Owen Chen

The only saving grace for my recent visit is the air-conditioned section. The service is the usual with such a restaurant but I would like to make an exception of a sourpuss waiter who made a rude remark when I asked him to change the chicken piece. The kerabu rice was cold and tasted bland. The fried chicken is cold and soggy and tasted insipid. Maybe because I was early trying to beat the lunchtime crowd but it will take an elephant to drag me back to such terrible food again. I did not order the other curries because they looked suspiciously leftovers from yesterday. The only saving grace other than the aircond is the fried tempeh.

The restaurant was newly renovated and it was a pleasant dining experience had it not been for the raw fishy odour wafting from the kitchen. Service is good and there is room for improvement in terms of communication as the servers are foreigners. The food did take a bit of time to arrive but it was sheer enjoyment from then onwards. The crab meat ball was delicious and the accompanying soup was just as good. The asam fish was cooked till the bones are soft and melts in your mouth. It was well flavoured with piquant chilli accents on the taste buds without overwhelming the dopamine response. The other dishes were standard. I had hoped for more from the otak but this being a Hakka restaurant, it's not fair to judge it on that merit. I will return to try their other dishes.

The delightful cafe on the second floor of a shop house was a surprising find. The best part and most important feature of this restaurant is that it has a lift. However I disagree with the shoes off policy. It may be less than pleasant when you have customers with odiferous feet. It's unhygienic and I docked off one star for that. But then again it is my sense of personal hygiene. Once inside all the fears of an assault on my olfactory senses was laid to rest. It's beautifully decorated with Scandinavian sensibilities. The only visible clutter is on the counter and it's out of sight and out of mind depending on where you are seated. The service is prompt and attentive. The coffee was beautifully brewed and crafted. It tasted better than it looked. It was strong but tempered by the creaminess of the milk. The delicious cheesecake was housemade. Its lightness is almost mousse-like and has a harmonious blend of dairy goodness. All this was accented with a light dash of salted cream and a ring of chocolate crunchies. With the coffee and cake on my palate, it was a marriage of flavours made in heaven.