Staycation II: Hunting for Breakfast and Coffee

All of us were exhausted. I vaguely remember the sound of the kettle boiling in the middle of the night, but I wasn't sure what time that was. KH nudged me awake and gave me a drink of water. In my sleepy state, I nudged his hand and doused some of the water on me. That didn't bother me at all, I immediately slipped back to sleep. I just slept and slept and slept, refusing to wake up until the curtains were drawn at 9:00 AM. Breakfast wasn't included in our free stay, so we had to hunt for food outside. Our first choice was the Imbi Market at ICC Pudu. We parked our car at the open air car park. The foreigner who was minding the car park was nice enough to tell us that the market was closed for Awal Muharram. Opss. Plan B was executed. We drove to Tuck Cheong Dim Sum at Jalan Kancil. That was closed too. Argh. Plan C? Randomly pick an open coffee shop.





Celebrated Coffee House looked like a good choice. Always go where a healthy crowd is present (even Myanmarese eat breakfast there). Typical Chinese kopitiam with a very 'hygienic' looking back alley where most of the food preparation takes place. While we were there, an Alam Flora truck was making its rounds. I 'chopped' the table while KH and SK went to get the food. KH came back with a bowl of pork ball noodles. So-so le. With SK, it's always 'the more, the merrier'. She ordered a plate braised tofu and egg, roasted pork, and pork noodles with kidney. I must say that the roast pork was fantastic. The pork noodles weren't quite porky enough. The soup was a tad too bland. The coffee here is really thick. The drinks uncle actually came over to ask whether I was impressed with his coffee!





Beside Celebrated Coffee House was Kedai Kopi dan Makanan Pak Lock, a place that specializes in wantan noodles. Many customers were waiting for the breakfast there. Since it was nearby, we had our second breakfast there. All three of us shared a small plate. In my opinion, the wantan noodles weren't all that great. I've had better. That was all the eating that we could do in one morning. Rushed back to the hotel to pack and check out.



On the way out, gave mum a call to book her for lunch. She was just about to go out with an elderly neighbour, so I asked them to join us. SK recommended us to eat at Restoran Yoke Heng at Taman Putra Indah. Their specialty is the Sang Har Meen and claypot loh shu fun. Decided not to order the latter because it just looked like a pot of hot starch. The Sang Har Meen was delicious. Deep-fried noodles were drizzled with a thick gravy infused with prawn roe and egg. The MYR90 portion gets you three large prawns which is quite a lot of meat. Other than that, we had a portion of their special pork ribs that came wrapped in foil. Inside was chunks of caramelized ribs with the fragrance of nam yue and Marmite. The garlic clams were over-rated, not to my liking. Also tried one portion of salted egg and bitter gourd noodles which was quite unique, but too rich.





The interior of the restaurant was stuffy, but it still felt like an oven when we walked out. A perfect excuse to hide in a cafe and chill. Decided give Cafe Ame Soeur at Jalil Link a try. Being a new kid on the block and with Owl Cafe closed, the waiting list was quite long. Ushered mum and the old lady inside to wait while the rest of us waited outside. Most of the clientele were young girls all dolled up for a field day of selfies and wefies. Some came with balloons and other props. People who know me would be so surprised that I actually waited forty minutes for a table. KH had an appointment with his insurance agent so he left a little earlier.







The interior of Cafe Ame Soeur is really something else. Inspiration for its interior decoration comes from the French Baroque period. The whole main area is lined with mirrors, prints of paintings, and lots of gilt. An illusion of a high ceiling with frescoes is achieved with the use of photo prints as well. The look would have been completed if they used brocaded chairs, but perhaps they ran out of budget. The main counter is backed by a tall shelf of Royal Belgium coffee makers, which is actually a type of balancing siphon that was popular in European courts of the 1800s. All very shiny, from the days of bronze and polish. Very TWG. The lady at the counter recommended the Royal Belgium Coffee, and we randomly added on some lavender tea, hot chocolate and fruity French toast.


How It Works — Royal Coffee Maker from Royal Coffee Maker on Vimeo.

It's really fun watching the siphon work as you can see from the video. A clever contraption that basically runs on its own when it's properly set up. Like some bizarre Victorian invention. One order could fill nearly two cups of coffee and I must say that it's pretty fine coffee. The lavender tea was also good and the hot chocolate not too creamy (though some would argue otherwise). The last to come was the fruity French toast. Too oily to deserve a recommendation from me. That concluded my KL staycation.