There are more than two dozen viable ways to start a story about VCR. Here's one of them.
It's 2009 when the U.S. financial crisis forces a Malaysian information technology worker who's spent the best part of his twenties in Honolulu & San Francisco back to his homeland. He's not happy about it; a chunk of his next three years is consumed by labor in which social isolation is the soul-deadening rule. It's not the life he wants.
It's February 2012 when the glimpse of a different future crystallizes, born of the same thought that's struck thousands of other people seeking a fresh beginning: Open a cafe. In his case, the circumstances prove encouraging: He has a buddy who'll take that leap of faith with him, plus a family willing to bestow both financial & moral support.
It's in Japan, at a conference of coffee lovers, that he secures both inspiration & information by speaking with people who've trodden this path a lifetime ago. It's back in KL, in
Artisan Roast Coffee, that he learns what it's like to spend weeks, then months, making coffee that meets his own expectations & being part of a place where people want to be.
It's late at night when he's in a car heading home from a wedding. He's not 100 percent sober, which might explain that wrong turn into a dead-end street of decades-old houses near Pudu. Others will describe it as destiny. Why else would he return the next day, haunted by the vision of something that's not there, the possibility of something like a coffee ashram.
And finally, it's here on that street, at VCR Cafe, that this man will be on Oct. 10, not alone but with a team of passionate collaborators who'll officially open their long-gestating coffee-&-cakes outlet; they include the barrister-turned-barista who's a co-founder of the Cafe Hop KL community (
https://www.facebook.com/CafeHopKl ... follow them).
For the rest of the story, visit VCR 11am-8pm daily from Thursday (business hours will evolve), take a table by the street-level counter (the space upstairs is currently reserved for private events & Eyes-Wide-Shut-style orgies), talk to the people here & enjoy their coffee (might be Artisan & Coffex blends, with the occasional manifestation of names like Smitten & Nylon).
Call it 1001 Arabica Nights: There'll be other coffee tales to hear & tell this year, like the fable of Feeka, the cafe that's seemingly under perpetual renovation in the Mesui realm near Changkat BB, certain nonetheless to someday captivate acolytes of venues like
PJ's Butter + Beans ...
... & the enigma of what lurks within Quartet, soon to stir (we hope) in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.
VCR Cafe,
2, Jalan Galloway, Off Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur. Behind Swiss Garden.
The Oct.-Dec. inaugural edition of Eat Drink KL: 100 Favorites is now available in an eBook for free, convenient reading on computers, tablets & smartphones. It comprises reviews & information for 100 pretty nice eateries that span various locations, cuisines & budgets.
This link expires Dec. 31, 2013; see blog entries after that date for new link.
