Proclamations of "authenticity” often irk me when it comes to food, when we have centuries upon centuries of different culinary influences parrying with one another, marrying and producing such exciting new cuisines.
Which is what you get, perhaps, with this loaded bowl of steamed white rice — topped with smoked duck and runny egg yolk, shrimp and crab stick, a drizzle of torched mentaiko (salted pollock roe) sauce and topped with bonito flakes.
What a bowl! What an explosion of flavours in every mouthful! This is the Okonomiyaki Seafood Don, one of the signature donburi bowls at Three Guys Café, an eatery located at KEDAI @ MAHSA Avenue in KL.
The 44-year-old former banker is joined by his two partners — property agent Lawrence Yap, 38, and marketer Hanson Kua, 36.
Despite not having any professional experience in the F&B (food and beverage) industry, Cheah shares that they "wanted to start a café that serves good comfort food that all customers, regardless of age and religion, would come back to every day without feeling bored.”
As a result, Japanese influenced donburi bowls feature greatly, albeit often with a fusion approach. The biggest seller is their Avocado Tamagoyaki Mentaiko Don, affectionately known as the ATM Don.
Yap explains, "Edmund is a tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelette) fan, so he decided to add what he likes to eat to our menu. Our ATM Don comes with sliced fresh avocado and tamagoyaki topped with our own torched mentaiko sauce recipe. The combination of cold and well-seasoned avocado and flaming hot mentaiko-tamagoyaki creates an exceptional contrast.”
The fish comes with poached radish, various vegetable toppings, a bowl of Japanese rice and "kicap lemak manis” fried egg. Can’t get enough rice? The Three Guys have got you covered — the rice is refillable at no cost for this new dish.
Sounds thrilling thus far. But when the café first opened in March 2020 as a beverage bar, it was a bleaker story.
Before the trio could familiarise themselves with the business operation, the first lockdown was announced.
As such when the lockdown restrictions first eased, the trio now had a full business plan and were determined to invest further, to expand their store front and add a full menu to their repertoire.
Yap shares, "As beginners in F&B, we were customer oriented. We listen and take our customer feedback constructively — from separating the ice and drinks to avoid flavour dilution to printing notes to remind customers to eat the fresh avocado before it gets oxidised. Our customers appreciate even little details like handwritten delivery bags.”
Kua explains the thought process behind their recipe development: "As we all know, Malaysians love spice. Be it Malay style sambal and rempah, Chinese chilli oil and XO sauce, or Indian curry and spices. Hence we created our own sambal recipe made out of dried chillies, garlic, shallots, dried shrimp, sugar and Japanese soy sauces.”
This homemade XO style sambal sauce, if you will, is the backbone to a few dishes, including their bestselling Three Guys Chilli Pasta. Inspired by our local chilli pan mee, these oodles of pasta come with savoury crispy anchovies, a wobbly onsen egg and the aforementioned sambal, of course.
For health enthusiasts who are watching their weight, the Chicken Breast Don might appeal. Inspired by Hainanese chicken rice, this donburi pairs moist chicken rice with fragrant ginger oil and sea salt.
Looks like there’s something for everyone, for every palate and preference. Or as Cheah repeats their motto, yet again and with just as much pep: "Our vision is to create delicious and unique comfort food that caters to all diners.”
Three Guys Café
Unit 2-14, Level 2, Block B, KEDAI @ MAHSA Avenue, Jalan Ilmu, KL
Open Tue-Sun 10:30am-6pm (Mon closed)
Tel: 010-430 9123
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