Awesome Canteen @ Taman Paramount, Petaling Jaya

Naming a restaurant 'Awesome Canteen' is a risky gambit, but this Paramount Garden newbie possesses the potential to live up to that self-praise.

Thanks to Joachim for pointing us to this place, which opened this month on a street dominated by auto workshops, further up the row anchored by Loong Foong, the Chinese restaurant famed for roast duck.

Awesome Canteen is a thoughtfully outfitted outlet, with salvaged-wood tables & 20th-century relics like rotary phones & typewriters providing a nod to the past in a cafe that clearly caters to contemporary tastes. 

Come during dinnertime, when surprisingly delicious burgers are offered, ranking among the Klang Valley's Top 10. Spicy creations include a Tex-Mex medley of tabasco-grilled beef patty, melted pepper jack cheese, tomato-&-guacamole salsa & grilled chilies.

Equally excellent, if not more: A chicken burger with house-made sambal & anchovies. The fillings taste fabulously fresh, with a brilliant balance of flavors, complemented by fluffy-light poppy-seed buns; most of the burgers hover around the RM20 mark.

Gotta love burgers when they're lusciously loaded; Awesome Canteen also serves bun-free "Paleo Burgers" for those on the primal caveman diet.

Here's the Thai-influenced veggie relish that's the topping for Awesome Canteen's Tom Yam burger, featuring crisp, vividly refreshing flavors that prove the hallmark of this cafe's recipes.

Even the herb-tinged fries are well worthwhile, thanks to the diligent efforts of a nine-person team that includes Diane Ong & her friends at a Malaysian graphic design firm who've decided to pursue their dream of running an F&B establishment, hiring a talented young chef in the process.

For lunch, customers can dig into comfort food comprising not only pastas but also this Japanese curry chicken rice ...

... served steaming-hot, satisfyingly hearty with meat, cheese, potatoes, carrots & onions.

Sandwiches are also available; treats include the walnut bread stuffed with roast beef, mustard, capsicum, rocket & more (RM21.90 before taxes).

All in all, Awesome Canteen's a blast of fresh air in this neighborhood. Expect to hear & read much more about it in the months ahead.