KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 – Who doesn’t like a bit of steak?
I sure had no complaints about my grain fed strip loin steak. The meat was juicy and pink, with a nice sear to create a nicely browned and flavourful crust.
But serve it sliced atop some sourdough toast, layered with creamy béchamel, a crispy hash brown, cheesy scrambled eggs and a light dusting of chives, and you have here a real breakfast of champions.
Which is to say I was thoroughly delighted by my Country Steak Sandwich at Oui Bakehouse & Café, a hidden gem off Old Klang Road. Its location on the ground floor of the Menara K1 building is convenient, though discreetly tucked away and not facing the main road.
No matter; secluded spots won’t deter true foodies. Indeed, this neighbourhood is also a haven for other hidden gems.
Regular stops – each a mere 10-minute walk away from Oui Bakehouse – include Ne.Nenebubu TomYum World for some of the best kao kha moo (stewed pork leg rice) in KL; Café Yamatatsu, where we dig into donburi and snack on salt pepper corn; and Wushan Dalang with its Midnight Diner vibes and creative cocktails.
We tend to come here in the evenings though; the above are very much dinner and supper haunts for us. But now we have a reason to wake up earlier to drop by the area.
Oui Bakehouse is an all-day café and restaurant but it does have a strong brunch ambience. To begin: the very tempting pastry display that greeted us when we entered; it was filled with buttery croissants and rich pain au chocolat, fruity danishes and custardy canelés with dark, caramelised crusts.
Beyond its pastry offerings, the bakery-café also has a formidable ala carte menu, ranging from soft shell crab burgers and aglio olio pasta with market seafood to freshly made pizzas and creamy matcha flans.
Suffice to say, deciding on what to have can be a challenge when faced with so many choices. My take: When in doubt, begin with coffee.
The coffee menu here is espresso-based, which means no protracted waiting time for a single origin bean pour-over brew. Our hits of caffeine – a long black, a caffè latte and a flat white – arrived in no time at all.
Follow your instincts when ordering. Though many tables went for pizzas and pastas, we felt like something lighter (or light-ish, given the amount of carbs – a near unavoidable feature of a decent café brunch, I reckon).
For pastries, we eschewed the fruity danishes (Lychee Rose, Grape, Peach and Blueberry were available during our visit) and went for something richer and more decadent: a Peanut Butter Pain Suisse and a Chocolate Banana pastry.
The latter reminded me of one of our all-time favourite pastries at Ground Coffee in Damansara Utama, PJ. Ground Coffee’s Chocolate Banana tasted more intense and looked more rustic; we enjoyed a version that is more refined and balanced in flavour at Oui Bakehouse.
Both approaches produced a Chocolate Banana pastry that is worth returning for. What is worth noting is how most of us no longer have to travel that far for a pastry we crave anymore; there is a decent bakery or viennoiserie in many neighbourhoods nowadays.
As for the Peanut Butter Pain Suisse, it was a hit for two reasons: plenty of peanut butter and chopped peanuts, and the fact they warmed the pastry without us asking, serving something both crispy-flaky as well as oozing in all the right ways.
The remainder of our meal focused on bread, always a good test of a bakery (or “bakehouse” in this case). The Summer French Toast was a haphazard tower of eggy French toast cubes adorned with assorted fruits and a restrained drizzle of honey.
In short, it was sweet but not too sweet, perhaps even a bit fresh tasting and tangy thanks to the blueberries and strawberries. No one would dream of calling a French toast a light breakfast but this is as dainty as it gets.
(One of us remarked how the familiar taste harkened to that of a popular Hong Kong cha chaan teng chain, which is more praise than shade given how Cantonese style French toast is such a nostalgia-tinged comfort food.)
What was the highlight, you might ask, at least of the shop’s offerings that we managed to sample? The more carnivorous part of me would point to the Country Steak Sandwich without hesitation; it is a heady assembly of meat and potatoes, bread and eggs.
Yet perhaps the true draw – and real surprise – of Oui Bakehouse isn’t the excellently executed food but the team that staffed the café. It is no mean feat to corral and accommodate hungry throngs, especially on the weekends, but the crew here managed exactly that with aplomb and always a ready smile.
No surprise then that Oui Bakehouse was a full house when we visited... and well deserved too!
Oui Bakehouse & Café
G02, Menara K1, Lorong 3/137C, Old Klang Road, KL
Open daily 9am-6pm
Phone: 03-7770 9355
IG: https://www.instagram.com/ouibakehousecafe/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/OuiBakehouseCafe/
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
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