KUALA LUMPUR: It isn’t every day that you find a serene and green hideaway transporting you from the chaos of the city.
Sharing a space with Rent-A-Pot, the somewhat hidden entrance to Foliage Coffee is reminiscent of a speakeasy bar. Just keep walking down the path and your view will eventually open up to a tiny waterfall and the gorgeous café to your right.
Speaking to FMT, café owner Theresa de Silva, who opened the café in March 2012 and runs it with her family, said: “We’ve been in the landscaping business for years and are not F&B people, so we’ve learned everything we know along the way.”
It was a symbiotic relationship between the café and the plant nursery, according to Theresa, as some customers like to have coffee while their family members browse at the nursery or vice versa. “The succulent plants are particularly popular among the kids.”
The gorgeous plants and blooms, not to mention the colourful eye-catching floral wall adorning the exterior of the café make for some Instagram-worthy shots.
“We change the floral wall décor every three months in line with the festive seasons to switch things up for our customers,” Theresa added.
The event space next to the café can be rented for parties and gatherings and can seat up to 100 people easily.
FMT took the chance to sample some of the café’s bestselling dishes during a recent visit.
One highlight of the menu is their Big Breakfast. The inviting spread consisting of all the usual suspects made for a rather fulfilling platter that’ll satisfy the harshest of brunch critics.
Another crowd pleaser is the Nasi Lemak with fried chicken – a traditional Malaysian breakfast that checked all the boxes in terms of taste. The sweet and spicy sambal was perfect with the santan-rich rice and the fried chicken made for a filling and delicious meal – no matter what time of the day you may have it.
A new addition to the menu is the tempura fish and chips. Made with premium tempura fish fillet, it is breaded and fried to perfection. “We are also in the midst of developing a chicken chop recipe for the café,” Theresa added.
If you’re vegetarian, give their pesto pasta a whirl. Infused with aromatic oil, this dish comes with generous helpings of pine nuts, olives and cherry tomatoes that add great punches of flavour and texture.
Got the kids with you? They’ll love the chicken burger and fries then. After all, what’s there not to love about juicy burger patties, tasty buns and addictive fries!
After your meal, why not indulge in their pandan gula Melaka cake? “It’s my sister’s recipe and she added the ‘dadar gulung’ for extra texture,” Theresa said. And what a brilliant addition it was as the grated coconut and palm sugar make for a sinfully delicious and rather unforgettable cake.
Also on the menu was a delightful selection of Christmas-themed cupcakes decorated with snowmen and laurel wreath-motifs – almost too pretty to eat actually.
Foliage Café is clearly one of those places where you can retreat from your hectic day for a bite or just to spend some quality time alone lost in your novel as you sip on coffee or tea.
And Theresa shared a little something for the incurable romantics among you. “There is this tree in our adjoining garden where we’ve had two proposals in the past, one of them being by the girlfriend,” Theresa chuckled.
Follow Foliage Coffee on Instagram.
Foliage Coffee
9-11, Jalan Desa Utama
Taman Desa
58100 Kuala Lumpur
Business Hours: 9.00am-6.00pm daily
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