Dutch Harbour Cafe
November 30th, 2007, Jason
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“.
