Foodography: A Singapore Food Blog

This is a very long, overdue post containing beautiful remnants of my maiden trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia featuring most of the places I visited. I’ve always had an eye for places displaying minimalism designs, but as I was exposed to the old charms of KL cafes this time, I grew to them.

1. Fancy Breakfast Club

Located on the second floor along a row of shophouses in the hippy Bangsar Baru area, Fancy Breakfast Club first impressed me with its clean, communal dining design. It felt like it was out of an American thanksgiving dinner/bridal shower, especially with the flower and plant arrangements on each table.

Food presentation is pretty on point here, but I wished they also paid the same amount attention to taste.

For mains, we had the Breakfast Board (RM30, SGD10) which requires you to pick a minimum of 5 items priced at RM6 each and the Turkey Ham & Cheddar Cheese Waffle (RM18, SGD6) with honey mustard sauce and pickles.

The French Toast Bread Pudding (RM27) we ordered for dessert looked and sounded promising but the overly wet sourdough toast made it impossible to finish it.

Note: Be sure to do some “homework” before deciding on your order!

Read the full post on DanielFoodDiary.

Address: 6-1 Jalan Telawi 2, Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening hours: Tues to Sun 9am – 4pm (kitchen closes at 3pm)

Tel: +60 03-2202 2020

2. One Half x ilaika

A collaboration between a multilabel retail store (Ilaika) selling local designer clothing and accessories and a cafe (One Half) specialising in coffee – hence the name One Half x ilaika.

We found the coffee counter at the back of the store in a cutesy corner, ordered our coffee, and had it at the prominent outdoor area at the entrance.

Unfortunately, the coffee we got was rather diluted and we didn’t manage to finish it.

Note: Only coffee and small bakes here!

AddressL No.17, Jalan 20/13, 46300 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Opening hours: 10am – 7pm daily

Tel: +60 14-333 4521

3. Botakliquor Bar

You might just go past this bar without knowing it. Botakliquor Bar is the sister bar of cafe Chocha Foodstore, situated on the second floor of Chocha Foodstore, up the ancient-looking, spiral stairs that seemingly came out of a fairytale.

Though I was very tempted to get food from Chocha Foodstore (heard good reviews about them), I was way too stuffed, so we settled for some cocktails upstairs while the sun was still up. We shared two cocktails – the Sweet Peas x Elderflower (RM48) – unaged whiskey, sweet peas, organic elderflower cordial, lemon – and the Bunga Kantan x Pumpkin (RM36) – pumpkinseed infused vodka, calamansi, homemade red ginger lily soda. I preferred the former for its flowery and sweet tones.

Note: Cocktails can be brought down from Botakliquor Bar to Chocha Foodstore but food cannot be brought up from Chocha to the bar!

Address: 156, Jalan Petaling, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tel: +60 3-2022 1100

Opening hours: Tues to Sat 4.30pm – 1am, Sun 2pm – 11pm

4. VCR

I thought I was transported to Melbourne as I went into the first floor of VCR. The tall brick walls, wooden paneled floor and dimly lit setting did exude some grunge-y industrial Melbournian cafe vibes.

We went to the second floor for more natural light and got a nice view of nature through the floor-to-ceiling glass panels.

Thankfully, the food and coffee here was one of the better ones amongst the cafes I went to in KL. I tried the Soft Shell Crab Burger (RM26) which a server recommended to me – deep fry soft shell crab, onion jam, quick pickle kyuri, housemade tartar sauce, furikake sunny side up and the French Toast (RM19) – espresso no churn ice cream (loved this!), crumbles, fluffy brioche French toast, raspberry compote, mocha sauce.

Note: They do filter coffee here too!

Address: 2, Jalan Galloway, Bukit Bintang, 50150 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening hours: 8.30am – 11pm daily

Tel: +60 3-2110 2330

5. Kopenhagen Coffee

Having arrived just a few minutes after 9am on a Sunday, we were surprised to find that there were already people ahead of us.

The spacious interiors are reminiscent of Scandinavian interior designs (white-washed walls, white wooden floorboards, brown wooden chairs and tables) mixed with raw designs (concrete flooring, concrete coffee counter top).
My cafe-hopping buddies had the the Emperor’s New Clothes (RM24) that came with a croissant, creamy scrambled eggs with tomatoes & kale salad with almonds and fresh apple slices and the Bagel with Cream Cheese (RM12) served with cream cheese & tomatoes with spring onions and Though the bagels can’t compare to those from my favorite bagel house in Singapore, they were pretty decent.

I had the Versatile Viking (RM18) – banana slices drizzled with honey served on homemade rye bread & a side of Greek yoghurt, granola & berries – which I felt wasn’t so memorable.

Note: Go early (especially on a weekend) for better seats. Also.. free wifi here!

Address: Vista Kiara, 3, Jalan Kiara, Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening hours: Mon to Fri 7am – 7pm, Sat & Sun 9am – 7pm

Tel:  +60 3-6211 6363

6. Isabel Restaurant & Bar

Thanks to a Malaysian friend, we managed to book a table at this relatively new restaurant in Central KL for Sunday brunch. Though a slightly pricier and fancier option for brunch in KL, our lazy, 3 hour brunch here was well worth the money.

The restaurant screams of classy interior goals, BTW. I also reckon many girls would fancy the pink wall and marble tables at the outdoor area.

The Duck Noodle Soup (RM38), served with a refreshing, tangy pomelo & starfruit salad on the side, was comforting after all the usual brunch fare I had during my trip.  The duck leg braised in star anise & cinnamon was almost fall-off-the-bone tender, while the flat rice noodles were reminiscent of an authentic bowl of pho. I wished the portion could be greater though.

To end, we had the Valrhona Chocolate Cake with Buttercream (RM17) which was pretty decent but it couldn’t top the best chocolate cakes I’ve had.

Note: Make a reservation especially if you plan to go on a weekend!

Address: 21, Jalan Mesui, Bukit Bintang, 50200 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening hours: Tues to Fri 12pm – 3pm, 6pm – 12am, Sat 12pm – 12am, Sun 12pm – 11pm

Tel: +60 3-2110 6366