KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 — “Hidden gem” might be one of the most overused phrases in food writing. There’s no helping it; clichés abound and assist us in navigating an ocean of content.
Which makes it all the more thrilling when one stumbles upon a true hidden gem, a hideaway where one least expects to find it.
In my case, it was along a row of old shophouses in a densely populated part of OUG, just off Old Klang Road.
This is where one might buy the freshest eggs and produce at a wet market tucked inside an alley or hunt down hardware parts.
Yet, if you were to go up a short flight of stairs, right above a car wash, you’d be like Lucy Pevensie going through the ordinary looking wardrobe to the magical realm of Narnia.
Except, instead of C.S. Lewis’s enchanted land, we find ourselves inside a flora-filled sanctuary. A second floor café filled with natural light from the original skylight in the roof.
From pottery to plants, the space is imbued with a natural calm. Now this is a true hidden gem.
And instead of Mr Tumnus, C.S. Lewis’s friendly faun, we are welcomed by Caleb Mok, the café’s charming owner. Indeed the café gets its name from him: Caleb’s Hideout.
Which gives you an idea of how this is a personal space, almost akin to a garden home in the sky, opened to friends and strangers. A place where Caleb, a certified dietitian, can escape to — and now we can too.
It is not often that a nutritionist opens a café, which perhaps gives Caleb’s Hideout its raison d’être: to create a haven for the health conscious as well as a refuge for those of us stressed out by the mad bustle of daily life.
Consider this a dietitian designed garden café then.
As Caleb makes our coffee, he shares his dream of creating a place for customers to visit and enjoy nutritious food and drinks. Nothing too heavy but nothing too unapproachable either.
Basically everything you’d recognise in a cosy café, from espresso-based coffees to comforting cakes. Which doesn’t mean there isn’t a great deal of care going into every detail, for there is.
Take our flat white, for instance. Most cafés that aren’t catering to the fastidious specialty coffee crowd would just opt for run-of-the-mill beans.
Caleb insists on sourcing from other small food artisans; here he uses beans from KL-based Emberwood Coffee Roasters. Their medium roast Ember house blend — a mix of Brazil, Colombia and Guatemala — gives our flat white a creamy, chocolatey profile.
To go with the coffee, there is a rotating menu of sweet treats, all baked and made by Caleb: banana cake with walnuts and prunes, tofu brownie cheesecake with Biscoff biscuits, rose water infused watermelon cake with strawberries and pistachios — how does one even choose?
In the end we settle on something that’s equally sinful and guilt-free (proving opposing forces can exist in harmony: Caleb’s indulgent but healthy (he assures us) tofu oat milk chocolate mousse cake.
Enough raw cacao powder to make it taste decadent but the dairy-free creaminess courtesy of the tofu and oat milk makes every bite lighter than expected.
We quench our thirst with the beautifully named Sunlit Jasmine, a refreshing citrus-infused tea. Caleb tells us it’s chilled jasmine tea lightly sweetened with honey and brightened with the soft fragrance of yuzu.
There is, of course, also the fragrance of the flowers. Softer floral notes than you might expect; nothing overpowering. More of a subtle undertone that barely envelops the café, part of its character.
Roses and carnations. Fresh flower arrangements that leave us feeling quite wonderful. Bundles of dried baby’s breath; a more whimsical bouquet, this.
But it is the Ficus lyrata, the fiddle-leaf fig, with its paddle-like foliage and thin, dark stems, that hits the closest. It reminds me of the fiddle-leaf fig in my garden and this realisation might also be a revelation.
How Caleb’s Hideout feels like home, even though this is our first time here. It won’t be our last.
Caleb’s Hideout
24¬-1, Jalan Sepadu,
Taman United, KL.
Open Fri & Sun 9am–6pm, Sat 9am–10pm, Mon-Thu closed
Phone: 018-317 0986
IG: @caleb.hideout
FB: Caleb's Hideout
For more food fables and café chronicles, visit Life for Beginners.
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
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