General Store, Kuchai Lama

 

Coffee, art and culture: General Store is a distinctive new cafe, part caffeine bar and bakery, part retail gallery for emerging Asian artists, part cultural playground for everything from skating pop-ups to tattoo art showcases.

Basking in natural light with wide views of the Kuchai neighbourhood, General Store is a welcomingly calm community retreat, spacious and lounge-like with comfortable sofas, hanging art prints and posters, plus shelves of colourful collectibles and vinyl records.

Pair the pistachio affogato with vibrant sips of lychee osmanthus and pomegranate cider coolers; a micro-bakery will launch soon, serving treats like Parmesan sourdough slices.

Find General Store 9am-6pm everyday at Kuchai Lama’s Dataran Loka.

Petite Lab Patisserie, Petaling Jaya

Luscious, layered desserts in a lovely, languid den: PJ’s new Petite Lab Patisserie is big on buoyant flavours with beautiful textures.

These creative concoctions, thoughtfully tuned with floral and herbaceous tapestries, span Spring (matcha joconde lined with passionfruit grapefruit compote, chantilly and mini choux, sandwiched in butter biscuits), Summer (mascarpone mousse with citrus cremeux and honey cake) and Peach Oolong (egg pudding with peach compote and oolong cream and crumbs). Impeccably imaginative, immaculately indulgent.

A Long Table, REXKL UP

Officially opening soon, A Long Table is well worth a long afternoon, offering a contemplative escape, partly influenced by Japanese teahouse traditions.

A side project of The Objects Store in REXKL UP, this evolving space balances practicality with poetry, reflecting inspirations from its founders' travels, embodying shibumi, a state of understated beauty. 

Its friendly team patiently brews a seasonal selection of green tea, most recently sourced from Kyoto's YUGEN, spanning single-origin sencha to gyokuro. Coffee is also available.

Sit by the gorgeously grained communal table, sip slowly, and watch shards of sunlight shift past the vases and lamps inside or the rains fall outdoors.

Sencha might be served in two thoughtful pours: The first at room temperature, delivering a deep umami intensity; the second steamy with a grassy, vegetal uplift. Pairings to enhance the experience could include slow-baked pear, delicately sliced.

A Long Table is now a work in progress, with more chairs and window shades to come, setting the stage perhaps for breakfast clubs and sunset socials.

The Fishermen's Club, Mont Kiara

The Fishermen’s Club is Mont Kiara’s new tank-to-table restaurant that features fresh seafood at fair prices.

Select from fish, cockles, clams, crabs and more, cooked in crowd-pleasing Chinese styles, with egg white and rice wine, steamed vermicelli and garlic, creamy butter with salted egg, and much more.

Rice and noodles are a bargain for this neighbourhood, with ebiko fried rice and crispy noodles with seafood for RM12 each.

Everything proves capably prepared; service is helpful and efficient - this place is a catch.

Eternyl Vinyl Cafe, Sea Park

Headphones and hojicha: Eternyl Vinyl Cafe is an immersive vinyl listening cafe that looks to launch 25 July in Sea Park, harmonising lattes with lush melodies. Turntables on each table encourage a tactile experience, amid amber-lit atmospherics where the crackle of musical memory meets cinematic melancholy, wrapped on walls of sound where Jeff Buckley endures eternal.

Peu Peu, The Très Hotel

Peu Peu is the new kitchen of The Très Hotel, featuring flavourful fare: Go green with linguine in lip-smacking, house-blended basil pesto, playful with crisp tempura-battered leeks, paired with a tropically perky pineapple juice matcha cooler.