Salt Bake, SS2 Petaling Jaya

Salt bread and bagels with a Borneo highland salt twist: SS2’s new Salt Bake serves its own spin on oven-fresh favourites.

Salt Bake harnesses Sarawak’s Bario natural mineral salt from the Kelabit Highlands, fire-dried in bamboo tubes for cleanly rounded, mellow salinity.

Salt bread with four cheeses - cheddar, mozzarella and Parmesan inside, Emmental melted on top - is gently crisp to the bite, tenderly full-bodied with a buttery chew.

Also savour the salt bread bagel with a lightly golden crackle. 

Other salt bread flavours span local inspirations like serunding and pandan Gula Melaka; the bagel selection includes gochujang garlic butter, seaweed and ube.

Market Coffee, Menara Sentral RAC

Market Coffee is Brickfields' fresh, friendly stop for brews and bakes, calm and comfy for a workday afternoon refuge from the office.

My Pantry Cafe, Bangsar

 

Tatih Coffee Company, Desa Alam

Tatih Coffee Company has launched a new espresso bar in Desa Alam, taking baby steps from roasting coffee to brewing espressos.

Tatih specialises in commercial blends at competitive, cost-conscious rates for cafes, starting at RM30 per 250 grams, with wholesale prices no higher than RM100 per kilogram.

For casual walk-ins, seasonal single-origins might be served for espressos, piccolo lattes and more, including the recent Ethiopia Suke Quto, blooming with red berry floral brightness.

Tatih's founders have been personally roasting for six years. Their current Thai-sourced Sun Roaster system promises precision to power 10-kilogram batches in 20-minute cycles.

Kyuyo Ramen, Bangsar

 

Missy Lab, Sungai Buloh

Missy Lab is Sungai Buloh's new spot for crowd-pleasing pastries and cakes, an off-the-beaten-track escape for cheesecake indulgence.

Nasi Lemak Ajak, Bandar Glenmarie

Kinfolk, PJ Sea Park

PJ pork pursuers, point your snouts to Sea Park's new Kinfolk for a swine-dining, crackling good time.

Go whole hog with smooth starters like porchetta di testa, a thin-sliced rosette of collagen-rich rolled cheek, tongue, ear and skin with a clean-tasting, supple-textured bite, perfect with house-pickled cornichons, and Perak-cultivated oysters layered with lardo and kitchen-spiced hot sauce.

Lunch features squeal-worthy twists on pasta and rice: Spaghettini is a real boar, tossed with nduja spreadable sausage and marinated cockles, while pad kra pao proves a pig deal, extra-crunchy with a sty's worth of crackling.

Kinfolk's Smoky Porky Cake is a destination dessert, gently savoury-sweet with cured pork, candied fruits and walnuts, served warm and softly indulgent with rum and cream.