Named after a coffee
appreciation movement, this restaurant-café also serves up interesting, hearty
food.
On a Sunday evening, the Nexus complex in Bangsar South is
quiet, as the eateries here cater mainly to the weekday crowd. Thirdwave,
located on the first floor of the complex, opens onto a broad verandah, giving
the place an airy feel. The place is
almost empty when my dining party of four steps in for dinner, but it’s an
excellent time for some quietude.
The décor is simple, almost to the point of starkness, with
a tiled floor, matt black ceiling and a choice of seating, from dark
upholstered armchairs at long, heavy tables, to white-painted wooden-back
chairs at smaller tables, to wooden stools around light tables for coffee and
snacks. The whole setup is spacious, uncrowded and un-fussy. Two bars at the
back of the restaurant attest to the serious intent of coffee, thus the name
“Thirdwave” as in the ‘third wave’ movement of artisanal coffees, but the café
has created some buzz for its innovative food menu as well, which is what I
have come to try.
The menu is as no-frills as the décor: a few sheets of
printed paper on a clipboard, featuring All-Day breakfasts, hand-made pastas, an
eclectic mix of Western-inspired dishes, and a pageful of beverages, with
coffees, teas, craft beers and a catch-all under ‘Lain-lain’.
We place our orders with the youthful, enthusiastic waiter
and then wait as the service is leisurely.
When the food arrives, we receive the Seafood Stew (Rm35),
the day’s special, first. It’s an
honest, straightforward presentation, with two slices of home-made toast over a
pan of bright red sauce, brimming with seafood items, and highlighted by a few
sprigs of wild rocket.
I like the coarse toasted bread immediately, excellent when
dipped into the savoury, home-made tomato stew, which has a lively disposition,
being neither too thick nor rich. The
squid rings, mussels in shells, fish and prawn are firm and fresh, making this
a wholesome, likeable dish, with the bread used to mop up the sauce.
The Fettucine Alla Scoglio (Rm28), which features hand-made
fresh pasta, is a hearty portion of fettucine with tiger prawns and squid in a
bright tomato sauce. The fettucine is a little on the soft side, but it’s also
silky, fettucine made with a feminine touch?
In any event, the sauce has a surprising bite, a not-disagreeable
perkiness from the addition of a little spice to the mix. This is another straightforward, honest dish,
both in presentation style and taste.
After this, the Thirdwave Big Brekky (Rm35) arrives. It’s difficul to mess up a breakfast plate,
but it’s also difficult to excel, and Thirdwave’s version is distinctly
middling, although it has the throw-everything-in approach: egg, avocado, chicken sausage, beef ham,
Portobello mushroom, buttered toast and cherry tomatoes. The presentation is a little messy, and the
chicken sausage and ham don’t impress. I like the runny, soft egg over the
still excellent toast. It’s a hearty portion, but in this case, the whole is
not greater than the sum of its ingredients.
By way of contrast, the Glorious Mushroom (Rm26) shows how
it’s done, with a big Portobello mushroom hidden beneath layers of spinach,
potato and cherry tomatoes, covered by a sunny side-up egg with extended veil
of egg-white. The mushroom has a smoky,
grilled flavour which adds a base of lusciousness to the complex overlay of
spinach and other vegetables, and the smooth richness of the egg, with its
slightly runny yolk, complete it.
Sometimes, less is more.
The restaurant’s best-seller, the Hidden Gem (Rm35) is the
last to arrive. This is a bold and
original creation, mating stuffed squid with, of all things, seared watermelon
slices! The regular, red watermelon
triangles juxtaposed with the organic forms of pale squid, make for a visually
exciting and dynamic presentation. The white squid look succulent, and when
cut, the thick inner section spills what looks like rice in squid ink, although
it’s actually risoni, a rice-like pasta type. A squeeze of lemon over the squid enlivens the
squid-pasta combination, which makes for an odd, but not disagreeable pairing
with the bright-red watermelon, which has a mellow taste compared to raw
watermelon. Flecks of feta cheese lend a
nice finishing touch to a dish that looks more exciting than it actually
tastes, but the unusual combination wins plaudits.
For dessert, we share a slice of sweet and nutty Hummingbird
cake, and a slice of Macha tart, which engages with its dense, rich and complex
texture and taste. Finally, we have a Blueberry
pancake (Rm16), which takes its time arriving.
When it does, it is a neat stack of small pancakes, with blueberries and
some maple syrup to the side.
The pancake has a crisp, textured surface, satisfying to the
bite, but otherwise does itself no favours, being dense, with little character
to remember it fondly by. Coffee at
dinnertime will keep me up all night, but a fellow diner, who does the
Melbourne coffee scene, samples a latte and pronounces it on her upper quadrant
in coffee ratings for Malaysian-brewed coffee.
Thirdwave is founded by 4 siblings, 3 brothers and a sister,
who originally hail from Pangkor Island. The emphasis on fresh, local seafood
and the ethos of in-house preparation of ingredients is commendable. The hand-made pastas, the bread and home-made
stews and sauces show their mettle in the food, which is characteristed by its
simple, straightforwardness and back-to-the-earth honesty. Some of the creations are striking for their innovativeness. Thirdwave, with its informal setting, is a
youthful place for hearty, wholesome café fare that’s original and refreshing,
a welcome change from the often tired, standard dishes turned out by some newer
cafes where food seems like an afterthought to the coffee.
THIRDWAVE,
Unit 1-11,
Level 1,
Nexus,
Bangsar South,
No 7 Jalan
Kerinchi
59200 Kuala
Lumpur
Tel:
+60322422126
www.facebook.com/thirdwave.my
Open: 10am –
11pm daily
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