.

The buns were fairly non-descript (my memory says they were light but not much else, and I don’t know what that means, so I’m assuming they were nothing particularly special). I have literally no recollection of the salad. But it’s still very much worth returning for this delicious burger. Some places take a pork patty and Ninja Joe it into a dry puck drenched with lots of goop on top. And that just doesn’t roll in our books. The juice should be inside the patty, not outside. Luckily J&D doesn’t miss this crucial point – good on them!

We also enjoyed the relatively frills-free pesto, pictured here. Decent texture on the pasta and decent body to the sauce. It’s good. Fully aware that this may come across as a wholly unenthusiastic account of the pesto but please bear in mind the context: many a Malaysian food outlet churns out an endless noodlage of awful pasta. It’s almost like the national pastime for eateries at this point. Kimchi on your limp overcooked spaghetti, sir? Or perhaps some carbonara home-made from cans of cream? The scope for scalping consumers with overpriced mediocrity is limitless (at least up to the point where they shut down). And so a slightly-above-average pesto like J&D’s deserves a measured degree of commendation from us.

Oh right. The oyster and spinach gratin. And the pizza. The pizza first:

This is a proper thin-crust pizza. Those more used to the thicker cardboard of Pizza Hut and its ilk may balk at this. And hey, there’s no shame in that! Everyone has their own preferences, right? You do you. Except FYI if this IS you, your opinion is wrong, unless you prefer Chicago deep dish pizza, which is another beast altogether, but it’s also a rare enough beast in Malaysia (for that matter, are there any joints here that do this properly?) to be an extremely unlikely preference.

Onward to the oyster and spinach gratin then, which just falls behind the pork burger in our copyrighted Foodrating scale. It’s a very respectable gratin which balances a hefty amount of cheesiness with a crisp baguette that stands up to the challenge. It’s a good gratin. We enjoyed it. It has oysters. And it’s fair to say we enjoyed most of the dishes, and the entire meal as a whole, which perhaps doesn’t happen as often as it should in our food expeditions.

J&D Espresso ultimately doesn’t serve award-winning, genre-defying food, but does it have to? Maybe that’s not its intention. And maybe, in a sort of Death of the Restaurant twist, it doesn’t matter what its intention was. We went in befuddled and perplexed after going through the winding escalators through un-elite stores, but left with the feeling that this was a very pleasant brunch place indeed. Plus it’s quite a strategic location for post-brunch activities, isn’t it? You can head over to the previously-mentioned Artelier for some excellent coffee, or over to Kronoz at Fahrenheit for some McBe-approved denim, or on to Isetan Lot 10 (review coming soon) for the tough choice between the beer bar (review coming soon) and the pillowy cheesecakes (review coming soon). We settled for touching the ridiculously cloud-like fluffy towels at Isetan. But the point is: options! The older you get, the more the path ahead narrows and options get choked off. Luckily, with J&D Espresso, you’ll always have those post-brunch options available to you. Does that make sense? Am I done with the review? Will you be going to J&D? You should. That pork burger is good and the economy needs you to buy it and capitalism needs your constant supplication to consumerism to continue.

Oh, also, this place isn’t halal.

J&D Espresso, Pavilion Elite
LOT 7.105.00 Pavilion Elite
168, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Bukit Bintang,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
+6 03 2110 5918
www.jnd.com.my

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Littlepeople serves handmade pasta and rice bowls in the serene setting of the corner lot at Avantas Residences along Old Klang Road. It’s worth a trip to.

By the time you read this, Littlepeople will have changed substantially – even as we write these words, they’ve revamped their interiors and their menu. Which I suppose says something about the laggardly pace of our blog postings, contrasted with the never-ending waves of new eateries in Malaysia and their eagerness to constantly refresh their offerings.

To be fair, Foodgazer doesn’t exist to chronicle the latest spots before they soft launch. Our raison d’blog is slightly different. And we would like to think that this piece stands alone, even divorced as it is from the current updated guise of Littlepeople. After all, restaurants and cafes change. And sometimes, eventually, they close down (tip of the hat to the recently demised stalwart of the third wave, Standing Theory). But as we write this in the first half of 2017 and think back to our visit to Littlepeople, we hope that final chapter stays a long, long way off for this joint, and we additionally hope that this piece captures how we felt about our special little visit to Littlepeople.

We started with a Kenya AA filter.

The incredible smell punches you in the nose first. There’s nothing meek about it. It hits with a roundhouse and it’s a telegraphed roundhouse – the first few notes trickle in before you bring your nose closer for a proper sniff – but it’s an enjoyable one, if that makes sense. You feel it connect and slam against you, jerk your head back to roll with the punch, then bring your nose back down for another go. It’s like living out an episode of Being Cheryl Thunt. Then you sip it and it quickly, effortlessly blooms in the mouth with a swirling, earthy depth. It caresses the mouth and coats it. And then, ever so slowly, it mellows into an almost candied body.

Once it cools down in the air conditioned climate of the cafe, the initial head gives way to an even brighter, more acidic snap. A very enjoyable (and promising) filter to start the night. And we know from previous individual staff visits that Littlepeople serves some very good brews.

Our meal started with the mushroom soup. The mushroom soup was decent. Most people have a particular preference for soup – some like chunky dinner soups, and some prefer the light caress of the chilled, watery afternoon soup. As far as soups go, this was a soup.

Then the proper food started arriving and our Foodgazer team descended on it with a flurry of limbs and chomping teeth. We get paid criminal wages at Foodgazer and we subsist largely on the Foodgazer sponsored meals and the kindness of strangers. In fact, hint hint our Sponsor-A-Foodgazer program is about to launch in a few weeks’ time and will hopefully bring us some much-needed eatery funds. Which is all a roundabout way of saying that we went in with an appetite appropriate for our starved and deprived stomachs.

Thankfully, Littlepeople delivered a great deal better than Pos Malaysia.

First, we fell rabidly on the polenta. The cornmeal was airy and fluffy inside, but with a slight crispiness around the edges. I could personally have done with a richer, more substantial corn taste, but it’s hard to knock a good polenta. Anyway, we are very much corn-based addicts now after (1) Sean Brock on Mind of a Chef, and (2) the corn-based empanadas at Sebastian‘s. In any case, the polenta paired magnificently with the feta cheese and tangy sauce.

There is an old Italian saying that good corn, like a good lady, must always be followed closely by a good bolognese. And so it was that we were served with the conchiglie bolognese, a curiously satisfying plate of pasta. Little-known Foodgazer fact: Bolognese was first invented by Robert Johnson, that sprightly lad who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for some groovy delta blues riffs and an even groovier meat sauce. This particular bolognese we had was spoon-coating, chunky and substantial, which some people say is the only way bolognese should be served. We are some people.

This was a proper bolognese, which is a step above a good bolognese and a brisk running jump above the average Malaysian bolognese. It is (was? how do we use tenses in a food review?) a rich, umami-laden, unapologetically meaty sauce with the slightest lacing of tartness around the edges. What a deeply pleasing dish. As good as ordering an Uber and having it arrive immediately. Although the shells themselves were a wee bit soft since we didn’t ask it to be done al dente. One wonders why the Malaysian palate is socially engineered for soft mushy carbs. Al dente or go home, we say!

Somewhere along the way, we also partook of an arabiata tagliatelle. It came with some squiggly wiggly squid that bounced (literally) between mediocre and rubbery. The prawns were similarly non-descript which always makes us wonder why people opt for mediocre prawns in dishes. Is it because they’re cheap? I remember surviving the 2nd and final year of uni in Canada on flash frozen prawns and instant noodles, so there’s that I guess. Anyway, the seafood accompaniments aside, this was actually a very delectable dish. The sauce has an initially mild taste to it that partially masks a sparky, spicy and ridiculously addictive note. The tagliatelle itself (handmade, we’re told) has a very peculiarly interesting texture to it too. Is it chewy? Not particularly. Is it a rough hand-pulled pan mee kind of shindig? Not really either. But I’ll be damned if it isn’t great in its own right. I have a particular weakness for handmade noodles and their rough-hewn, unpolished textures.

And that just about wraps up our food outing to Littlepeople. We had too few dishes. It ended too quickly. And we left wishing we had spent more time enjoying the time we had spent. So in a way, the entire experience resembled the path of the very own lives of us little people. And regardless of all the fine changes that they’ve been implementing lately, there’s something special about this trip that we hope we captured in the proverbial bottle of this Foodgazer look-back review. Here’s to many more special moments from Littlepeople.

Littlepeople’s IG page. They can be found over at Avantas Residences along Old Klang Road. At the time of writing, they are open Mon-Sun (closed on Tuesdays) 10 am-11pm.

The post Littlepeople and Big Dreams @ Avantas Residences appeared first on Foodgazer.

As of 28 Aug 2024, our list is as per below, alphabetically. Please use Ctrl+F to read more about each:

Must Visit:

• Au Jardin
• Hot Bowl (white curry mee, one of our fave curry bowls)
• How Shy (affordable wine by the glass, weekend cocktails, horrid fried chicken, delicious hand cut fries. An idyllic dream wine-stall setup at Hin Bus Depot. Love it)
• Juju Lounge (one of foodgae’s favourite spots in the island. Super hidden, great selection of wine and whisky and jazz. Reservations a must. The 10-course “omakase” is more of a fixed tasting menu, but by god is it good. Fantastic food.)
• Kimberley Street Koay Chiap (Yum! The torn oodles of noodles not even necessary, really. Just give us that offal and soup and maybe some rice)
• Langit Senja (love the relaxed feel of this place, very different from other cafes on the island. Shame they only start brewing at 3pm. Food is solid, drinks are solid, lovely little nook along Armenian Street)
• Lunabar (stunning space, some of the best coffee on the island)
• Nasi Kandar Sulaiman (opens 4am (6am post-lockdowns) and is a must-visit. Best kuah campur around, lauk pretty good too. A lot saltier during the last visit but still great)
• Nui Kopi (cute popup at Hin Bus Depot serving up some tasty cups)
• Ome by Spacebar coffee (best coffee in town)
• Peninsula House
• Presgrave 888 (stalwart hokkien prawn mee)
• Siam Road (still the GOAT Char Koey Teow)
• Slow Coffee Person (another great coffee spot. Filter and manual espresso only)
• Teksen (fantastic dai chow)
• Yue Quan Xuan hokkien mee (much prawnier and a bit spicier than 888. Delicious)

Should Visit:

• Deen Maju (top tier nasi kandar when we last tried it, long ass queues though, probably best to just order delivery. Also, kuah campur isn’t as good as Sulaiman at its peak. Lauk definitely better though)
• Hanjan (come for the soju, stay for the food? Soju clams in particular are a treat)
• Island Problems (great spicy gyu don, very good tantanmen despite being more liquid-y than expected. Need to return for more)
• Jawi House (surprisingly great briyani)
• Jin Cafe (the “famous” Siam Road uncle used to fry across the street and you could bring it in to eat at this corner kopitiam. He’s since moved to his own stall. There’s a diff CKT stall here, it’s very good, and the uncle is very very friendly, but it’s a step below Siam Road level in our opinion)
• La Petit Four (one of our fave croissants, other solid pastries, and impressive desserts. A must-visit, surely. Mar’ 22 update – croissant quality has dipped a bit though)
• Laksalicious (fave assam laksa in Penang, but quality seems to have dipped a bit as of Mar’ 22 – either that, or our memory is hazy. A step below Ho Li Chow)
• Li Er Cafe (Aug24 update: quality of the kueh has sadly slid a bit, but still pretty good)
• The Nook (coffee from Dead Man Tongue. The round of beans they were using when we were there paired great with milk, bit one-note for the long black. Might potentially get upgraded upon subsequent visits. Nice place)
• Oh Chien @ Seng Thor (still crispy and great, minimal starch gluey-ness)

Can Visit:

• 2ft Relau (gorgeous place, quite nice coffee, decent pesto pasta. Great stop near the airport)
• The Ais (nice ice cream, interesting flavours)
• The Alley (quiet little spot for coffee, wasn’t impressive)
• Apom Guan (50 years of apom heritage. Not sure if still running)
• Archipelago (oh-my-toddy is great, other cocktails need a lot more tweaking. Nice hidden spot with lots of potential though)
• Backdoor Bodega (best cocktails – I mean pins – on the island, but recent mediocre guest shifts in KL slide this down the list)
• Budan’s Brew (matcha latte, croissant. Looks like they’ve moved locations)
• China House (come here because it’s a fantastic looking place. And the cakes can be good at times. Other than that, eh)
• Constant Gardener (always a solid cup, and a nice place)
• Dessert Old Time Delight (solid tong sui)
• Emily Darling (up and coming pastries-parlour with lots of promise, despite the questionable interiors and RM 2/cup water. Good croissants and potentially great pain au choc if they tweak the chocolate)
• Good Friends Never Bojio (chill bar)
• Hameediyah (impressive briyani, quite good kandaq)
• Hygge (promising but when we went, food was disappointing)
• Komichi Tea House (great tea – though they no longer let you “pick” the farm and types of leaves etc etc – with nice Jap desserts in a lovely spot a bit further down from Ome)
• Jaloux (generally good but pricey pasta, RM 3 water, service can be very offputting)
• La Vie En Rose (croissant ok-ok during the second try)
• Lim Sisters (curry mee, mainly for sentimental reasons / the experience)
• Line Clear (used to be really solid nasi kandar, most people say quality has dropped by quite a bit in recent years. Haven’t been back recently to ascertain)
• Moh Teng Pheow (kueh isn’t as good as it used to be. Getting close to mediocre, almost. Not near Li Er)
• Nasi Kandar Beratur (2024 update: we’re told quality has went back up!)
• Nasi Kandar Imigresen (it’s not bad)
• New Cathay Coffee Shop banana pancakes are delicious
• Old Green House hokkien mee has lots of fix-ins
• Roti Canai Jalan Transfer (good roti canai, but quality has dipped over the years)
• Shokudo Niban (bit disappointing, but lot of promise)
• Tuai Pui (curry mee)
• Yin’s Sourdough (pizza, bread)

Haven’t tried but want to / heard they’re good:

A.Maze, Gen (tasting menu), Niche, Hudsons Deli (reuben), Momokaka (craft beer), Merlin Nasi Kandar, Restoran Joo Huat (lor mee), Mews Cafe (laksa curry mee), Cafe Ete (Taiwanese beef noods), Ming Le 88 cafe curry mee (8am-10am), Rempah (pomelo kerabu, keluak chicken, otak otak), Nasi Kandar Kampong Melayu, Nada Natural Farming, Tonkatsu Ta, Trois Canon, Hudsons Deli, Le Cafe, Fuku Eatery, Kissa Koyotei, La Vie, Si Tigun, Brix and Baume, Aunty Choon hokkien mee, Caffeine Chemistry (good waffles), Otto pizza, Soundmaker Studio, The Warung, Grandfather’s Furniture, Modern Beef Bar, Komorebi, 32 Bucks (beef rendang), Oju Ojo, NEP! (Good food), Beach St Bistro, Small Places (coffee cocktails and cafe) (9am-4pm, 7pm-12am, closed Tue-Wed), Kofuku (cool casual Jap) (5pm-12am, closed Mon and Thur), Ali Capati (12.30-10.45pm): briyani, nasi tomato, kari angsa), 250C Boulangerie, Sunnyside (8am-3pm, closed Tue-Wed) (great coffee, good food), BISO cocktail bar (7pm-1am, closed Mon), Your Local Club (9am-6pm) (homemade IPA off-menu, coffee etc), Mellow (good gelato), My Own Cafe (good laksa) (10am-4pm, closed Wed), 65C Ondo (try the Cronut) (9am-9pm), Taman Emas Kopitiam CKT (11am-5.15pm, closed Monday)

Look, you can come to Penang for a myriad reasons (Penang Hill, the beaches, yadda yadda) but when we think of the state, we invariably think of the wondrous, dizzying array of Penang food. To that end, we’ve compiled here some of our favourite spots in the great city (yes, most of them are right in the heart of Georgetown) – it gets a bit disorganized and chaotic, so we recommend using lots of the Ctrl+F to look for your food of choice.

2021 onwards reviews (photos to follow soon):

2f+ Relau

A great stop relatively near to the airport. Lots of natural light, lots of plants. Quite nice coffee for a good java boost. Pesto pasta edible too, pretty decent. Interestingly enough, we had a kesum pesto pasta at Hygge too during the trip which was significantly worse.

888 Hokkien Mee

Still solid. Great broth, though pork ribs were tough / overcooked. Roast pork spot on though, one of the highlights. Sadly no intestines / pork legs available this visit.

Archipelago

Quite the enigma. Fantastic hidden location, but the drinks need a lot more tweaking / balancing. Tucked away behind Armenian street, with a wine cellar-ish seating section at the back of the bar (which would be dope as a whisky jazz bar tbh). Oh-my-toddy was the only standout drink, with a fantastic “small-batch” toddy paired wish assam boi and atap chi. Simple but delicious. The old-fashioned was quite good too, but everything else was a bit too acidic / watery / etc.

Hope they adjust, as the location and setting really is very nice.

Constant Gardener

Still a lovely place to sit at. Solid cuppa too. Nice white, good black.

Dessert Old Time Delight

Meh see guo tng. Very nice beancurd barley

Emily Darling

You don’t hear much about this place, but you should. Interiors a bit gaudy, and there’s a painful charge of MYR 2 / glass of water, but boy the pastries are promising. The croissant could do with more definition / separation of layers but it doesn’t get overly doughy in the middle, and there’s a rich buttery taste I’ve been missing since Bakerry La changed their croissant recipe.

Pain au choc was a standout too, or would be if they weren’t let down by the crazy sweet commercially cloying chocolate filling (what little there was of it). Change that choc and this would easily be one of the best pain au choc around.

Hanjan

Surprise! Ok-ok aged negroni, spicy moscow mule, decent lychee mojito, and a very enjoyable makgeolli pina colada. Quite nice k-fried chicken (although sauce was a bit sweet and ‘commercial’) and very naisu soju clams (gargantuan portion, simple but works really well).

Hot Bowl

Popular little curry mee joint. Great white curry mee with an addictively sweet broth – until you slop some chili paste in and it elevates the bowl to a fragrant, deep richness far beyond simple spiciness. Delicious stuff. Also must add on the steamed chicken IMO

How Shy

Idyllic dream wine-stall setup at Hin Bus Depot. Hard not to love this place. The fried chicken was horrid, wonder why they served it, but everything else hit the spot. Affordable wines by the glass. Cocktails on the weekend (good mimosas, for instance). Hand cut fries executed well. Here we go!

Hygge

Nice space, great logo. Nice pork belly and potatoes, but everything else was meh. Sauteed summer veggies seasoned well but bit overcooked and soft, with overwhelming amount of butter. Chorizo and chickpea stew decent. Chicken and kesum pesto meh (limpid pasta, sloppy and watery pesto, kesum a nice twist though).

Island Problems

Cute little space with some surprisingly good food. Lives upto the hype. Spicy gyu don was a great rice bowl with a good level of spice and lots of satisfying roe pops. Lovely. Beef done real well.

Salmon sashimi with thai nam-pla sauce was interesting but didn’t come off as well.

Tantanmen really good, despite being more “watery” than a traditional tantanmen. Regardless, the broth was actually real good. Lovely bite to the noods. A very good bowl.

Juju Lounge

Instantly one of our favorite spots on the island. Super hidden. Great wine collection at pretty decent prices, very good whisky and gin line-up too. Jazz. Jazz everywhere. Smol bar, no cocktails, sit and enjoy some top-tier spirits with top-tier jazz. What a dream.

Also they have a super interesting-sounding local fish omakase (10 courses of Mediterranean-inspired fare) that we haven’t got around to trying yet. Reservations a must. For food and drink. Go get raptured.

Komichi Tea House

Lost a bit of the shine, but still a very nice spot. They used to detail the types of leafs, which farms they were from etc. Not quite anymore. Still nice tea (meatiest gyokuro I’ve had!) and desserts (hojicha rum burnt cheesecake shockingly tiny but the hojicha itself is great of course)

La Vie En Rose

Raspberry beignet super sweet. Croissant dense, bit too sweet on the outside.

Le Petit Four

Croissant is great. Nicer than Croisserie IMO and slightly edges out the current recipe of Bakerry La. Old BL was insuperable, of course, but boi this one is good. Hits all the notes, though not quite as rich-buttery as Emily Darling and old BL.

Pain au choc’s chocolate is a thousand times better than Emily Darling but not as tasty otherwise. Can skip. Kouign amann quite good too, just about ties the line of being too sweet. Unfortunately, got slightly too doughy in the middle.

Apple turnover, however, was very nice. Love the apple filling. Hazelnut escargot quite tasty too. Then there’s the Enchante dessert – delicious! Love the lychee. Very high calibre stuff tbh.

Lunabar

Stunning place. Plants upon plants upon plants. Great long black. Interesting espresso “stout”. A must-visit.

Moh Teng Pheow

Highlight was the honey pandan drink – tastes like a liquid kuih talam. Quite nice laksa. Sri Muka and Kuih Koci probably the best kueh we tried. Pai tee, pulut tai tai, kuih bengka ubi not bad. Better before, this place. Li Er beats it easily if still as good as in 2019.

Ome by Spacebar Coffee

Consistently great coffee. Cakes are a must here too, especially the olive oil zucchini cake (delish). Lovely setup inside. Ecover and Method cleaners. Bamboo tissues. Biodegradeable takeaway packaging. The small things matter.

Seng Thor oh chien

Still my fave. Nice and crispy, with minimal starchy gooeyness.

Shokudo Niban

Disappointing, given the pedigree. Decent enough fare, but would have liked if it was a reinterpretation of a shokudo from aspect of local ingredients etc / some other “twist”. As it is, feels more like a rice-bowl spot.

Aubergine agebitashi was the standout, with a very interestingly cooked still-firm, almost-crunchy aubergine. Horseradish was way too pungent though. Nagaimo cold tofu bit odd but decent. Chicken tsukune and chicken and leek yakitori really tasted more like oven-cooked fare than yakitori. Not great. Skipjack tuna ochazuke was comforting though.

Siam Road CKT

New place, same GOAT. Lucky for us, the ah pek strapped on right when we reached. Wetter and less immediately-stunning as before, but still the best around tbh.

Slow Coffee Person

Another dream-like place. Smol, seats about 10 people at full capacity. Chill playlist, chill ambience, plants everywhere – including a “plant viewing window”. It just works. Handbrew filters and manual espressos only. Dope place, surely a must-visit.

Teksen

One of the best dai chow meals I’ve had in a long time. Avoid the nutmeg squash (tastes like an odd non-fizzy cola) but dive head-in to almost all the foodstuff on the menu – sweet potato leaves come with very good belacan, assam tumis black pomfret is super assam-y and super tasty, and the har cheong gai gives some of the best in Singapore a run for their money. Fantastic smooth otak-otak too. Stellar.

The Ais

Nice ice cream, interesting flavours. Good spot for a dessert to end the night. Waffle is worth getting too.

The Nook

Coffee amidst used books. Another lovely place with a nice courtyard (with seating). Coffee from Dead Man Tongue. Barista told us the current round of beans paired perfectly with milk, not so much for the espresso – was spot-on. Need to revisit. Very calming spot, understandably.

Yue Quan Xuan Hokkien Mee

Broth is a lot prawnier than 888, love it. Spicier too. And much nicer ribs. Super smooth pig skin. Very satisfying bowl, one of the best.

Older reviews:

Apom Balik: Apom Guan outside Union Primary School (10am – 5pm, closed Sundays)

Fluffy, soft, slightly sweet (from the bananas and dab of sweet corn) and slightly gritty (from the shredded coconut in the batter). Good stuff. There’s a long wait for these delicacies but they go for a jaw-dropping RM0.50 a piece. It gives you some time with your thoughts, standing there and watching him masterfully swirl each apom. You think about the last meal you’ve had here, which likely would have been pretty great unless you had it at a generic hawker centre in Batu Ferringhi. You wonder if this 5 day trip will be enough to blunt the ever-present exhaustion of existence. You think about where to go next. Penang stalls have wonky opening hours. It doesn’t matter that much when you’re on vacation. You get to stretch out your time and plan pre-lunches and re-lunches around the actual lunch crowd. You get to pencil in nasi kandar suppers for every night of the trip. You get to cycle around in the dying nights, which is generally pretty damn dangerous, but fairly fun when you get to pull it off. Cycling in general is the most fun way to get around Georgetown, anyway.

Banana Pancakes: New Cathay Coffee Shop (mornings)

It’s (kind of) worth going to New Cathay just for this. Comfort food rarely gets comfier than this. Sweet without being excessively cloying, fluffy and crispy at all the right places, and priced very reasonably too. Great way to start a morning, this.

Bar: Good Friends Never Bojio

Thought it was a random try-hard gimmicky place from IG photos. Not so, sir. It’s actually pretty cool. The ‘rum’ – probably some home brewed local rum/toddy – drinks come in 3 strengths: regular – 1 shot, kao – 2 shots, super kao – 3 shots. And they’re strong. So cheap too. RM12, 15 and 18 is a bargain set of prices.

Lovely place inside, by the way. Reminds me a lot of Saigon. Honestly another must visit place. Would go regularly if it was in KL. But come with a friend la.

Briyani: Hameediyah @ Lebuh Campbell (10am – 10.30pm)

It’s nasi kandar…but with briyani! And this is an impressive briyani that comfortably beats most of the joints in Kuala Lumpur. The mix of curries doesn’t quite reach the same heights of the best kandar joints but the individual dishes are formidable enough on their own. Go for the lamb korma, mutton and chicken curry, and perhaps the squid eggs (though Hameediyah doesn’t dish out the best rendition). Hard to be dissatisfied after gorging yourself here.

Briyani: Jawi House (11am-10pm, closed Tuesdays)

One of those places that seem designed for tourists and eschewed by locals. Don’t be fooled. It’s very, very good. The lamb stew boasts tender meat and a decent broth. The beef briyani, though, was a highlight of one of my trips. It’s incredible. It blows away the briyani at Hameediyah by a significant margin (although, in fairness, they’re very different types of briyani) and is an absolute must-try. The upstairs of the place houses a bunch of Jawi art too, which is worth a look through.

Lemuni rice with beef rendang: Very herbaceous taste. Interesting. Very tender rendang Too. Probably wouldn’t order it again but it’s a decent introduction to Jawi.
Jawi Briyani with chicken masala: Ok this is huge. Not as fluffy as I remembered. Rice still very impressive nonetheless. Very satisfying. So light without getting stuffed as one usually does with thicker grains of rice. Chicken is good but not great. Very tender to be fair. Taste of it borders on muted. Chutney adds a welcome sweetness and moistness.
Lentils soup Curry thing is delicious. Great with the saltty crispy papadum. Really really good.

They also serve a pretty interesting yoghurt cheesecake. We’re planning a return trip to explore the rest of the menu.

Burgers: Two Buns – closed down?

The curious case of two burgers at Two Buns: the Don Pablo was excellent but the Classic Beef Burger veered off-course.

The Don Pablo features crispy fried chicken (nice crunch contrasted with admirably juicy chicken meat inside), semi-sharp cheddar, smoked bacon, spicy mayo and perfect caramelized onions. It’s very nice. In fact, I’d put it up there in the top 5 burgers I’ve had in the country. And that’s before you consider the price: RM15 is a steal! Add on RM5 and you get fries and a soda. Come on, son.

Strange then that the Classic Beef Burger is (allegedly) bad. Foodgazer’s dining companion gave it a firm thumbs down and an upward tilt of the nose, and it’s not hard to see why. The beef looked dull and grey, which is always a telltale sign that the grill/pan should have been hotter. A cross-section of the bitten-in patty showed it was grey throughout. Not a good look, that. Perhaps stick to The Favourites here.

It’s a very nice little place though. There’s a vintage arcade gizmo (functional?), neon lighting, and the usual ‘throwback’ details that populate a lot of places nowadays. And with burgers this cheap, it’s hard to complain too much. Although imagine how much neater it would be if they had a proper range of craft beer here!

Milo power milkshake: Okay. Tastes like vanilla milkshake with some milo undertones. Less sweet than KGB’s. I miss the milkshake joint at KLCC.

House fries: decent. Don’t seem frozen. Seasoning bit too salty – on purpose?

Cafe: Budan’s Brew (8am – 10.30pm)

Very good green tea latte, and the croissant is flaky, crisp and almost equally as satisfying. Good luck finding the place though. It’s tucked away into a lane I can no longer recall the name of. Which makes it a great spot to cycle to and disappear for an hour or two of tranquility. Sometimes you need a short break to prep yourself for the next bout of Penang food.

Cafe: China House (9am-12am)

China House isn’t really just a cafe. It’s an amalgamation of wonderful places along a long narrow passageway that’s split up into multiple sections, each with their own distinct interiors. There’s nothing quite like it in Penang, and it should be your de facto choice if you’re looking for a cafe here.

The cakes are all generally pretty good, though the drinks and food generally vary in quality. Drop by for a quick respite from the sticky heat and take in the gorgeous ambience.

Cafe: Constant Gardener

Gorgeous place. But coffee is abit here-and-there. The Ethiopian filter came out quite bitter with a funky aftertaste. The long black is pretty good.

Cafe: Ome by Spacebar Coffee
Such a gorgeous place. Probably one of the prettiest cafes in Malaysia. Combines a very home-y vibe with bare bricks (lots of texture to them though) and an amazing art exhibition on top and some great coffee and high ceilings and light falling directly down from the top on to a wood table with a corner cut out to hold an open-air moss terrarium thingamajig.

Jazz on the airwaves here too!

Ice white: good. Ice filter: fruity. Butter cake: dense but fairly tasty. But very dense. Nitro geisha: amazing. Hot chocolate: Delicious.

Char Koey Teow: Siam Road (Opens 3pm, there’s usually a queue by 2.30pm. Closed on Mondays)

To many Malaysians, Char Koey Teow is synonymous with Penang food. And for that reason, there’s usually a great deal of clamorous debate over which stall dishes out the best plate of CKT. But here’s the thing with the venerable Siam Road Char Koey Teow – it really isn’t just about the food. It’s about the experience.

You cycle here from little India, get lost, refer to old school maps, and end up in a queue 1 hour later. The wizened uncle fans the spitting charcoal flame while two dozen Asian eyes flick across the shop, stealing stares at the master’s stall across the road (if you’re lucky, you get to seat in this coffee shop opposite the actual stall and wait for your noodles). There’s a curious glazed sheen to these eyes, a numb vacantness as they wait in despair, desperation, animal hunger. You wonder if yours look the same. Maybe less slinty.

But after the first sixty minutes, you settle into a peculiar, serene state of mind. Time slows down but it doesn’t matter because you’ve stopped your urgent glances at the clock. Instead, you watch the shadows of newcomers dance across your table. You exchange nods with your fellow waiting comrades and take sips of your ever-diluting tea. You watch the table next to you stir into a frenzy as their plates arrive. Phones are whipped out. They fall into silence as they eat, apart from the stray expletives of contentment.

And then your plate comes. The clear unmuddled cockles and charred noodles joust for prime spot, their notes dancing and intermingling with the charcoal-y, smoky aftertaste, and you’re done in a few minutes and you swear you’ll never wait that fucking long again for a plate of noodles. But you will, of course. It’s the best ckt in the world, after all. And you’ll never forget how it tasted or how it made you feel. 

Curry Mee: Lim Sisters’ Curry Mee @ Air Itam (8am-1pm everyday)

Like most of Penang’s best food, this curry mee is prepared by two sisters who look to be in their 70s or 80s, with no succession plan in place. It’s sad to think about what may happen if eventually no one takes over the reigns. Are the greatest Penang dishes doomed to fade into mediocrity? Sobering thoughts indeed.

The curry mee itself is pretty damn good. It’s lighter than some places, though this provides a good base for the chilli as well as the dried squid strips and coagulated pig’s blood. It’s also quite an experience eating it at one of the stools on the street while watching the sisters scoop and pour from their own stools. Not to be missed, even if you’re generally a fan of more potent broths.

Curry Mee: Tuai Pui @ Lebuh Kimberly (8am – 5pm, closed Wednesdays)

Possibly my favourite curry mee! Very rich and creamy broth with a mellow sweetness around the end notes. The curry chicken isn’t worth adding on, but the coagulated pork blood is one of the best in Penang and the cockles are nice and fresh. Seriously good stuff right here.

Hokkien Mee (Prawn Mee): Old Green House Hokkien Mee (8pm to 3am)

An array of porky and non-porky add-ons supplement a broth that’s not quite the best Penang has to offer, but still falls squarely within the top 5 at least. A good introduction to the delights of Hokkien Mee, given your customization options. When in doubt, max the pork options.

Always reliably good. Added pork ribs (okay, bit tough, Prawn Noodle King in OUG is admittedly much better, though the broth itself is not prawn mee at all there), pork intestines (marinated, lovely, sweet and delicious), and chicken feet (meh, skip). Good broth. Good spice. Normal noodles. Open late. Apa lagi

Hokkien Mee (Prawn Mee): Presgrave 888 @ Lebuh Presgrave (5.30pm – 12am, closed Thursdays)

My favourite hokkien mee. Add the roast belly. And intestines. And pork trotter. And ribs. Everything is great. The chili has a sharp unrelenting sting that nevertheless quickly dissipates amongst the savoury porkiness. The roast pork skin is heavenly. The broth is a mean, deep, rich concoction. That’s what it takes to be the best.

Laksa: Air Itam Laksa (11.30am – 7pm)

No real introductions required for this iconic stall. Expect a tantalizing, rich broth and decent-sized chunks of fish. A lot of detractors dislike it but I still find it a satisfying experience.

Nasi Dalca: Nasi Dalca Rahim (7.30pm-2am)

In many ways, this is rather like the watered-down version of Nasi Kandar, which admittedly does make it good for someone not a fan of the more in-your-face flavours of Nasi Kandar. The fried chicken was very dry and tough though, would recommend getting a curry chicken or something of the sort.

Nasi Kandar: RIP Line Clear

First of all, let us remember the OG Line Clear, which was truly fantastic while it lasted. The flood-mix of curries has yet to be rivalled in my experience, though there are a fair number of places I’ve yet to try out. I certainly hope the same orgasmic confluence of sauces exists somewhere else. Line Clear has now fragmented into the Kg Baru outpost (absolutely horrendous the single time I tried it) and the one that remains in Penang (which I also hear is terrible).

Nasi Kandar: Nasi Kandar Beratur, Jln Kapitan Keling (opens around 10pm)

It’s not the visually most attractive of Penang food, but taste-wise it’s fantastic. The beef curry and squid eggs are exquisite. So too are most of the dishes. There’s a long queue that only starts at 10pm (get used to the strange Penang opening hours) but good lord, is it worth it. Ask them to do a “kuah banjir” where they mix various curries and somehow end up with a greater-than-its-parts result.

For me, this is your next best bet now that Line Clear has suffered a chilling demise (although I haven’t been to a number of contenders touted as the new king). One of my favourite memories of Penang remains cycling out in the middle of the night for a Nasi Kandar supper and revelling in the simple pleasure of just how delicious it is. In many ways, Nasi Kandar remains one of the core pillars of Penang food. You can’t quite find anything of the same calibre in, say, Kuala Lumpur. Although Nasi Lemak Ong is pretty good.

Nasi kandar: Deen Maju

Blows all the rest away, even Line Clear at the height of its powers back in its heyday, pre-split (well, toher than Sulaiman). The kuah campur is borderline magical. Can eat just 5 plates of this with rice. Perfectly balanced. Not too spicy or salty or sweet. It’s too good. The squid curry: very good, but not great. Props for not being rubbery. Nice, firm, meaty bite to it. But then towards the tip I bite into some squid egg. Excellent treasure. Bonus points
Squid eggs proper: Touch me. And then just touch me. This is RM6 of luxury. Soft, slippery, bursting with salt and general goodness. Intensely pleasurable. A must order.
Chicken ’75’. Not 65 fam. Could be because these aren’t chicken chunks? Whole large drumstick instead. Tomato-tasting. Very juicy inside, very flavourful. So well marinated. Another must-order really. Truly great.
And so a new champion is crowned.

Nyonya Kueh: Li Er Cafe

The modular table thing is wild. Love it. They can drop it down and bim bam booi, a whole group of 6 or more can sit down. Pink-dyed yam thing: Aw yeah this is very good. Nice crispy charred skin thing. Soft, so soft interior. Lovely really. Creamy. Plush. Hot soya…in a bowl: Goddamn this is so good. Not artificially sweetened crap you get in KL. Real soya, sir.

Pulut Tai Tai: Mmmm lovely. The kaya is rough and chunky. The Pulut itself is…decent. Blue sago: DON’T add the gula Melaka – it’s way too sweet. The texture of the sago is incredible though. Sticky, soft, feels almost like it’s trapped in between a liquid and solid phase.

Pizza: Yin’s Sourdough Pizza @ Wisma Yeap Chor Ee (8am-10pm, closed Wednesdays)

When I went, the crust needed a bit of work (too limp for our preference) but don’t let that stop you from one of the better pizzas around. They do an impressive margherita rendition though the tomatoes were noticeably lacklustre. You need really fresh, ripe tomatoes for a good base.

Roti Canai: Roti Canai @ Jalan Transfer (7.30am – 11am or so):

It’s good. One of my favourite roti canai places, actually. I love the chicken curry in particular, whilst the mutton is still pretty good but can be a bit tough sometimes. The curries are very one-note, but luckily that’s a supremely pleasing note. The roti itself is crispy enough when ordered separately but admittedly isn’t the crispiest out there. Pares fantastically with the curries though!

More recent update: the roti canai not as great anymore but still worth going probably

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