SEBERANG PERAI, April 20 — Hipster cafes are a common sight in and around George Town but Butterworth? Yes, these cafes have also found their way here and you can find them along busy Jalan Raja Uda and in Seberang Jaya.
While traditional eateries and businesses continue to operate in the sleepy town of Seberang Perai, more and more entrepreneurs have set up new cafes here.
Renewed interest in the town — due to the various activities and events like Butterworth Fringe Festival — means more visitors over the last few years.
This is the result of collaborative efforts by Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) and Think City to rejuvenate the town and spur more economic activities.
Franchised cafes like Smith Coffee and Starbucks were the first to make an appearance here before local entrepreneurs opened up their own cafes.
Some serve only specialty coffee and have a limited menu of cakes and pastries while there are others that offer restaurant-standard cuisine at reasonable prices.
Here are four cafes that stand out:
Pentagon 5 Studio
Butterworth City Centre
Jalan Raja Uda, Butterworth
Time: 10am-midnight (daily)
This cafe is located right next to Aroma Hotel. Other than the usual pasta dishes commonly found in most cafes, Pentagon 5 goes one step further to offer items such as deep fried pork knuckle, pork ribs, pork chop, smoked duck salad and chicken roulade.
The cafe is known to update and change its selection of food regularly so regular customers are never bored..
Signature items to try are the Pentagon pork ribs which is smoked and then glazed with their own mix of barbecue sauce, the Green Green Grass of Home salad topped with roast pork and its tender chicken roulade.
Although the cafe has a variety of cakes for dessert, the must-try is the soft serve ice cream. The flavour changes regularly so remember to ask what the flavour of the day is before ordering.
De Nice Coffee,
Butterworth Business Centre,
Jalan Raja Uda, Butterworth
Time: 1pm-11pm (daily)
This dessert cafe is the perfect hangout for those craving something sweet; it is also a good place to relax in the evenings.
Its range of baked treats include everything from cheese cakes to tarts and mousse.
Each item is handmade by the cafe’s team of bakers using fully imported ingredients and on most days, there are more than 10 different types of desserts to choose from.
It is located near Pentagon 5 Studio, within the same enclave of eateries in the Butterworth Business Centre.
De’Lawn
Jalan Harbour Place,
Kampung Bagan Dalam,
Butterworth.
Time: 11.30am-9.30pm
Closed on Sundays
Tucked away in a shoplot on the ground floor of the Seaview Tower apartment, this small cafe is a quaint mom-and-pop business offering home cooked-style dishes at reasonable prices.
It has a clean, simple decor and due to its location, is a quiet place for a hearty meal of Asian-style food with Japanese influences.
The signature items in this cafe are olive rice served with either smoked duck, grilled chicken, salmon, pork or the vegetarian option, eggplant.
Its olive rice is a special concoction of rice mixed with olive oil and leaves which pairs perfectly with any of the side dishes.
Their menu also includes a few types of Japanese curries served with steamed white rice, a few types of pasta dishes and their daily special.
Ahmad Lim Black Pancakes
3, Jalan Todak 1,
Bandar Seberang Jaya.
Time: 4pm-11pm (daily)
This is actually a small stall that started in Bangi and now has branches in Shah Alam, Wangsa Maju, Melaka, Johor Bahru and most recently, Seberang Jaya.
It caters specially to those with a penchant for something sweet and spicy.
They started out selling large pizza-sized pancakes topped with decadent ingredients of your choice.
The pancake base comes in two flavours, vanilla or black coco, while the choice of toppings include Nutella, cheese, creamilo, sweet corn and cheese, Toblerone and Ovaltine.
Like ordering pizza, you can choose to have your pancake either thick or thin.
A recent addition to the menu is Noodles Cincai. This is basically Maggi noodles or vermicelli in a thick beef broth and served with a choice of chicken feet, beef balls or beef slices.
The best part about the noodles dish is the choice of spiciness levels which starts from 0 labelled as “penakut” (coward), 1 is “pedas yang sedang saja” (slightly spicy), 2 is “Pedasss” (spicy), 3 is for Pedas Berdesing (very spicy) and finally 4 is “Pedas Arwah” (so spicy it kills).
There are many other different types of cafes to explore all around Butterworth, some offering fusion cuisine and some, a mix of local and Western cuisine.
One thing is for sure, the hipster cafe culture is here to stay and Butterworth will be seeing more cafes cropping up in years to come.
*Think City is undertaking urban regeneration programmes for George Town, Kuala Lumpur and Johor. Find out more about Think City and its projects at thinkcity.com.my.
