Is it an office? Is it a cafe? Is it a kopitiam? Or is it an alien spacecraft? Section 17’s new Ah Wong Office defies definition, striking chords of curiosity with its creatively sly sensibilities.
Despite its desk-job decor, this place is all about play, not work, embracing a cordial spirit instead of a cold, corporate heart. File under fun.
Ah Wong Office’s founders include a Taiping-born lad whose grandparents started a kopitiam stall in 1950; his father continued in that trade in the 1980s, even inventing a barley-coffee concoction that Ah Wong Office now offers, named Holiao.
Ah Wong Office pours plenty of effort into its offerings.
The Ahssam Laksa is submerged in six-hour-simmered, savoury-tangy mackerel broth, moreish to the final slurp, naturally spiced and paired with prawn paste that’s thick and pure, not watered down whatsoever.
Curry is meticulously kitchen-crafted for the soulful KariXY Harmai Chee Cheong Fun, drizzled with dried shrimp, while kaya is homemade by Mama Ng, thickly buttery in the Hainan Toast, featuring the work of a breadmaster with five decades of experience. Nasi lemak currently comes from a trusted kakak in Setapak.
The coffee is traditionally roasted in northern Malaysia by a generations-old local business that tailors the coffee to Ah Wong’s specifications, mixed in modern style for the Taiping Star, nutty with Nescafe and barley, and the Kopi Peanut Butter Jam, naughty and nice.
