Thursday, January 17, 2008

Kafe Bawang Merah, Subang

(Halal)

Having to go for an evening meeting at Sheraton Subang one day, Glorious Jade and I decided to go a bit earlier to beat the traffic jam. With an extra two hours to spare we decided to look for a place nearby for tea and headed to Kafe Bawang Merah (Red Onion Cafe) as we had heard of them serving up some tasty Indo/Malay cuisine.

Entering the place, it was already pretty filled up (saw a number of familiar faces; all with the same idea of having tea here before the meeting!) and it's quite a small setup. It's a dimly lit cosy albeit a busy place. Kafe Bawang Merah doesn't have any ala carte dishes but actually serves food ala canteen style. It's self-service, queue and point at the pre-cooked dishes on display.
Bawang Merah's Counter

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I forgot what Laksa this was that Glorious Jade ordered but I had a taste of the gravy and it was lovely. It came served with boiled egg and beef slices. The beef slices seemed a bit overcooked to me. Mmm....anyone knows what sort of Laksa this is??? Well, forget about proper food presentation here but it's the taste that matters here. Fuss free and tasty food at reasonable prices is what this place is all about and the crowd here is the testimony to that.
Soto Ayam
I had my Meehoon Mee Soto Ayam, a usual Malay favourite dish of mine. Beansprouts, little begedil (fried potato cutlets) and shredded chicken meat added delight to it. The soup was very flavourful and eaten with the wonderful dark sauce with minced chilli padi (bird's eye chilli), it was one tasty bowl of noodles I truly enjoyed tucking into.
Minced chilli and dark sauce
The dark sauce minced chilli mix that provided the "icing to the cake"!

Beef
I know this looks really oily but to be fair...this was actually the last bit left at the counter and since I love beef, I decided to take a chance and took the last order off them which was displayed in this plate itself (since there's so little left of it, it must be good, right?). I think this dish was Daging Masak Kunyit - beef that was cooked with onions and turmeric powder. Well, my verdict of this? It was really good stuff! The meat was tender and was marinated so well that the flavour was sealed in throughout each chunk of meat. Now, I only have to make sure that I drop by this place earlier if I don't want the pick up the last plate of meat that's soaking in oil!

Just when we thought we were done with our meal, something caught my eye. During tea time, Kafe Bawang Merah also serves an assortment of kuih. We wanted something savoury and ended up getting some of these...
Yam Cake
These Yam Cake were topped with generous bits of fried shallots, spring onions, cut chillies and minced dried prawns. They were so tasty, we actually ate them without adding any sauce at all.

Nowadays, I look forward to meetings held in Sheraton Subang as it gives me a chance to drop by Kafe Bawang Merah again for their no frills self-service food. However, when the crowd builds up, things can get a bit chaotic at the counter as the line gets "lost in transaction" and instead of "first come, first served", it becomes "whoever come, first served". However, one is well rewarded for their patience once you take a bite of their food :o).

Check out Epicurious Girl's love for this place HERE.


Kafe Bawang Merah
12A Jalan SS12/1B (opposite Sheraton Subang)
47500 Subang Jaya
Opens Daily (except Sundays) 9am-10pm
Tel : 03-5621 6100


Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead.
~Mac McCleary


34 comments:

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

wah..this lot for tea?? looks like early dinner already..

Anonymous said...

Yam cake looks delicious, it's been awhile since I have had them
:(

HairyBerry said...

the laksa looks like me jawa to me..hehe...do blog about the kuihs next time, ok? should be great, i think! :)

Jason said...

Laksa with beef? No idea what type of laksa that is.

Anonymous said...

you must -- you must bring me there when i am in town!! everything simply looked delicious! please remember this place, ok?

ling239 said...

Daging Masak Kunyit looks good... ^_^

Kok said...

wmw,
Itu daging rendang saya mahu! Yummm!!!

Sugar Bean said...

The beef laksa looks good. But too bad I don't take beef. Nice photos, the yam does look delicious!

ungu_violet said...

Hi there. I think that laksa other name is mee bandung @ mee kuah. People from kedah should be familiar with this mee. :P

wmw said...

joe : Hahaha...yah, it kinda ended up to be an early dinner.

Kopi Soh : My mom makes a mean yam cake, must get recipe from her! Maybe you can try making it???

nic : By the time I was there, there weren't much kuih left.

jason : I'm still searching for the answer.

Mrs Pitt : Sure thing. When is that? :o)

ling239 : Yes, it was delicious! Extremely yummy ;o)

kok : Waiting for you to come to KL leh...

wenching&esiong : The soto ayam is also good stuff, that you can take...

miza : Mmm...Yah, I think it was that though I've been given several names :o). Thanks a lot.

Anonymous said...

Looks like mee rebus to me.. ;) love mee soto .. but must have them with bee hoon.. coz' i donch like mee.. ;) love the yam cake.. missed that so much.. :(
Can i lick the screen.. ;) muahahahha!!

bigfish_chin said...

Hi,
The Laksa looks good eh~ But with boilded egg, sounds like Jawa Noodles leh!
Errrhhmmm... the Rendand... i love it too!

Anonymous said...

wmw,
You good magnate! How many days do I need to try the eateries you posted? Thinking of going back in June. But first, must ask my doctor for cholesterol medication to standby!

yammylicious said...

bawang merah, hahax! the laksa and soto ayam look darn good! slurp!!

Big Boys Oven said...

oh I wil be sitting there when you se me, walloping those dishes lol!

Christina Kim said...

Seems like there is a cafe by this name here in Penang too; but I am not sure, can't remember the name though:)

Timothy said...

Looks like I've been missing out a lot on the food crawls lately. Gotta get my lazy ass up and move again. Haha ... anyway, it's nice to be back and reading articles. I've been reading straight 2 hours now ... teary eyes .. haha... just to keep updated.

LianneK said...

I enjoy a good bowl of Malay laksa as much as the Penang ones, but this is absolutely puzzling ... Laksa with beef? First time coming across it.

Anonymous said...

wmw,
Oops, sorry, I meant food magnet.

wmw said...

mama bok : Will have to go there again to get the real answer. Hahaha...I wanted mee hoon only but not enough, so had to mixed. Yah, I love yam cake too.

bigfish_chin : I'm still scratching my head on that...:o)

wonda : Stay in KL as long as you want, am sure can find you something new to eat everyday! :o) Wah, A food magnet??? Hahaha...

yammylicious : Yah, but presentation wise, messy...but still tasty!

bbo : Oh, have you tried this place before?

christy : Mmm...you should find out if there is a link between the one over here and in Penang.

timothy : Hello there, you've been "away" for awhile. Don't overdo it, gives your eyes a break :o)

jackson : Guess not lo, became early dinner, hehehe....I wasn't counting! MMmm...suddenly reminded me of my mom's yam cake.

imbi&itchy: Well, it's pretty good. The laksa answer is out there somewhere :o). But I think it's mee rebus.

Cynthia said...

I'm so jealous at the array of food you all can get at these places. So jealous.

Rasa Malaysia said...

The soto looks very good but I am mostly intrigued by the dipping sauce...no sure that they put into them...hehe.

Hazza said...

That Laksa did not look like a typical KL/PJ one.. no puffed baencurd and blood clams? The beef looks like a touch of luxury. was it costly? The yam cake was indeed generously topped! Just like my grandmother's yam cakes but she passed away 17 years ago. The kind I buy at market stalls just cannot compare!

Precious Pea said...

When I saw the title of this post, somehow it reminds me of an old Malay story i used to love called 'Bawang Merah, Bawang Putih'. Heard of it before?

Anonymous said...

yes, in aug after thailand .kafe bawang merah for sure. will call you soon cause to arrange :)

backStreetGluttons said...

better be careful there , your hate-affair with pure white fish has knowingly (?) lured you into the grippling evil den of the red black bulls !

Anonymous said...

Lau nuah!! I want, I want. Better not add any more to the list as I don't know when I will be visiting you. :(

ilene said...

How come each time I go there, no more kuehs left and my mum doesn't believe me! Aiyah.....

BTW, by "each time", I mean the times she's in SJMC like right now...again! Looks like a 'pilgrimage' trip we're making! hahahaha!

wmw said...

Cynthia : We both are such jealous souls...when it concerns food! Hahaha...

RM : The "blended" chilli padi with dark sauce is really good stuff!

hazza: I can't really recall the prices but the prices here are reasonable, it was maybe RM4?

Precious P : Yes, I remember the movie...those black & white Malay movies were such gems!

Mrs Pitt : I'll be waiting :o)

team bsg : You make it sound so dangerous! Hehehe...

judy : Yah lo, I'm still hoping you have a change of plans later...

ilene : Hey there! Long time no hear!...She's in SJMC again? How? Need help???? Help like buying you kuih??? :o) take care...

ilene said...

Thanks WMW. At the present moment, no request for donors as yet. This time she's in for another problem - cellulitis. She's scheduled for surgery tomorrow. Nothing serius (I hope)! Thanks for offering to buy the kuehs. Perhaps another day since she won't be able to consume them at this juncture. Thanks for your offer and concern.

wmw said...

ilene : Will call on you soon!

Anonymous said...

whoah, didn't know that my mum's was this famous, anyway, the laksa ure talking about is actually mee rebus.

SueZ said...

Im heading to this cafe.hopefully can fill my need in food..ill blog my comment abt this restaurant after i taste d food.

Anonymous said...

The first laksa is mee rebus.