Mardia & Mustaffa's Bakery & Vegetarian Cafe, Sungai Buloh, Malaysia

Bread fans will delight in this week's find, White Brick Oven Bakery in Sungai Buloh. The owners, Mardia and Mustaffa, are a lovely Malay/ British couple living a simple life in Kubu Gajah. You would never guess that their humble abode is the source of so many mouth watering goodies. These friendly bakers make artisan organic sourdough breads using no additives or preservatives. Mustaffa grinds his own flour on site (soon available for sale to the public) and only uses flour that has been freshly stone ground for maximum nutritional value. Some of the scrumptious breads for order are rye, whole grains, apple and oatmeal, baguette, teacakes, pretzels and scones. For a full list of delicious European style bread that you can sink your teeth into visit their website to place your order.

Mustaffa and Mardia also run a small vegetarian cafe. Book in advance for your meal served in their humble dining room seating around 10 guests. Of course dinner features lots of scrumptious dough based delights and fresh vegetable dishes with many ingredients either coming directly from their own garden or from local farms. The meal we sampled started with fresh wholemeal bread served with olive oil. Next came a thin crust pizza, light garden salad and more bread - French style baguette crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The main was a hot juicy pot of ratatouille made with fresh local veges and accompanied by thick slices of toasted olive bread. We finished with delicious buckwheat pancakes topped with a sweet fruit sauce - made from mulberries from their own garden. Throughout the evening we sipped pandan leaf and mulberry tea. Both a meal and a bread order require advance notice so contact them via the website or handphone below to make arrangements. 

Mardia & Mustaffa
White Brick Oven
Kubu Gajah
Sungai Buloh
Selangor
Malaysia
012 971 1591
www.whitebrickoven.com

The Origin, Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Origin, the latest vegetarian restaurant in town, could possibly be the best thing to hit Ampang this year. A fully vegetarian menu is the highlight with lots of organic ingredients, no genetically modified products, a focus on locally sourced produce and of course no MSG. A mishmash of Asian dishes are featured - Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese and Nonya flavours all make an appearance. Being a family run business, many of the recipes are traditional favourites coming from grandma herself (who has been vegetarian for more than 30 years). You cannot go wrong with any of the dishes on offer - all showcase colourful, flavourful, wonderous combinations of grains, nuts, fruits, legumes and vegetables. As no garlic or onion is used in any dish it's hard to believe that everything can be so tasty! The list would encompass just about the entire menu if I were to note everything that I liked here. So, to keep it short, do not leave this place without trying the pumpkin tofu with Thai passionfruit sauce, organic seasonal leafy greens with ginger and goji berries and the seaweed wrapped tofu with nyonya assam sauce (grandma's recipe!). Even the kids can be satisfied with dishes such as soya nuggets and cheesy broccoli rice.  Word must be spreading quickly as The Origin already has a decent lunch time crowd. Weekdays, set lunches start from 9.90RM and include a drink and dessert and the most expensive items on the menu don't go much above 20RM. Even though it has just opened (11/11/11) there seem to be very few kinks to be ironed out. The owner says they look to expand the menu though it all appears to be just right to me. The feel of the place is peaceful and happy and the owner glows with health and happiness. A sure attestation that she is doing something (or many things) right.

The Origin Restaurant & Café

No. 8  Jalan 1/67B (Off Jalan Mengkudu)

54540 Ampang  (Besides Ampang Grocers and Brussels Beer Cafe)

Tel : 03 – 4253 5388,   012-3789415,    016-2913000
Coordinate:   N03⁰ 09.469’ E101⁰ 44.854’

Open Tuesday - Sunday
12noon - 3pm & 6pm - 10pm

Tamarind Cafe, Old Quarter, Hanoi, Vietnam

Creative vegetarian food. Love the shakes and imaginative vege combos. Definitely worth a visit.

Tamarind Cafe
80 Ma May
Old Quarter
Hanoi
Vietnam
Tel: 3 926 0580
Tamarind_cafe@yahoo.com