By Lee Yu Kit
Jan 2022
PC Studio Café is located in Damansara Intan, a high-rise incongruity in a commercial enclave shoehorned into PJ’s otherwise residential Section 17/19 and SS2 areas.
In spite of
its ground floor frontage and a few reserved parking lots, the anonymously
named PC Studio Café doesn’t impress on first entry, into a plain jane interior
with wooden tables laid out in orderly rows and a serving counter at the far
end. Café, convenient canteen, or restaurant?
Yet this
oddball café heralds the trend in food conscience on a rapidly warming planet.
More than most restaurants and cafes, it has embraced the plant-based meat ethos.
A glass paneled refrigerator in the front of the café sells an assortment of
faux meats from Beyond Meat, Harvest Gourmet, Omimeat, Phuture Foods and more
besides. This extends to the menu, which, at first glance, serves up the usual
café fare: burgers, simple noodle and rice dishes, and coffees.
A closer
look reveals that much of the menu features plant-based meats from the
aforementioned brands, as well as various vegetarian and vegan options, with
house made soy and mushroom patties posing as meat.
The Nangka Burger
I was
particularly intrigued by its nangka burgers. Nangka, or jackfruit, is a heavy
weight among local fruits, literally. You can give yourself a hernia carrying
one of these enormous, heavy fruit, laden inside with golden, sweet nuggets of
fleshy fruit with a heady fragrance.
Nangka doesn’t come to mind when thinking of meat substitutes, yet the fleshy texture of unripe nangka has made it something of a sensation in the West as a meat substitute, being likened to pulled pork or chicken due to its fibrous texture. In Malaysia, home to the nangka, its meat-substitution superpowers remain relatively unknown, though.
Among the
trio of nangka burgers on the menu, only The OG (Rm26.90) was available. A
large handsome burger with a generous side of fries was served. Cashew mayo
spilled from the lip of the burger, with a prominent yellow slice of vegan
cheese beneath which nestled the browned nangka patty. The house-made vegan bun
(no diary) was liberally sprinkled with sesame seeds, making for an all-vegan
burger.
The bun
first impressed with its freshness: lightly fragrant without the overly floury
encounter of supermarket bought generic buns, and providing a good bite. I couldn’t make out the faux cheese which is
not a bad thing: my last experience of fake cheese was memorable only for its
plastic-like brittleness. The cashew mayo and nangka patty combined neatly with
a strong, smooth agreeable flavour, the mayo creamier and nuttier than
commercial stuff you usually encounter.
I really
couldn’t tell that I was biting into nangka: without a hint of nangka flavour
or smell, it was neutral but with a substantial texture, not dry or hard, but
succulent, a little like meat, and it provided good satiety. Unripe nangka! Who would’ve thought?
The fries
also deserve mention, chunky golden pieces, neither oily nor heavy and not too
crispy, for even freshly made fries can be a joy.
Although a
novelty meat substitute here, unripe nangka is widely used as a meat substitute
in Western countries, where its fibrous texture makes it suited to curries,
wraps, pies and stir fries. Nutritionally it scores highly in its Vitamic C and
potassium content, as well as other phytochemicals and it is a source of dietary
fibre.
At PC
Studio Café, a good deal of thought and effort has gone into making a
convincing, all vegan burger and coming up with an end item that you’d want to
eat. It was enough to whet my appetite to make a mental note to return to try
some of the other items on the menu.
PC StudioPC Studio
G1, Ground Floor, Block A, Damansara Inta,
No 1, Jalan SS2027, 47400 P Jaya
Tel: 60 12 5339722
FB: pcstudiocafe
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