ANN/THE STAR – Nestled discreetly within a row of shop lots in the unassuming neighbourhood of Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, lies Bake by Mel, a charming café that stands out amidst the area’s bustling mamak eateries and car workshops.
Despite its unconventional location, the café offers a refreshing ambiance, boasting a tranquil interior adorned with carefully placed greenery and large picture windows overlooking a verdant park.
The brainchild of Damien Lee and his wife, Melanie Pong, both well-known figures in Bukit Jalil, Bake by Mel follows in the footsteps of their previous successful ventures, CC by Mel and the upscale dining establishment Zen by Mel. Their track record has not only earned them widespread popularity but also a formidable reputation in the culinary scene.
With Bake by Mel, Lee says the two were looking to expand on an idea they had for creative out-of-the-box pastries.
“It took me one-and-a-half years to put the restaurant together. Opening a pastry house has always been a goal for us in terms of the Mel group. But it’s just that we didn’t want to come out with something that is normal in the market, or something that the market already has.
“So when I was sharing my idea with experienced chefs, they all called me crazy. So I told them ‘The crazier the idea, the more difficult it is for others to copy you’. So I held on to that idea and it took us a long road of doing R&D and plenty of crazy ideas before we got to where we are now,” said Lee.
The basic idea behind Bake by Mel is to serve speciality refined pastry. Lee and his team play around with concepts and themes and focus a lot on reworking classic nostalgic favourites and turning them into something altogether new – but even more enjoyable.
In the nights (from 6pm to midnight) Lee has taken his ambitions one step further by introducing an idea called The Last Affair where diners get to try high-end plated desserts fashioned by his talented fine-dining pastry chef Jessica Veritus from Zen by Mel.
Start your pastry journey here with something savoury in the form of the spicy chicken burger (MYR38).
This is a meal that highlights the restaurant’s aspirations and attributes in one fell swoop.
The chicken thigh has been brined, cooked sous-vide style and then deep-fried, giving it an incredibly crispy carapace that yields to sensationally juicy meat inside (like the juices literally flow from this chook).
This is accentuated by pickles, coleslaw and Nashville oil topped with the piece de resistance in the form of a croissant burger, which is buttery, flaky and the perfect canvas for all this goodness.
Up next, have a go at one of the eatery’s tacros (basically the hybrid love child of a taco and a croissant).
“At CC by Mel, our taco is made up of a fried seaweed shell that made the restaurant famous. So I didn’t want to lose the trend and I wanted people to recognise that this is under the same company. So we turned it into a tacro, so instead of using seaweed, it is like croissant shell,” explained Lee.
The chicken masala tacro (MYR16) highlights the beauty of the tacro, which is strong and sturdy but simultaneously crispy, flaky and buttery to the touch.
This is enhanced by the chicken masala, which is lightly spicy and very good. Overall, the experience is akin to eating a very refined chicken curry puff, which delivers on every count.
The satay chicken focassant (MYR14) is another unique assemblage that combines focaccia bread enveloped by an outer edge fashioned out of croissant dough. This entire concoction is sprinkled and dusted with bits of chicken satay for a savoury dimension.
In this configuration, it is the textural interplay that forms the highlight of the meal – the crisp croissant juxtaposed against the soft, fluffy, doughy bread within.
For those with a sweet tooth, Bake by Mel serves up the goods and then some.
Try for instance, the amazing pistachio flan (MYR15) which combines the purity and nutty goodness of pistachios amidst a Nutella-esque hazelnut chocolate in what proves to be a combination so addictive, you’ll wonder why no one else ever thought to put the two together.
This same ‘Who would have thunk philosophy?’ is evident in the wasabi cubesant (MYR9.50) which is essentially a croissant cube filled with wasabi ganache and – wonder of wonders – strawberry jam.
Yes, it all sounds weird but in a weird way, it all works. The wasabi has a nose-tickling pungency which is offset by the saccharine qualities of the strawberry jam in a combination that is both thought-provoking and good. From the petit gateux selection, try the 100 per cent chocolate origin (MYR19), a chocolate fantasy that features chocolate sponge, dark chocolate cremeaux, chocolate mousse, a hazelnut feulletine base and dark chocolate chantily. This is a chocolatey treat that is indulgent, sinful and just oh-so wondrously good.
If you’re a fan of the dark side, you’ll love this hedonistic delight.
The uni matcha tacro (MYR24) is another offbeat creation that features a croissant shell that encases matcha ganache, mochi and strawberries. The mochi is the standout here and builds a strong point of differentiation that gives this dessert a quirky, chewy quality that proves very, very endearing.
For a different sort of fruity favourite, try the citrusy (MYR20) which features lime, a mango mint jelly and calamansi curd, which work together in harmony to produce rich, astringent, fresh citrusy flavours that offer the perfect way to enjoy a dessert without also feeling like everything is overwhelmingly rich and cloying. – Abirami Durai
