LOKL: artisan coffee nook in the heart of kl

serendipity... is deciding to stop making the excuse of being too busy to venture out with colleagues for lunch and try out a new ramen place... and along the way back, stumbling across a gem of a find: LOKL, a cosy little nook tucked away behind a small glass shop front that stand in stark contrast to the rusty, grimy shoplots that line jalan tun h. s. lee.

we'd noticed the eye-catching hipster / minimalist logo a few days back, but the cafe's interior was hidden behind frosted glass and a big wooden door so we assumed it hadn't opened for business yet. now, our bellies stuffed with ramen, we decided to peer into LOKL again to see if it had opened for business yet.

to our delight, it was indeed open, and coincidentally, being patronised with a few acquaintances who happen to be coffee connoisseurs as well. i realised then it wasn't a mistake stepping into LOKL.

deciding to give the coffee a try and come back for lunch another day, i stepped up to the counter to place my order with an extremely petite barista who seemed vaguely familiar but i couldn't place her until i noticed her nametag that read, hi, i'm cheryl.

curiousity piqued, i couldn't help but ask, you wouldn't happen to be cheryl samad, would you? i noticed your nametag... and trailed off, suddenly realising i sound like a bit of a fangirl. she laughed and said yes, i am, explaining that she owned the place with her husband, ping.

i wanted to order a mocha but there was none on the menu, so they gladly accommodated my request to combine a shot of espresso with hot chocolate. i won't go into detail, but good coffee is good coffee. and LOKL serves good coffee.

the very next day, we were back to try their food. we arrived to an almost full house; thankfully, there were just enough chairs left for our party of four. three of us ordered the lunch set, with a choice between the pulled beef burger and hainanese-style meatloaf as a main.

i opted for the pulled beef burger, while the rest, the meatloaf. our sets came with a deliciously creamy mushroom soup with thick, chunky slices of fresh mushrooms and a hint of cheesy goodness.

the pulled beef burger did not disappoint either. served with a tangy, almost-as-fresh-as-straight-from-the-garden peanut slaw, the portion was generous and beefy, with an oriental, slightly spicy taste to it.

we finished off our meal with dessert - they had only one last creme brulee left, so the rest of us opted for panna cotta to round off our set.

the panna cotta was smooth, silky, decadent, and satisfying - a sweet end to a good meal.

i returned to work, tummy-happy, and reinspired for another round of drafting copy and designs. it is quite amazing what wonders a good meal can work. it's such a pity that we'll be moving office next week so we won't be around to enjoy good coffee + food within walking distance for much longer!

LOKL coffee co.
30, jalan tun h. s. lee
kuala lumpur
tel: 03-2022-0788
open: weekdays during office hours only

Relish11.8 - Beans

What flavor did you most relish this year? Perhaps it was a whole meal, but what can you say about the flavors of the last eleven months, what do you want to remember?

Beans

Image from TasteFood

I spent a lot of time eating alone in the UK. And so if there's one taste I'd want to keep in my memory, it'd be the better taste of food when it's shared with good company.

Other than that, new flavours I've discovered this year would be pulses and beans - which should be a staple of every cheapo student's diet. Healthy, fiber-filled, and powdery, beans are a way better alternative to potatoes. From hummus to bean stews, soups and casseroles to dhal curries, beans are an amazingly tasty, healthy, and cheap way to fill up.

Relish11.2 - Comfort soup

Our lives can be as much about consuming as they are about creating, it seems. But what is most interesting in hindsight is what we have given life to as we went through the course of our days. It doesn’t have to be literal art, like a painting or a poem (though those are beautiful and essential too). Consider what was a creation of your own mind this year. What art did you make?

Comfort Pumpkin Carrot Soup

In my last year in university in England, I had a lot of free time on my hands. I had a beautiful kitchen. And I was very cold 90% of the time. These ingredients combined together make for plenty of comfort food being cooked up, wonderful smells, steaming hot dishes, and a few extra kilograms. When I returned to Malaysia, this kind of comforting, nourishing, home-cooked food was one of the first things I missed. So I cooked up my very own pumpkin soup recipe to satisfy these cravings.

This is the kind of soup you want to drink on a rainy day, whether it's raining outside or raining in your soul. Maybe it's the nourishing, wholesome taste. Maybe it's the bright splash of sunny colour that audaciously screams "I dare you to stay miserable looking at me!" Who knows? All I know is this soup is comforting and delicious, and will probably make you go back for seconds.

Vegetarian Wednesdays: Comfort Pumpkin Carrot Soup

Awhile back, I wrote about how I need to be more thoughtful about what I eat. That means not just eating healthier for me, but for the earth we live on - and for all sentient beings involved in the food production process (human or animal).

I still don't have the answers, but I know cutting back on meat and eating more veggies and more home-cooked food is good for my body, good for my wallet, and helps sustain local farmers (did you know we import about 155,000 tonnes of beef into Malaysia a year? And that figure is only for beef!).

I am also trying to be more structured in my blogging and so I am limiting what I blog about to certain themes for certain days of the week. I started with Cat Diaries on Mondays, and from now on, every Wednesday I will post a vegetarian recipe that I've tried. This is my attempt to not just talk about exploring ways to eat better, but to put it into practice as well.

So here you go, today's Vegetarian Wednesday recipe:

Comfort Pumpkin Carrot Soup

This is the kind of soup you want to drink on a rainy day, whether it's raining outside or raining in your soul. Maybe it's the nourishing, wholesome taste. Maybe it's the bright splash of sunny colour that audaciously screams "I dare you to stay miserable looking at me!" Who knows? All I know is this soup is comforting and delicious, and will probably make you go back for seconds.

Ingredients:

• Half a medium-sized pumpkin (When it comes to home-cooking, I love my estimates, so don't expect to find any specifics here!)
• 4-5 large carrots
• 3-4 shallots
• 5 pips of garlic
• 2 cubes of chicken stock dissolved in 1 cup of hot water OR
• 1 cup of chicken stock OR
• to be properly vegetarian, either of the above replaced with vegetable stock
• Additional water (to adjust to desired consistency)
• Splash of olive oil
• Optional: Sprinkle of pepper, allspice, paprika, curry powder, and / or several bay leaves to taste

Instructions:

1. Cut pumpkin into cubes and boil OR roast (You can roast the pumpkin for a fuller, smoky flavour before peeling the skin off) until soft and tender.
2. Boil carrots until soft.
3. While carrots and pumpkin cook, chop shallots and garlic finely. 
4. Place cooked carrots and pumpkin (with skin removed) into a blender or food processor (this will probably take several rounds) and blend until fine. Add a little water while blending to make the purée smoother if needed. 
5. Splash some olive oil into a huge pot, and lightly fry the minced shallots and garlic quickly. 
6. Place puréed pumpkin and carrot into pot, add stock, and add more water if needed. 
7. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly so that the bottom does not burn. When the soup starts to bubble and thicken, add more water to achieve your desired consistency.
8. Continue stirring for 10 minutes as the soup bubbles. 
9. Blend the soup one final time after cooking for a smoother, creamier texture.
10. Serve with toast bread and a dollop of coconut milk, if desired. 

Serves: 6-8 hungry people

Ambling slowly in a world that frantically runs: My year-long flirtation with sourdough

"Sourdough bread, made properly, ambles slowly in a world that frantically runs. It might even ask for a tall glass of sweet tea and a rocking chair on the porch." 

With a description like this, how could I resist trying my hand at this ancient art? And so I did.

A year ago, I tried multiple times to get a starter going from scratch, with each attempt turning out to be the equivalent of a science experiment gone really bad.

All of the information I could find on making starters were catered to those in temperate climates, with the recommended temperature for cultivating the finicky mixture of natural yeasts and lacto-bacteria being around 23°C - a temperature only possible in Malaysia with air-conditioning. Which I don't have.

Which ended up with hyperactive mixtures of fermenting goo that bubbled up too quickly and turned rancid even quicker.

This week, I was suddenly struck with the mad fancy to try again what I had failed miserably in. I stumbled across a forum post by a sourdough baker who said that in the heat of summer, he keeps his starter cool by placing the jar in a bowl of water. Of course I had to try that!

Fast forward a few days, and I now have a very happy, healthy, bubbly, and non-puke-smelling starter. I almost feel like a proud mommy.

But of course, the real test of a good starter - Will it rise bread without the use of commercial yeast? I put my starter to the test.

And, as you might have guessed from the picture above, I succeeded! While it didn't rise as much as I had hoped it would, it definitely rose and had the most marvelous, complex, rich taste.

Look at the delightfully irregular air bubbles created by the sourdough starter! You'll never find this kind of rustic authenticity with commercial yeast.

I can just imagine how perfect it'll taste with some homemade pumpkin soup - love! 

It's ridiculously easy to make me happy. Give me simple domestic pleasures - food, pets, company... coupled with a touch of nature - a purple sunset, a walk in the park, a light breeze - and I'm in my idea of heaven. 

Eat your heart out: My journey towards more thoughtful eating

About two years ago, while interning at local lifestyle magazine I.M., I was asked to write an article for an environmental column on a topic of my choice. I did some research and discovered, with quite a bit of surprise, that the biggest industry contributing to carbon emissions (the standard for measuring environmental impact) is not industrial manufacturing, power generation, air travel, or any of those that might commonly come to mind. It is actually meat production.

That discovery sparked a journey which, two years on, has completely changed my mindset and attitudes towards the food we eat. Not just in terms of meat and dairy, but in terms of the industrialized, commercial, and often deceptive nature of the production of most of the food we consume today.

With the light that has been shed on (the often disturbing truths about) where my food comes from, I’ve since struggled with how to eat more mindfully and ethically.

I have been considering for some time and experimenting with eating less meat – but living in a society that loves its food, and especially meat – and being an ardent foodie surrounded by more ardent foodies, this attempt has flopped many times.

Then, three weeks ago, I adopted a stray kitten and it challenged me with many things, including not just my patience but also my motives and choices.

This has made me look again at adopting a more thoughtful diet. I don’t expect to make big changes or have answers overnight, but I do know that with the knowledge I have, my conscience will not let me rest unless I start making some changes and searching for some answers.

I will be documenting my journey towards eating more carefully – not just for the protection of the environment and its resources (animal and otherwise) that we waste and abuse, but also for the protection of my own health, well-being, and conscience. I hope you’ll join me in this journey and chip in your own thoughts as well on any of the issues it raises!

La vie est trop courte pour manger la mauvaise nourriture (Life is too short to eat bad food)

I have found the most effective diet plan and antidote to overindulging ever. It's called the Will-Skip-Meals-for-Books diet.

Okay, okay that's a bit extreme. But books are sometimes as delicious as food. Speaking of which, in the last two weeks, I've managed to lose 2 kg (let's hope it stays off!), fit back into a pair of cute pre-UK shorts that I couldn't fit into when I first got back (a couple more weeks to go and I'm sure I'll happily fit into all the rest of my shorts, pants, and pencil skirts!), while feeling less hungry and totally not deprived.

I'm not a nutritionist but an ardent gourmand so some might probably criticize my strategy, but I am quite happy (and so is my wallet) eating a tiny (but good) lunch and breakfast, and then indulging until I'm full on whatever for dinner.

For breakfast, I'll usually have a coffee / tea without sugar and something low-carb (which today meant leftover meatballs from a massive cookout the night before).

Lunch is usually a small salad with no salt but lots of vinegar and olive oil to excite my tastebuds and an indulgence - an absolutely gorgeous pastry (my favourite is the vanilla chocolate twist) from artisan bakery Sun Moulin.

Dinner is pretty much whatever I like, which, over the past week has been pizza, Swedish meatballs, aglio olio, quiche lorraine, and the regular glorious stuff of heart attacks - and as much of it as I like. If the occasion calls for a heavy lunch, like free-flow banana leaf rice at Paandi's with the family over the weekend, then I swap my lunch and dinner, and nibble on something light at night.

That doesn't sound restrictive at all, does it?!? But before you criticize my questionable approach to 'dieting', there are several scientifically-proven diets that may support this way of eating, like Slow Food, which promotes mindful, unrushed, fully-savoured eating of wholesome, nutritious food, and the Paleo diet, which claims we should eat like our caveman ancestors - ie eating until full or skipping meals when not hungry, which is supposedly a more natural way to eat and keeps metabolism levels spiked as well.

There is also the very sensual 'French Women Don't Get Fat' approach, which looks at food and weight not through the lenses of guilt or deprivation but learning to get the most from the things you most enjoy. And of course, every famous Hollywood diet, whether it's the Dukan Diet, South Beach Diet, Zone diet, or whatever (all of which are too un-sexy and restrictive for me though) - all advocate high intakes of protein and vegetables, and minimal intake of grain and processed carbs.

Plus, delayed gratification makes everything better. A friend calls this, in the context of food, "hungry sauce" - describing how hunger or cravings are like a magic gravy that makes food so much tastier.

Of course, use your common sense. Don't starve yourself or binge eat. Your body knows what it needs, so listen to it. This is what works for me. I find I am less tired and sleepy at work eating a light lunch, and I feel more energetic when my stomach is quite empty during the day. For me, dinner is the best meal of the day because it's the only one I don't have to keep time of, and yes, for me pastry is an absolutely necessary indulgence and motivator. So find what works for you.

Now, go feast! Bon Appétit!

Or temporarily feast your eyes on these wholesome, delicious food blogs:

www.sproutedkitchen.com

www.handletheheat.com

www.davidlebovitz.com

www.whatemilyate.com

www.atablefortwo.com.au

www.foodbeam.com

www.deliciousdays.com

Comfort food

Pizza with salami, mushrooms, peppers, semi-home made sauce, and homemade / hand rolled dough!

Roast pork with mustard cream sauce.

Hand -rolled pizza and pasta with one of the most addictive tomato-based sauces I've ever had.

This is what happens when I get inspired to cook. Lately I've been quite obsessed with Italian food. There's something very comforting about it.

Plan b. @ Bangsar Village I

The following is not a sponsored review.

I am a breakfast / brunch person. There's something about a warm, hearty meal and a fresh cup of coffee that makes it worth rolling out of bed in the morning for. Hence, I never turn down an invitation for breakfast, especially when it's a place I've never tried before.

Was introduced to Plan b. in the old Bangsar Village shopping complex by (again, unsurprisingly) fellow foodie and coffee lover @leviasher (who somehow knows where all the good hang out spots are). Barely open for a year, the place has already gathered much buzz among locals and on food blogs.

The rustic, eclectic interior design and interesting lighting pieces lend a very artsy, alternative vibe to the café unlike other cafés I've come across in KL. (With places like The Bee and Plan b., I don't know why I'll ever have a reason to visit Starbucks, Coffee Bean, or the like ever again!)

And their coffee? Definitely coffee worth waking up for. I'm an iced long black person, because I like my coffee like I like my life - strong, intense and simple, and because I can't imagine drinking a hot drink in this sweltering heat. My breakfast partner, however, is a hot coffee person, which worked out well because an iced long black doesn't make a very interesting photography subject. :P

Breakfast for me was a hugeeee turkey ham and rocket omelette with toast and for him, eggs benedict.

My omelette was soft, fluffy, and wayy filling - so much so that it lasted me all the way through dinner without so much as the slightest tummy growl.

Forgot to take down prices (because I'm that good a food blogger :P) but it's more or less the same price range as most coffeehouses around - RM15-20 for brunch and RM6-8 for coffee.

In a nutshell, yet another inspiring place to chill out and enjoy good coffee. Starbucks, it has been a long relationship and I've stayed faithful to you all these years, but I'm sorry, it's time for me to move on.

Opening hours: 8AM - 12 midnight daily

Check out Plan b. on Facebook!

Brunch @ The Bee, Jaya One

The following is not a sponsored review.

One of the very first things that was in order after returning from the UK was of course, catch-up sessions with friends and good food. This of course, called for a venue providing not just tasty grub but also the perfect ambience for chilling out over lengthy conversations.

Thanks to @leviasher, I found just the place for such occasions - The Bee @ Jaya One, PJ.

Over a Caffe Mocha (RM8) and a Huevos Rancheros Wrap (RM17, including coffee / tea), I spent at least four hours catching up with childhood friends (two of whom I've literally known all my life and who were back from various places for the summer), talking everything from politics (according to a Swedish friend / kindred spirit, all Malaysians talk about is politics) to of course, laments of relationships and singlehood.

After 8 months in a predominantly tea-drinking nation (I'm sorry, but heavily sugared and artificially flavoured Starbucks is not coffee, my dear friends), it was so good to taste a proper cuppa, especially for a coffee aficionado like yours truly.

The Mexican-style wrap was filled with beef bacon, Mexican Rancheros beans, house-cured jalapeño chillies, fried egg, and melted cheese with parmesan, and served with sage potato hash on the side. The portion was just nice for me - not too much or too little, and the wrap was loaded with flavour but not too greasy.

We also indulged in a house special, Churros with Dolce le Leche (RM9), Spanish donut-like pastry served with extra thick caramel. The churros were slightly more crispy than previous ones I had tried elsewhere, and I would have preferred them slightly softer, but they went well with the caramel.

Service is fast and friendly, and the interior deco is artsy and creative - perfect for whiling away a lazy day with a bunch of good friends or even for catching up on work; nothing motivates quite like an inspiring working environment! And if this catch-up was anything to go by, then it will probably be the first of many more such sessions. So, I'll see you at The Bee soon!

Check out The Bee's website, like them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.