Wangsa Maju in the northern part of Kuala Lumpur has transformed into a flourishing township. It now has a plethora of shopping centres and entertainment outlets, as well as many hawker stalls and restaurants.
These eateries offer a broad range of cuisine with Malay, Chinese, Indian, Taiwanese, and Korean food. If you’re on the lookout for Chinese breakfast spots that serve terrific food and beverages, here are some of the top coffee shops in the area.
I. Hailam Kopitiam
This popular breakfast spot along Jalan Wangsa Delima 11 mainly serves Hailam or Hainanese food and excellent coffee as well as Western breakfast. Moreover, repeat customers love the shop’s wide variety of hot and cold beverage choices. In particular, they highly recommend the creamilicious special white coffee, traditional Hailam milk tea, and homemade chrysanthemum tea.
You also can’t miss their Kaya toast with half-boiled eggs and robust Hainanese coffee. The unseeded wholemeal bread is filled with butter and sugary coconut jam (Kaya) or Pandan Kaya, then perfectly toasted. Dip that toast into decadent half-cooked runny eggs and chug it down with traditional Hailam roasted coffee infused with sesame seeds and butter. This terrific dish is something you’ll keep coming back for more.
The shop’s other top-selling dishes include Hailam fish fillet, Hailam chicken chop, chicken porridge, and Hainanese chicken rice, Hailam fried mee hoon, plus the hot and spicy special Nasi Lemak with Rendang chicken.
Besides the Hailam wholemeal bun with peanut butter, the place also serves western food, particularly sandwiches and pastries. Among the more popular ones are the tuna sandwich and their variety of croissants.
For seafood lovers, sample their sambal prawn spaghetti and crab meat dishes. They also offer organic kampong eggs. For vegans, the place cooks up vegetarian dishes that mimic the taste and texture of Kung Pao chicken, sweet & sour chicken, Thai green chicken, and sambal mutton.
Although patrons, especially tourists, lament that some of the staff can’t speak English, visitors are very appreciative of their friendly and accommodating attitude. The service is also prompt and efficient most of the time.
II. Restoran Kopitiam Desa
Image source: unsplash.com
This eatery in Desa Setapak is regularly crowded with students, locals, and working-class people who are drawn to the shop’s delicious but competitively-priced food as compared to similar dishes offered by other hawker stalls and restaurants in the vicinity. As a matter of fact, there are often lines of people during peak hours and table sharing is the norm during peak meal times.
In terms of ambience, it’s spartan. The large square room only comes with pop-up tables and ceiling fans. Speaking of the food, the shop provides different kinds of home-cooked meals, desserts, and assorted beverages including herbal drinks, but it’s the desserts that get most of the diners’ attention here. Their top-selling foodstuffs include yam croquettes, sticky rice with peanuts, sweet corn dessert, and red bean soup.
The deep-fried, breaded yam croquettes are so yummy. A bite into the light and crunchy shell gives way to the sweet and velvety yam paste inside. As for the second dish, the contrasting texture of the sticky rice and crunchy peanuts provide a roller coaster ride to your mouth and tongue.
Meanwhile, the shop has achieved a superb balance with its sweet corn dessert. It’s not too sugary or milky to the point that you will get easily bored of it. Instead, the appealing taste encourages you to finish another bowl.
As for the red bean soup, the tapioca balls beautify the dessert and provide a bit of chewiness. Although some prefer their red beans in the whole form, the pureed red beans add colour to the dish and are also tantalising to the palate.
III. Oldtown Kopitiam
Strategically located at the first level of Alpha Angle Shopping Centre in Jalan R1, this modern version of a Chinese coffee shop is quite accessible and easy to travel to. As a matter of fact, it’s just a 4-minute drive (2.1km) from the popular Wangsa Walk Mall. As it’s inside a shopping centre, it’s a good place to start your busy day as it’s within proximity to offices, employment hubs, shops, and other key places where you can shop for daily essentials.
The place serves all the kopitiam favourites such as teh tarik, and a dark silky tea thanks to the presence of melted margarine. It’s sweetened with sugar and made creamier with condensed milk. The finished product is a frothy and bubbly concoction after undergoing a unique pouring method that is a labour of love.
Pair that cup of joe with generous servings of toasted brown bread that is warm and crisp on the exterior but still tender on the inside, and the result is a simple but wonderful breakfast that many Malaysians love.
In addition, the establishment also serves affordable but hearty noodles. The springy yellow noodles swim in a savoury dark broth. It’s topped with bok choy or Chinese cabbage, whole sausages, ham slices, and runny sunny side up egg, along with a small plate of soy sauce with chili as a condiment. The dish is a complete meal by itself. The noodles provide carbohydrates, the greens give vitamins and minerals, while the meat products contain the required amount of proteins that your body needs.
IV. BDC Cafe and Restaurant
This eatery on Jalan Wangsa Delima 5 is highly-praised by its patrons for its mouth-watering Chinese and Western dishes. However, this is not the place for those who prefer traditional cuisine as their cooks have made innovative twists to old-time favourites to further elevate their taste and presentation.
BDC's curry mee. Image source: dlima-cafe-and-restaurant-by-bdc.business.site
You however will not be complaining about any single dish on their menu, with their bestseller being their Mee Kari (Mee Curry), shrimp fritters, black pepper chicken with coleslaw, and their cold desserts.
Their creamy, coconut-y, and spicy Mee Curry comes with lots of ingredients. It has rice vermicelli and thin yellow noodles. There’s dried bean curd, squid, shredded chicken meat, eggs and mollusc, creating a hearty meal from the sea and earth.
As for the crunchy fritters, it’s made from fresh large shrimps and comes with a generous amount of cucumbers. Meanwhile, the pepper gives a bit of kick to the chicken and further whets your appetite, whereas the coleslaw offsets the chicken’s greasiness.
But it’s really the shop’s desserts for which diners are willing to line up for. Repeat clients highly recommend the coconut ice cream with sago and mango, as well as the lychee and strawberry flavoured variants.
V. Auntie Kopitiam
Situated in the bustling Wangsa Walk Mall, this is the place to be if you want to partake in cheap kopitiam food without leaving the confines of the shopping centre. More importantly, the eatery is close to the mall’s anchor tenants. These include a Tesco grocery store, the 32-lane Wangsa Bowl bowling centre, Celebrity Fitness gym and TGV Cinemas which shows high-definition (HD) films.
The place serves Western and Chinese dishes, but the majority are mostly Malaysian cuisine. The Western dishes comprise of spaghetti, French fries, French toast, chicken chop with black pepper sauce. Another is the Weekend Special, a breakfast platter consisting of sunny side up eggs, baked beans, and sausages.
Their Chinese cuisine includes Fishball Mee Soup, Chicken Porridge, Hainanese Chicken Chop, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Brown Sauce Chicken, half-boiled kampung eggs, Yong tau foo, and dried chicken Wanton Mee.
Aside from that, Auntie Kopitiam serves sandwiches and buns. These include Sandwich Telur, Roti Bakar, Sambal Sandwich, Pau Kacang Merah, Pau Kaya, Pau BBQ Ayam, Pau Kari Ayam, Steamed Roti, and Bun Bakar.
However, the establishment’s top treats are their Malaysian and regional dishes. Among them are Mee Kari, Nasi Kari Ayam, Roti Kari Ayam, Nasi Ayam Kicap, Nasi Ayam Kunyit, Nasi Ayam Goreng, Nasi Pandan Biasa, and Nasi Ayam Rendang.
We also suggest their Mee Udang, Asam Laksa, Nasi Petai Udang, Nasi Pandan Special, and Nasi Ikan Asam Pedas.
For more guide like this, visit PropSocial's discussion page.
(Written by G. Zizan, 7th July 2020)
