Just when I was thinking when to pay Dutch Harbour Cafe a visit after reading the review at Amazing Melaka by Tien Soon, I received a call from my boss that the owner of Dutch Harbour Cafe has invited the media for a food tasting session at its cafe.

Armed with a notepad, my faithful FZ30 and an empty stomach, I made my way to the cafe and was greeted by Clifford Hudson. The owner, Azizuddin A. Aziz wasn’t in, hence, his partner, Hudson would be the host for the evening. Hudson was born in England and has lived in US for quite some time before settling down in Malacca. He was a retired air captain and currently working as a chief pilot instructor at Batu Berendam’s Malaysian Flying Academy.

The cafe is on the left hand side of the shop lots at the stadhuys (Malacca’s infamous red coloured buildings) and is diagonally opposite St. Francis Xavier church.

From the outside, it looks pretty much like just another small restaurant / cafe, but when you are inside the cafe, it’s a whole new environment. Behind the boring old cafe setup is a small garden (also the kitchen) and right outside the small garden is a row of tables nicely placed along the corridor, next to the dirty old Malacca river. With a bottle of beer, couple of old friends, this is definitely an ideal place to hang out, without the noisy environment and horrifying music (Read : Wingz Cafe.) or expensive drinks (Read : Nadeje Patisserie.) Operating hours is from 9am until 12 midnight.

There were only two of us, my colleague and myself but Hudson had prepared three freaking tables of food. Isn’t that a little wee bit too much, you asked? Yes, it is but when it comes to food, I certainly don’t mind at all. The perks of working as a journalist.

Since there are too many food to write about, I shall just pick a few and the more prominent ones to write about. Fruit salad, curry puff, spring roll and garden salad were the rather common ones on the table. There were really many types of fruits, like watermelons, green apples, pineapples, grapes, oranges and cherries, in the fruit salad. How about adding papayas and mangoes the next time? My colleague said the spring roll tasted really good, which I second that.

Lasagna, far cry from Secret Recipe’s lasagna. They over cooked it, hence, the sides were stiff and hard. It was just nice in the middle though. Taking Secret Recipe’s lasagna as the benchmark, the lasagna they offered didn’t have enough minced meat in it and seriously lack of cheese. I like my lasagna to be flooded and melted with cheese.

Hudson said that the dutch eats the most chocolate in the world. Well, even their breakfast consists of chocolate. Hagelslag, buttered bread topped with chocolate rice, is what the dutch eats for breakfast. I kid you not. It is so simple to make that you can even do it yourself. If you can’t, you are doomed anyway. Taste is very simple, nothing to shout about but it’s something unique that you don’t get in Malaysia yet or have it for breakfast.

San Fransisco rice is also another specialty. It is rice and orzo (A kind of Italian pasta.), toasted on a pan and then, cooked with mixed vegetables and beef / chicken stock. It’s pretty much like fried rice, but has a different texture and taste. Not to mention, it’s not oily at all and on the dry side. You can taste the difference between the rice and pasta easily when you chew them slowly. It’s a dish that Hudson brought it from the states and often cook himself.

Hawaiian chicken pizza and beef pepperoni pizza. For the chicken, the pizza is very dry. Unlike the pizzas we normally eat, the pizzas here are not spread with tomato puree before topping off with the toppings, hence, the chicken meat and pizza itself are generally dry. However, you can put some chili sauce or drip a few tabasco sauce on it, it might help a little. Perhaps, topped the pizza with a huge amount of melted cheese might fix the problem, who knows?

Beef pepperoni, tasted pretty decent as well, far better than its Hawaiian chicken counter part. However, by the time I put the slice of pizza into my mouth, it was cold and stiff. Hudson assured me that for customers, the pizzas would be served right from the oven, smoking hot and still crunchy. Well, couldn’t blame him as we were talking and taking photos when the food was left on the table for more than 30 minutes. The bread is somewhat thinner than the chicken as well. A few dash of tabasco on it certainly spiced the flavour up.

Guilder, a round nugget lookalike, is chicken meat covered with mashed potatoes and then deep fried. It is called guilder because the size of the nugget lookalike is the size of the 100 cents coin in the Netherlands. Absolutely perfect for finger food while you gulp down your cold beer.

Chicken croquette is absolutely delicious. Crunchy on the outside, mushy on the inside. The fillings looked pretty much like chicken floss but didn’t taste like one. It was like a finely chopped and rolled up tightly chicken meat. Man, come to think of it, I don’t even really know how to describe the texture of the chicken croquette.

As for drinks, we were served a few kinds. Carribean perrier, where three layers of different density liquid poured into one glass. The first layer is perrier water, followed by orange juice and lastly, grenadine syrup. Hence, you have the plain, sour and sweet flavours in each level. Russian perrier is somewhat like lime juice / sorbet, ideal for those who love sour, which I’m not.

Well, among all drinks, I strongly recommend you their Madagascar Fruit Blast. The drink is made using superbly fragrant, thick and concentrated tropical fruits puree mixed with the best and most expensive vanilla cream from Madagascar, with whipped cream as the finishing touches.

For your information, Madagascar is the world’s leading vanilla exporter (Up to 50% of the world’s export market!) and also produces the finest and most consistent vanilla. I was a little doubtful when Hudson told me that, but not until I googled up for the information.

You can ask them not to add in the vanilla, but it’s the vanilla that gives the fruit puree a smooth and creamy taste.

It was this glass of tropical fruit punch that made the dinner complete and my day. Upon my first sip, immediately, I know this is good stuff and something you won’t be able to get in Malacca easily. It also put a very big grin on my face after that. This beverage may be the sole reason why I return to this cafe in near future.

Dutch Harbour Cafe will be on my top three choices if I am looking for a place to chill with my old buddies. They serve beers, all kinds of fresh juices and other beverages, finger foods, pizzas and some main course dishes. With the nice ambiance and environment at the back of the cafe, it’s definitely a much nicer place to go compared to other music cafes and pubs in Malacca.

Will I return? Definitely.

They have their own official website - “Dutch Harbour Cafe“.

I have been wanting to say this for quite some time, but I gave them the benefit of doubt. Until recently, my conscience told me that I have to blog about this before everyone starts putting the blame on me.

Mille Crepe and Nadeje Patisserie Cafe are two of the things that I strongly promote whenever one visits Malacca. Somehow, many people, visitors, blog readers and friends associate my blog with Mille Crepe and Nadeje Patisserie Cafe.

The reason? Simply delicious and heavenly crepes that you don’t get in any other part of Malaysia except Malacca. Also, the ambiance, prompt service, friendly waiters and waitresses, and most importantly, the one managing Nadeje Patisserie and down to earth Amos Chong. Amos was one of the two co-owners of Nadeje Patisserie, while the other owner was Nozomi.

Before I proceed, lets look into the history of Nadeje Patisserie.

Nozomi was the sole financial contributor while Amos was the one who would do the baking and marketing. When Amos first started out, he worked from home. In other words, he would be baking the cakes in the kitchen and then get them delivered to numerous cafes in Malacca town. That was how Amos started and Mille Crepe started to gain its popularity.

Few months later, Amos has made enough profits and with more money injected into the business by Nozomi, they bought a shop lot in Plaza Mahkota. Amos then had a proper place to bake and sell his cakes, no more no name bakery, no more delivery and no more come-to-the-house-and-collect method. It was during this period I discovered Mille Crepe and got to know Amos personally. I then started promoting Mille Crepe like no tomorrow to every friends and blog readers I know, and even wrote two featured articles in The Star for them. (Not many restaurants get to be featured twice in the newspaper, for your information.)

Fast forward a few months later, they earned enough to expand the shop to a two shop lot Nadeje Patisserie (current) and things started to pick up from there.

Amos is a down to earth and humble person. He didn’t become proud or boastful when the cake became popular. In fact, he would gladly listen to any criticism and take them positively. He would improve himself and rectify mistakes if one could point it out. He would come out to the front to talk to the customers and get some feedbacks. He would personally thank you if he has the chance.

The waiters and waitresses he trained were friendly, full of smiles and would recognized regular customers like me. They would know what I want and my preference. Also, Amos would even give me discounts whenever I dine in or take away and sometimes, free slices of Mille Crepe. He would let me owe up to RM600 - RM700 worth of cakes so that I could bring, deliver the cakes to KL and then pay him when I am back in Malacca. It’s a trust built between the boss and regular customers.

In other words, I can safely say, Amos was the soul of Nadeje Patisserie and also the reason why I highly promoted them to my friends.

Fast forward to third quarter of 2007, due to some reasons, Amos resigned from Nadeje Patisserie and since then, it was the downfall of Nadeje Patisserie.

I have received a number of complaints about the cafe, cakes and services. From regular customers to first time customers, they all have something to say about the cafe, mind you, the negative ones. Let’s not talk about what others have to say first and read what I have to say about the cafe.

1) The waiters / waitresses don’t smile, at all, as if they were forced to work or something along that line.

2) Where are the “Thank You”, “Welcome”, “Good Morning / Afternoon / Evening” and other courtesy manners like opening the door?

3) Price increment with immediate effect, up to 30%!

4) I-shall-decide-how-you-eat policy. (Read Akiautumn - Nadeje Patisserie @ Melaka.)

Dining in with cakes order without drinks are not allowed.
Order of two slices and a drink can only be shared up to four persons.

5) I-shall-decide-where-you-sit policy. (Read Akiautumn - Nadeje Patisserie @ Melaka.)

You will get to sit at the red sofa if you spend more than RM35. Else, please occupy other tables.

6) Loyalty? Regular customers? What are those?

7) They also took away all the food / meal menu, leaving nothing but drinks and cakes for patrons. Limited choices available.

8) Most importantly, the cakes don’t taste as good as before. It doesn’t give me the umphhh satisfaction that it used to give me. The crepes are somewhat thicker. The creams aren’t as thick as before. The cakes are generally wetter and smudgy.

Well, that said, I am going to stop promoting Mille Crepe and Nadeje Patisserie Cafe to my friends and on my blog. Neither I am going to bring them there unless they request for it. I am proud of it, but if this goes on, I am utterly disappointed that an once customer oriented cafe has turned into a profit oriented cafe, that churns out under par service and food quality, yet with higher price after it got popular.

Hence, if it’s not nice or you get lousy service or totally different from what you read from my blog, you have been warned. I strongly advised you to take away instead.

Well, I have been brainwashing and persuading Amos to kick start his own Mille Crepe business in Kuala Lumpur. Perhaps, or just maybe, he might do so and I am sure many people will benefit from it. Heh!

Update : I just talked to Amos on the phone. Apparently, he has started his business from scratch in JB and it might take some time before he expands his business and then, KL. The reasons he gave me are that he is more familiar with JB, has the much needed connections and networks in JB and his partner is also from JB. For those who want to try his Mille Crepe, I guess, you will have to make a trip down to JB. More information at Humble Beginnings.

Getting to know May Gin is definitely one of the best things that ever happened throughout my three years blogging career life.

I got to know her very briefly during my second delivery of Mille Crepe. Perhaps we share the same passion for food, we just clicked. Our subsequent meet ups were at SS2 Secret Recipe, SS2 Wong Kok Char Chan Teng, a brief one at Sushi Groove and recently, a half day outing to Pavilion (J.Co Donuts & Coffee) and 1U (Sushi Groove) together.

By our third meet up, she has already baked chocolate chip cookies for me to bring back home!

For our forth meet up, she prepared more food for me to bring back home!

The night before that, I was reading her blog and she was blogging about pineapple fried rice. Hence, being the greedy one, I gave her a call to tease her.

J : “I want to eat pineapple fried rice also.”
MG : “What?! Cannot. I have baked muffins for you.”
J : “But I want to eat pineapple fried rice.”
MG : “Cannot.”
J : “Sulk.”

Yet, to my surprise, I saw a tupperware with pineapple fried rice in it when I collected the food from her on Sunday. There was a big grin on my face at that moment.

I reheated the fried rice when I reached my Tampin house. There were a lot of ingredients in it, lots of chicken chunks, mushrooms, chili flakes, cashew nuts, onions, spring onions, carrots and of course, pineapples. Taste? Absolutely delicious although I would prefer it to be freshly out from the wok.

Apart from the pineapple fried rice, she baked me more chocolate chips cookies. It wasn’t as sweet as the first batch , which I told her about it that time. Crunchy as ever still.

Apart from that, she also specially baked muffins for me. Yes, those soft, fluffy and delicious muffins that come in assorted flavours like banana, chocolate, vanilla, orange and pandan.

I told her I love pandan more than vanilla and chocolate. However, she said she never bake pandan flavoured before and it would be her first time baking so, hence, she wasn’t very confident with the taste.

After sinking my teeth into the pandan flavoured muffin, it tasted heavenly. It wasn’t steaming hot or right from the oven, but definitely, I could taste the pandan flavour in it. I hope that would definitely give her the boost of confidence in baking more pandan flavoured pastries.

Do you want to have a bite? Heh!

After reading this post, I think I have sort of explained why I put the status message of “I love you, May Gin!” on my MSN. Really, never feel so being loved before, from a friend, that is. As for the title, “May Gin’s Love”, well, it wasn’t the food that really melted my heart (It did, actually.) but rather the heart, effort, time and love put in to cook and bake something for a guy who she only met less than five times.

Thanks, May Gin. Really, it’s more than just a mere “Thank You”. Love you, a lot!

So, what are you going to surprise me with the next time I come KL? Ha!

After we had bah kut teh for lunch and walking around Equine Park Jusco, we ended up at Old Town Kopitiam for a cup of coffee / tea where we could sit down and chill ourselves.

Nothing beats spending time together with my brothers and talking craps, reminiscing the old days, how we disliked each other at one point of our life, spilling out our inner thoughts, bad mouthing someone else and / or even discussing about our future.

Well, this isn’t about food, but just some photos that I took while we spent three hours at the shop lot. However, if you want the best of the best among the franchise, do visit the one at Seremban 2. Their food quality and service wise are top notch compared to many other branches of the same franchise.

Just for your information, I am not a coffee lover and I certainly, barely, hardly, almost never drink hot drinks.

Ah, brothers for life!

Sis JiNz promised that she would call if we were to meet up on Saturday but after hours (and days) of waiting yet not even a miss call, I knew we were not going to meet up already. Hence, my brothers, Ah Yong, Ah Kit and I spent hours having our late lunch and walking around Equine Park Jusco on a lovely Saturday.

As mentioned in my post before I took my long break, I was craving for a good old bah kut teh. After reading Hot-Screensaver’s post on a bah kut teh shop at Equine Park, I decided to give it a try.

Yap Beng Restaurant is said to be a branch originated from Klang. How true and authentic their claim is, I don’t know. It’s not very difficult to find as they are the one and only bah kut teh restaurant in that area. It’s just opposite Equine Park Jusco, the commercial area where you can see two really huge food court on the outside.

Upon seated, you are given a basket of various types of Chinese tea. Just pick the one you want to drink and help yourself with the teapots, cups and hot water. Initially, we were drinking hot Chinese tea but by the end of our meal, we were drinking iced Chinese tea and iced 100 plus. Ha!

The price list.

1 serving of dry bah kut teh - RM8.50
1 serving of wet bah kut teh - RM7.50
1.5 serving of dry bah kut teh - RM13.50
1.5 serving of wet bah kut teh - RM12.50
1 serving of vegetarian bah kut teh - RM5.00

Deep fried shark meat - RM12
Stir fried shark meat - RM12 (Large), RM8 (Small)
Stir fried vegetable - RM7 (Large), RM5 (Small)
Sambal Prawn - RM12
Stir fried stingray - RM12

We ordered 1.5 serving of dry and wet bah kut teh each, a plate of stir fried vegetable, stingray ala dry curry style and also sambal prawns. We wanted to order shark meat but there wasn’t any available on that day. Well, with so many dishes, I don’t even know whether we were eating seafood or bah kut teh.

Stir fried vegetable. A little oily and the vegetable wasn’t as crunchy as it supposed to be. Oh well, I ordered this because we wanted to have a more balanced diet. -coughs-

The stingray cooked in dry curry style was a little disappointment. The stingray was chopped into too many small pieces and you can’t get the taste and texture of a stingray should have. The curry powder wasn’t sufficient enough to give us the kick too. For the price of RM12 and the amount of stingray we had, it’s not really worth it.

However, I give a thumb up for the sambal prawn. For RM12, they were really generous with the amount of prawns in this dish. I doubt my mum even cooked so much prawns at one go. It was really worth the money paid. The level of spiciness may not be up to my standard / level, but taste was good.

It was my first time trying the dry version of bah kut teh and certainly, it might be my last. I felt a little cheated as I think the more proper name for the dry version should be pork ribs cooked in dried chilies (kung bou 宫保), but a little milder in terms of spiciness. Damn it! After all the hype of reading and hearing about the dry version, it turned out to be this.

For its counterpart, its nothing but good, old and authentic bah kut teh. Boiled for hours with lots of herbs, spices, various parts of porks and bones, the soup turned out thick, tasty, full of flavour and absolutely delicious. It might not beat the ones in Klang but for a small town like Serdang and Sri Kembangan, they are certainly going to win hands down. They didn’t use pork ribs but rather lean meat (siew yuk 烧肉), a little pork stomach, some bean curd skins and a few pieces of vegetables. It would be even better if they have FUCK (Fried U Char Kueh) and golden mushroom (金针菇).

The bill came up to RM62.80, with a can of 100 plus, a packet of Chinese tea leaves (RM2) and three bowls of rice. The rest you can add them up yourself with the price list above. Well, we left the restaurant as a satisfied customer and a full stomach. Definitely, I will be visiting them again if I am around the area.

Operating hours? Lunch and dinner, I guess.