A cafe in a coffee warehouse? You'd have to get on a ship to Colombia to get any closer to the source. That's what Raw Coffee Company does with the front of its Al Quoz space, from where it also distributes its signature brand of fresh, organic, ethically-traded coffee.
Tucked into a narrow lane leading into one of the warehouse compounds at 4A/7A near Noor Islamic Bank metro station, it takes a little effort to find, especially for those unfamiliar with the community; a sign at the outer end of said lane would be great. Art fans might have come across it, though, since a few galleries dot the area around it. Inside is a bustling cafe right up against stored sacks of raw coffee and a working roastery, which infuse the air with a rich aroma. Definitely a great ambiance.
The experience here is centered on the die-hard coffee lover, with the edible portion of the menu limited to a few varieties of cake and cupcake (but good ones, I should add). The coffee menu is also fairly simple: Arabica, available in the standard range of concentrations and milk options from a sharp ristretto (top left) to a creamy latte (bottom right), along with hot chocolate for kids, and a cold brew option (top center). For those who want to be a bit more involved, there's also the list of six brewing options from which to choose, the mild and delicious Chemex (right) among them.
At long last, Singaporean kopi & kaya toast chain Ya Kun Kaya Toast has come to the UAE. For me, that means no more rationing bags of coffee and jars of kaya personally lugged from Singapore.
I'm not sure as to what extent I was involved with their decision to set up in the UAE, but I have been pestering them to do so for a couple of years. Let's just say that a few weeks before opening, I was phoned up by one of their people to notify me and invite me to Like their Facebook page, and was welcomed with a digital banner announcing my arrival when I did.
The cafe is located in its own (appropriately Sino-esque) hut, in the middle of the restaurant garden outside China Court in Dubai's Ibn Battuta Mall. There's plenty of outdoor seating for the cooler months, and lots of greenery and water around, reminiscent of the Singaporean ambiance.
The restaurant's interior is spacious and comfortable, done up in Ya Kun colors. It does not have a stewing kitchen, so no laksa and such at this one. No problem, because the menu has everything for which I primarily patronized the chain. The only thing left to see was how authentic it would be, especially given the local re-branding that dropped "kaya" from the name.
I and my friends went for the usual coffee set. I sprinkled the egg with pepper and drizzled it with soy sauce, just like old times. The toast was perfect, the sweet kaya layers letting the butter melt ever so slightly, while keeping it away from slices of toast cut to just the right thickness. The kopi was slightly off, as per my recollection; I asked for an additional dash of condensed milk, which fixed that.
They also gave us a hearty potato curry sandwich, on the house. Actually, I've never had this before, as I mainly went to Ya Kun for the kaya toast and kopi, but it was pretty good.
I was not quite done, for there was one long-time-no-see left: yuanyang, a Southeast Asian mixture of coffee and tea.
2014SEP11 UPDATE: No updates online since Ramadan, and the phone's not working. A call to Ibn Battuta confirmed the worst: it's closed, after barely a year of operation. I wonder why, because it was a fairly busy location, the economy's picking up, and there were always a good number of customers whenever I visited. Oh, well.
2014SEP13 UPDATE: After digging around their Facebook Page, it seems they're only closed for relocation. A relief, but I wish they prominently mentioned this on their Facebook Page and website.
2014NOV12 UPDATE: Ya Kun HQ has confirmed that the franchisee has shut shop permanently. What a shame. Hope someone else picks up the baton someday soon.
Singapore's traditional hawker centres bustle with activity all day long, serving hundreds of thousands from that nation of foodies everyday. For a few dollars, one can get a filling meal of one's choice from a vast buffet of options.
During my short stay there (and each time I went back), my staple was always the combination of 皮蛋瘦肉粥 (century egg and lean pork rice porridge) and 菜头粿 (steamed Chinese radish cake omelette, which Singaporeans call "carrot cake"), with a hot, fresh mug of smooth Singaporean coffee (ideally served in a glass mug). Good for any meal or heavy snack; I practically lived on this stuff. Breakfast time, Singapore style.
Making the rice porridge is really easy. I put 1.5 cups of soaked long-grain rice and 5 times the volume of water into a pot, along with 6 sliced garlic cloves and about an inch of peeled ginger thinly julienned, boiling and simmering for a few hours until the rice easily broke up on stirring. I then stirred in about 500g of lean minced pork, 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce, and a little salt and ground white pepper for further cooking until the pork was done and the rice had almost completely disintegrated. It needed frequent stirring to prevent settling. Right before serving, I was cutting up some century eggs and chopping scallion.
There was enough to go around for 10 heavy portions. I served it up hot and fresh in bowls, each with a few cubes of century egg, a sprinkling of some chopped scallion and ground white pepper, and drizzle of sesame oil and soy sauce. A great breakfast and a great comfort food.
The fried carrot cake is not nearly as easy as it looks. Those cubes in the omelette? Those are not cubes of radish. They're cubes of a radish cake, which I had to painstakingly prepare by finely shredding and straining dry 600g of daikon/mooly radish, stir-frying with half teaspoons of salt and white pepper until soft, mixing with 2 cups of Asian rice flour whisked into 2 cups of water, and steaming until it set into firm cake. Which THEN had to be cooled and chilled. Oy, vey.
I wish my cake were firmer, because the cubes did not fry as well as I hoped, turning into lumps in the wok. Anyway, after browning the lumps a little with 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic, I added 8 eggs beaten with half teaspoons of salt and white pepper, and cooked until the eggs set. Just prior to serving, I stirred in a quarter cup of sweet soy sauce, a quarter cup of chopped scallion, and 2 teaspoons of sambal oelek.
I served it with some more sambal oelek on the side, garnished with chopped scallion. I guess I need to refine the cake-making process to get the perfect cubes of radish cake you see in the pictures, but it turned out more or less okay.
And of course, no Singaporean meal at my place would be complete without a mug of hot, rich, freshly-brewed Singaporean coffee from my little stash.
