Huck’s Cafe @ Bangsar

I had not been back to Huck’s Cafe in many months, and my recent visit was full of surprises as the owner, Huck Seng, had introduced many imaginative new creations to the menu.

Huck Seng is now a personal friend. We really admire his passion and dedication as he picked up cooking to impress his three children. He is not trained as a chef, but he improvised along the way and his cooking became a hit amongst friends and families. Soon enough, friends came over for dinner and eventually they brought along more guests. That’s how the whole idea of starting up a home cafe was borne. Huck Seng also travels quite a fair bit, so whenever he returns from a trip, do expect to see a revamp in Huck’s Cafe menu.

We opted for the RM88 menu and asked Huck Seng to surprise us. Guests can also make their own selection by browsing through the many tantalising looking pictures posted by Huck’s Café on their facebook page.

We were served three types of appetisers. We started off with the creamy and hearty cauliflower soup, followed by a beautiful, vibrant mixed fruit and vegetable salad.

The stuffed squid with lemongrass stick was one of the crowd pleasers. The stuffing of minced chicken flavoured with turmeric and kaffir lime leaves tasted great with the super tender squid.

This ordinary looking chicken mushroom pie was surprisingly delicious! The secret lies in the lemon butter pastry and a delicious filling of tender chicken thigh meat, button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, chilli and kaffir lime leaves. The kaffir lime leaves not only enhanced the look of the dish, but also added a refreshing, citrus aroma to the creamy sauce.

One of our main courses was the “Ocean Deep”, a seafood spaghetti topped with dried shrimp sambal, belacan, bunga kantan (torch ginger buds), santan and kaffir lime leaves. It was definitely one of his best “East meets West” creations.

When Huck Seng was in Sweden, a kind neighbour once served him a unique Hungarian dish. He drew some inspiration from the dish and did some modifications along the way, resulting in tottott paprika with chicken or beef filling. According to Huck Seng, his version is spicier and the meat is roughly chopped to give nice, chewy bite.

The slow-braised lamb shanks, meanwhile, were incredibly flavourful, succulent and fork-tender. The creamy garlic mashed potatoes were pillowy and flavoursome, and oh so decadent!

“Rolling in the drip” is a catchy name for beef steak wrapped around cheese and mushroom. It had a nice and savoury flavour but the beef steaks were a tad too chewy for our liking.

Just like the roasted chicken, grilled salmon and asparagus with lime rice is a permanent item in Huck’s Café menu. The salmon fillet was grilled perfectly with a slightly charred skin and juicy, oily flesh. A simple side serving of asparagus, cherry tomatoes and rice with hints of lemon and garlic were the perfect complements to the rich salmon fillet.

For desserts, we had some of our all-time favourites such as the durian mud pie, which is a seasonal item. It was creamy, sweet, nutty and had a light, not overwhelming, hint of durian.

Huck Seng, the brainchild behind Huck’s Café personally brought the creme brulee to our table and torched it in front of us.

Our dinner ended with more sweet offerings – the chocolate mud pie, brownie and crème brûlée.

Huck’s Cafe Bangsar
Address: 22 Jalan Abdullah Bangsar, 59000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2282-2126
Opening hours: Depending on availability, reservation is a must
GPS Coordinates: 3.130891,101.678746
Pork-free