Old China Cafe | Petaling Street

I was introduced by a friend to visit this place. It is located near Chinatown which is just opposite row of ATC college. I spotted this place very long ago but did not have the chance to try it out. It has been a decade ago my friend visited this place. It is a cafe that served Southern Asian cuisine together with an antique gallery above the cafe.

From the outside, you can see it was decorated like those olden days house which you could still find it in Penang. The interior was not exception too, filled with old photos as well as antique furniture. It gave me a feeling like if I have gone back to my grandmother's time. It is kinda creepy too as I thinking back those ghost movies scene I watched, it is exactly decorated like this. :)

I found that fresh flowers were placed on all tables in the cafe. This is really special, most of the time we could only see fake flowers or plants on the table. It gave me more freshly and lively feel with the fresh flowers while having my meals. Really cheer up my day. Looking at the dishes in the menu, I feel like I am at my hometown. All Baba Nyonya dishes!

Here, they served food that originates from Baba Nyoya communities of Malacca and Penang  which features Malay spices as well as Chinese ingredients and cooking techniques. From the menu, you can order either set meal like Nasi Lemak, Fried Rice, Noodles and others (Not much choices) or ala carte like what I have ordered.

Chinese Mixed Vegetables-RM 9.20

The vegetables included cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, green and red bell peppers stir fried with prawn and ginger in oyster sauce. I thought it was like those normal stir fried vegetables, wasn't have much expectation on it compare to other dishes. But it came out to surprise us, the taste was really nice with the gravy.

Crispy Fried Calamari-RM16.80

As stated in the menu, crispy fried calamari but it was not crispy at all neither soggy. The batter for the fried calamari was quite special with mixture of spices. Although it is not crispy but you can't stop eating it, a piece follow with another piece into the mouth.

Babi (Pork) Masak Asam-RM 14.80

The pork is cooked in spicy tamarind gravy. It is taste a bit spicy with sweet and sour taste, more like those thick laksa gravy. Very nice except it was served cold and we have to request them to heat it up again. I think they have pre-prepare it before hand and just heat it up to serve. But it still taste very nice.

Here is the maps to Old China Cafe:

 

If you have time after the meal, you could even walk up to the second floor using the dark staircase to visit the gallery.

Old China Cafe

11, Jalan Balai Polis, 

50000 Kuala Lumpur

Tel no.: 03-20725915

Business time: 11am-11pm

http://www.oldchina.com.my