Bangsar's Hidden Cafes, Part II: This month, Bangsar welcomes not one, not two, but three new cafes hidden in unlikely locations, each extremely different from the others. This one, Monkey Garage, is fuelled by both the passion & the playfulness of its co-founder Farah Janis & her two partners, all of them born in the Year of the Monkey.
Thousands of motorists drive past Maarof's Regal Valet auto specialist centre everyday, but few might peer deep within & realise that something surprising has stirred here.
Monkey Garage, yet another very friendly cafe, is partly inspired by Farah's travels _ specifically her visit to a cafe behind a train station in Zurich that served Swiss fare in a setting that seemed like a sanctuary for locals.
The cafe serves daily specials _ come on Tuesdays, when a lip-smacking Laksa Johor is available, the straight-from-the-south recipe with spaghetti & creamy fish-&-coconut gravy (RM13.90). On Wednesdays, there's nasi tomato & ayam masak merah, while Fridays are currently reserved for nasi lemak & rendang.
Sandwiches are offered too, everything from butter gipfel stuffed with scrambled eggs (RM7) to pumpkin wholegrain ciabatta with hot beef salami & baguette with chicken & cheese. Note that not everything is always available; Monkey Garage is not operating at full capacity so far.
And of course, desserts. The speciality seems to be the Congo Bar (RM5), basically a nutty blondie with chocolate chips ...
... though the milk chocolate cake with marshmallows, banana cakes & other confections might also tempt the sweet tooth.
Italian coffee, definitely drinkable. Lattes cost RM8 here, edging slightly toward the lower side of Bangsar's prices.
All in all, we spent a very pleasant couple of hours here. It's a nice place, certainly worth a visit for folks in this neighbourhood.
Monkey Garage Cafe
Regal Valet, Jalan Maarof, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur
Weekdays, 930am-7pm; weekends, 930am-5pm
Tel: 03-2282-1282
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As a separate initiative, the latest edition of Eat Drink KL: 100 Favorites for January-March 2014 is now online, featuring 100 pretty nice eateries, including more than 20 new entries for this quarter. This eBook of restaurant recommendations is available for free, convenient reading on computers, tablets & smartphones at this link: http://eatdrinkkl.publ.com/Eat-Drink-KL-100-Favorites-Jan-March-2014 (This link expires March 31, 2014; see blog entries after that date for new link).