Founded by a friendly Malacca-born family from the Portuguese Settlement, Subang’s new Dot’s Cafe uniquely infuses classic Kristang flavours into contemporary crowd-pleasers.
Young chef Brandon Rodrigues, a Franciscan who formerly honed his craft at Singapore’s Odette and KL’s Nadodi, stamps tempting twists on specialities like escargots baked with papaya sambal butter and lasagna layered with devil’s curry sauce.
Smoked Duck Seybak is Brandon’s take on a Malaccan Eurasian festive favourite, a salad with zing, zip and zest, tossed with pickled berries and sweet-sour-spicy chilli sauce, addictively lip-smacking.
Also worthwhile is the Nasi Lemak with Chicken Keluak Curry, brimming with creamy black nuts that bring a delicious fermented depth.
Brandon pays tribute to his family’s recipes, refashioning them into Papa Aru’s Fish Curry (fettuccine with Grandpa’s lightly luscious fish curry, pickled onions, herbs and pan-seared seabass) and Lambong (a playfully presented beverage mixed with mango, mint and ginger beer, whose name is a nod to how neighbours formerly compared Grandma’s beauty to Dorothy Lamour’s).
Lined with photos of scenes from Malacca, Dot’s is a welcoming space where customers might linger long after lunch into teatime, enjoying pandan pleasures transformed into panna cotta and coolers.
Fun fact: Dot’s refers to the family’s grandmother - meet her this Friday, 13 September, when she visits the restaurant!
