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dishes from Fifth Palate that are no longer available…and why Fifth Palate still warrants a visit despite our very much out-of-date words.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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