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Category: Cool Cafe

  • Norm Micro Roastery Combines Good Coffee With Minimalist Warehouse Interiors

    Norm Micro Roastery Combines Good Coffee With Minimalist Warehouse Interiors

    Cafe scene in Penang is very interesting with new cafe popping up now and then, but the good one stays long and the least interesting one got of the cafe-game soon. One of my favourite – Norm Cafe has a new outlet at Church Street Ghaut.

    House in a refurbish warehouse, the bare and crisp minimalist setup does makes a good backdrop for Instagram-hispter and interior-lover like me. Not many seatings are available in this spacious warehouse setting though – which is a plus! However, it was still that busy and crowded on my last visit (just before the COVID-19 lock down in Malaysia).

    Unlike the original Norm Cafe, Norm Micro Roastery serves coffee and brunch; as the name explains, they roast their own coffee here.

    What makes a good cafe for hopping is the space composition and this cafe does has the recipe for it.

    Note: There’s beautiful little green mosses and if you do visit, do be careful and not step on them. It’s the indoor landscape that complement the overall setting.

    Opens daily 9am – 11pm

    13, Gat Lebuh Gereja, 10300 George Town, Penang.

    Facebook / Google Map / Waze

  • FATCAT Ice Cream Bar – Awesome Ice Cream Waffle Place

    FATCAT Ice Cream Bar – Awesome Ice Cream Waffle Place

    Located in a subtle neighbourhood of Bedok in Singapore, it needs a little exploration to find this cafe with a cute name – FATCAT. It’s not on the main street, nor the busy downtown, yet it’s situated down below the HDB flats at Bedok North Ave 2 which took about 15 minutes walk from the MRT station. Not too hard to find after all.

    I could tell that it would not disappoint me with people waiting outside for a table and the full-house atmosphere. Upon entering, there’s no sign of any ‘cat’ that resemble the cafe’s name, but cute worker in pink and whiskers drawn on face. Oh, and it’s a Japanese month, so beside their original collections of ice cream, there’s a new line of Japanese inspired ice cream. This means that they do theme ice cream from time to time.

    Too many to pick from and we ended with special Butterbeer and Thai Milk Tea, and of course serve them with their famous – Charcoal Waffles. The waffle texture scored crispy and fluffy and the salted egg yolk sauce blends it perfectly with the sweet ice cream.

    What a lovely afternoon with artisan ice cream, and waffle. Let’s do it again!

    FATCAT Ice Cream Bar
    Blk 416 Bedok North Ave 2
    #01-25 Singapore 460416
    Tel: +65 6241 0830
    Mon, Wed & Thu: 12pm – 10pm
    Fri – Sun: 12pm – 11pm
    (Closed on Tue)
    Nearest Station: Bedok (EW Line), walkable 15 minutes.
  • Two Buns, A Very Hipster Burger & Booze Restaurant

    Two Buns, A Very Hipster Burger & Booze Restaurant

    Update: Our last visit (Nov 19) shows that this awesome burger eatery has closed down. Sad.

    Two Buns, a very hispter burger shop on Carnavon Street, blends well with beer, that’s where their tagline comes in – ‘Burger & Booze’.

    Hello, I am back again, after hiatus for more than a year and I find it exciting to write a blog post, sharing good food; and no, this is not a sponsored post. Just came across this hipster outlet a few days back while running errand in town. The artsy minimalist decorated eatery caught my attention, and the combination of burger and beers is just tempting.

    Invited a few friends along on a Saturday night for a burger night out. Burger starts from RM10, and bottled Tiger, Heineken, Guinness and imported craft beer are available. Settled with a bucket of the mighty Tiger (RM65) and a Don Pablo (RM15) burger for myself.

    Don Pablo – Deep Fried Chicken, Bacon & Cheese sandwhich is fragrant sesame bun.

    Char Siu Pork Burger, sweet enough but I still like Don Pablo more.

    Thai-style Sio Bak (Roasted Pork) with sweet chilli sauce. Crispy enough, but cooled when serve. Got to improve a little on that yo.

    I was just happy that they are not another black charcoal burger copy-cat. I am sicked of everyone copying each other. Classic sesame bun is still the best.

    One thing that needed to improve – THE LONG WAITING TIME!

    Two Buns – Burger & Booze is at No. 177, Lebuh Carnavon, 11000 George Town. See their Facebook page for more detail. Parking is available by the roadside!

  • Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar On A Sunday Afternoon

    Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar On A Sunday Afternoon

    Singapore: Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar On A Sunday Afternoon – Also known as CSHH is coffee roaster Papa Palheta’s flagship store in Singapore which in Malaysia, there’s also one cafe – PULP by Papa Palheta in Bangsar that is also part of its family.

    As one of the most popular coffee houses in Singapore, Chye Seng Huat Hardware was in the list of my first cafe hopping’s itinerary. Well, I maybe too late into checking out this place, but it’s always late then never.

    Singapore has sort of became my second home which I visit very frequently at least once a month. Cafe hopping in Singapore had been one of my to-do activity whenever I am there. Last Sunday’s afternoon was to check out this hardware shop turned cafe. A little bit of Google shows that CSHH was one of the first “integrated concept” cafes consisting a roastery, workshop, coffee tasting room and a store – all under one roof.

    Although it’s accessible by MRT, but the hot weather just forced us to take the cab to the place. We were greeted by the original hardware shopfront but the main entrance is on the side. Interior amazed me a lot with a central communal coffee bar/preparation/cashier/seating. The industrial/modern setup is cozy and hipster enough for you to Instagram all day long.

    It was a good escape out of the scorching humid weather of Singapore and the Cold Brew did chill and spice up the day!

    Singapore: Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar On A Sunday Afternoon

    Singapore: Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar On A Sunday Afternoon

    Singapore: Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar On A Sunday Afternoon

    Singapore: Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar On A Sunday Afternoon

    Singapore: Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar On A Sunday Afternoon

    Singapore: Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar On A Sunday Afternoon

    Singapore: Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar On A Sunday Afternoon

    Chye Seng Huat Hardware

    150, Tyrwhitt Road,
    Singapore 207563.

    Close on Mondays. Open other days from 9.00am.

  • Prague: Grand Cafe Orient, A Cool Cubist Cafe

    Prague: Grand Cafe Orient, A Cool Cubist Cafe

    Eastern Europe Trip // Prague: Grand Cafe Orient, A Cool Cubist Cafe – Ola! I’ve just came back from my Spain & Porgual summer trip and it was a fun and hot one! Back to Newcastle right now and I’ve plenty of free time to share with you about my travel experience. Continue on what I’ve left previously where I was in Prague during my Eastern Europe Trip, here I want to bring you a cool cubist cafe in Prague – the Grand Cafe Orient.

    If you are wondering what is cubist, cubisim is an early 20th-century avant-garde art movement by Georges Braque and the famous Pablo Picasso and the interior of this cafe is styled after the cubism.

    During the trip, we were like addicted to cafe exploring after checking out the few in Budapest and Vienna. So we found this Grand Cafe Orient which is located in the House of the Black Madonna in the city. Amazed by the interior and atmosphere, but the beverage did not catch my attention. Well, Prague is a small city and we took the exploration slow and easy. Thus, an hour of short break in the cafe, enjoying cubism interior was relaxing!

    Prague: Grand Cafe Orient, A Cool Cubist Cafe

    Prague: Grand Cafe Orient, A Cool Cubist Cafe

    Prague: Grand Cafe Orient, A Cool Cubist Cafe

    Prague: Grand Cafe Orient, A Cool Cubist Cafe

    Prague: Grand Cafe Orient, A Cool Cubist Cafe

  • Vienna: The Original Cafe Sacher & Night In Inner Stadt

    Vienna: The Original Cafe Sacher & Night In Inner Stadt

    Eastern Europe Trip // Vienna: The Original Cafe Sacher – The famous and most original Viennese chocolate cake – Sacher Torte can be found at Cafe Sacher of Hotel Sacher. The Sacher Torte is a chocolate cake, invented in 1832 by Franz Sacher in Vienna and it has the become one of the most famous Viennese culinary speciaties.

    So after trying out the one but not the original one at Cafe Central, we have decided to head over to try the original version despite we were travelling on a budget. The city was quiet on a Christmas evening, but a long queue of tourist built up in the front of Cafe Sacher. We took a walk around the city before heading back to the cafe to check out the queue and greatly, the queue was shorten.

    The cafe is small, yet have a beautiful interior decor, which is comparable to the two in Budapest (New York Cafe & Alexander Book Cafe). However, something I dislike about the cafe is that it is compulsory to check in our coat into the cloakroam and each checked in item is charged 1Euro. I don’t really like the way they force you to check in and charge you an Euro for it.

    Anyway, it was a good one hour spent at Cafe Sacher as we had no place to go. The Sacher Torte was indeed better than Cafe Central but is it the best chocolate cake in the world? I still couldn’t decide on that yet.

  • Vienna: The Famous Cafe Central Which Was Once Visited By Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler More!

    Vienna: The Famous Cafe Central Which Was Once Visited By Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler More!

    Vienna: The Famous Cafe Central – I’ve read somewhere that Vienna is famous for the cafe culture. You can find coffee houses nearly everywhere in Vienna and though Starbucks has moved in a bit, there are not on every corner as they often are in other parts of the world. Many of the cafe in Vienna have substantial food menus and bakeries or specialised desserts to showcase their uniqueness. One of the most popular cafe in Vienna is Cafe Central, which is just two blocks from St. Michael’s Square at Hofburg Palace near the Inner Staadt.

    Opened in 1876, it has quite a history back then where it had been visited by intellectuals like Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler and more! Because of this reason, we visited this cafe for an afternoon break in the city after a long tiring walk as well as to see if we could get some inspiration like how the famous did back then.

    After checking out the world most beautiful cafe and an interesting bookstore cafe in Budapest, the interior of Cafe Central did not really captured my attention. Chandeliers, arched ceilings and marble columns were failed to be on par with the one I’ve visited, yet Cafe Central still has its own personality. Somehow, service, coffee and the slice of Sacher Torte still were not up to the expectation. Is it that we had something too good back in Budapest, or is it that it was too crowded at there and the staff could not service every patron well, or is it just because we just got conned by the classical music seller by the street?

    Not saying that you should not visit this place, you should as it’s one of the famous one and perhaps you might experience a different sensation here.

    Poet, Peter Altenburg who was a regular and famous Viennese coffee house write. Still, I’ve no idea who he was.

    Sachertorte, a specific type of chocolate cake inved by Austrian Franz Sacher in 1832 for Prince Wenzel von Metternich. To be simple, it’s a chocolate sponge cake with apricot jam and dark chocolate icing. Taste surprisingly quite nice, but not as good as the chocolate cake with true Belgium chocolate filling that I’ve had at the Book Cafe in Budapest. Nevertheless, this is a good one, but this is not the original Sachertorte. You can try the original Sachertorte at Cafe Sacher in Hotel Sacher.  One funny thing is, December 5th in Austria is named the National Sachertorte Day.

  • Budapest: New York Cafe, The Most Beautiful Cafe In The World

    Budapest: New York Cafe, The Most Beautiful Cafe In The World

    Eastern Europe Trip // Budapest: New York Cafe, The Most Beautiful Cafe In The World – How can you not visit the self-proclaimed ‘Most Beautiful Cafe In The World’ when you are in Budapest? The New York Cafe, located in a corner of Boscolo Budapest Hotel together with the hotel exterior beautifully lighted up. It looks luxurious, grand and just fascinating from the exterior and it looks even better from the inside!

    So, after visiting the Alexandra Book Cafe and checking out this New York Cafe in Budapest, I find that there the hipster-style cafe in Malaysia that girls like to go there and take a selfie, high-tea and Instagram them are so out! HAHAHA. Just kidding, they are equally cool, but these two in Budapest are the best that I’ve been to!

    The exterior of Boscolo Budapest Hotel that houses the New York Cafe looks magnificent at night.

    4 guys, 1 cafe. LOL.

    Awesome Hot chocolate with caramel flavour & whipped cream. HUF1,790, about £5. Quite expensive, but still worth it.

    The atrium of Boscolo Budapest Hotel.

  • Budapest: Very Beautiful Alexandra Book Cafe – Lotz Terem

    Budapest: Very Beautiful Alexandra Book Cafe – Lotz Terem

    Eastern Europe Trip // Budapest: Very Beautiful Alexandra Book Cafe – Lotz Terem – One of the thing you must do in Budapest is visit the beautiful cafe in this lovely city, filled with lovely architecture and lovely people like me! The cafe here is beautiful in a way of feeling grand, luxurious and European, it’s unlike any of the artsy or designer cafe in Penang or KL! It’s more than what you think, way better than a lot of European cafe.

    There’s two cafe that I’ve visited in Budapest, one being the New York Cafe and the other one is this Alexandra Book Cafe that is so cool! A little bit hard to find at first and asking local about the place in English did not really help at all, we ended found that it’s quite near to Hungarian Opera House, and it’s located in a big book store name Alexandra. Initially we thought that the Book Cafe is a cafe that looks like a library, but it turned up to be a cafe that housed in the Alexandra Book Store.

    It’s a very small cafe, but very happenings when we visited. The small luxurious interior with high ceilings, and the clanking of coffee cups further pulled me into the atmosphere.

    The best chocolate cake I had, yet.

  • Klang Valley: Signature Cake @ Thirty 8, Grand Hyatt Hotel

    Klang Valley: Signature Cake @ Thirty 8, Grand Hyatt Hotel

    Klang Valley: Signature Cake @ Thirty 8, Grand Hyatt Hotel – KL has so many nice food place to explore! I am starting to miss the time exploring those beautiful cafe & restaurant in KL already. Although they are rather pricey, yet, I try to spend it budget-ly and experience the ambience and food fully.
    So Thirty8 @ Grand Hyatt Hotel, located just right beside of Kuala Lumpur Convention, the name seems to be very ‘atas’ high-end and it’s not overly high-end as I expected. Haha. It get a bit confusing at first because I was not welcomed by the hotel lobby once I stepped into Grand Hyatt, instead I have to take the elevator to go to 38th floor, where the real Grand Hyatt Hotel’s lobby is, pretty interesting.
    At just a level down the lobby, 37th, it’s where Thirty8 is, the hotel’s lounge. Having a 360 degree view of Kuala Lumpur, the view from here is just magnificent, and you will just in love with it. Pick a good spot, facing the Petronas Twin Towers preferably and enjoy your moment there.
    It was an afternoon for my and Clarice. I think it would be even better at night, but afternoon gets to photograph easily with plenty of natural lighting, but then night view would be stunning too.
    So, our main purpose was just to try their Thirty8 Signature Cake @ RM25 which literally is chocolate cake, but it’s more like mousse cake which is very soft. The special part of it is the presence of dry ice that create the smoking vapor effect which ‘WOW’ people. Topped with caramel and side with a banana ice cream, this dessert is very sweet! Yes, I mentioned very sweet. So beware if you are not into super-sweet dessert.
    Next time, if there’s a chance again, I would like to try their ‘Straight From The Oven Chocolate Cake, Raspberry Sorbet, Vanilla Anglaise’, which is a highly recommended cake too!
    Thirty8 Restaurant & Lounge
    Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur,
    12 Jalan Pinang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur.
    Telephone: +603-2182-1234
    View Shiok Or Not : Food & Travel Map in a larger map
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