Thursday, March 27, 2008
Joy Cafe
STAR M E T R O
Central Saturday December 15, 2007
For the joy of cooking
By TAN KARR WEI
ARMED with a love for good food and time on their hands, retired couple Dennis and Joyce Ng opened Joy Cafe.
“We’re pensioners and we opened this cafe because we both love cooking good quality food that people can enjoy. We treat this more like a hobby than a business,” said Dennis, 56.
Innovative: Dennis and Joyce experiment with different ingredients to come up with drinks like the orange white coffee (back) and the iced milk tea (front).
A simple interior of green walls and Chinese marble-topped tables and stools greets customers at the establishment, complemented with a few paintings and wall hangings handpicked by the couple.
High on their recommendation list is the braised pork ribs with homemade organic noodles.
Dennis said some customers enjoyed the noodles so much that they bought the raw noodles from him.
He is so fussy on hygiene that the portions of raw noodles are individually packed so that his employees would not have to handle it with their hands.
Another specialty is the braised lamb brisket with dark gravy that would go well with plain white rice.
“It’s one of the dishes that have some Hong Kong influence because I learnt it from my friends there who are chefs,” he said.
Not content with serving common dishes found in other kopitiam and cafes, the husband-and-wife team comes up with special dishes that can only be found in Joy Café, one of them being the Joy special fried rice.
Old recipe: Hainanese chicken chop, a recipe which Joyce learnt from a Kuala Lipis coffee shop where her mother and grandfather worked.
“I cook it with pork that has been braised for a few hours so the fried rice has a unique taste that you can’t find elsewhere,” said Dennis proudly.
Joyce, 54, takes pride in the fact that she cooks most of the dishes from scratch using fresh ingredients, like the special Siamese laksa she makes or the chicken rendang that comes with the nasi lemak.
Dennis and Joyce even come up with their own drink concoctions like the less common orange white coffee or blackcurrant coffee that is served hot, cold or ice blended.
To end a meal at Joy Cafe, there is the dessert of the day like the red bean and black glutinous rice paste; green bean with sago; corn and wheat paste; peanut paste; black sesame paste; pumpkin paste and the lotus root special, which is popular with customers.
According to Joyce, they do not make all the desserts each day because of the time needed to make each type and they want customers to enjoy a fresh dessert that is made the same day it is sold.
JOY CAFE, 540, Jalan Riang 11, Happy Garden, Kuala Lumpur (Tel: 012-268 1123, Dennis Ng). Business hours: 11am to midnight (Tues-Sun). Non-halal.
Central Saturday December 15, 2007
For the joy of cooking
By TAN KARR WEI
ARMED with a love for good food and time on their hands, retired couple Dennis and Joyce Ng opened Joy Cafe.
“We’re pensioners and we opened this cafe because we both love cooking good quality food that people can enjoy. We treat this more like a hobby than a business,” said Dennis, 56.
Innovative: Dennis and Joyce experiment with different ingredients to come up with drinks like the orange white coffee (back) and the iced milk tea (front).
A simple interior of green walls and Chinese marble-topped tables and stools greets customers at the establishment, complemented with a few paintings and wall hangings handpicked by the couple.
High on their recommendation list is the braised pork ribs with homemade organic noodles.
Dennis said some customers enjoyed the noodles so much that they bought the raw noodles from him.
He is so fussy on hygiene that the portions of raw noodles are individually packed so that his employees would not have to handle it with their hands.
Another specialty is the braised lamb brisket with dark gravy that would go well with plain white rice.
“It’s one of the dishes that have some Hong Kong influence because I learnt it from my friends there who are chefs,” he said.
Not content with serving common dishes found in other kopitiam and cafes, the husband-and-wife team comes up with special dishes that can only be found in Joy Café, one of them being the Joy special fried rice.
Old recipe: Hainanese chicken chop, a recipe which Joyce learnt from a Kuala Lipis coffee shop where her mother and grandfather worked.
“I cook it with pork that has been braised for a few hours so the fried rice has a unique taste that you can’t find elsewhere,” said Dennis proudly.
Joyce, 54, takes pride in the fact that she cooks most of the dishes from scratch using fresh ingredients, like the special Siamese laksa she makes or the chicken rendang that comes with the nasi lemak.
Dennis and Joyce even come up with their own drink concoctions like the less common orange white coffee or blackcurrant coffee that is served hot, cold or ice blended.
To end a meal at Joy Cafe, there is the dessert of the day like the red bean and black glutinous rice paste; green bean with sago; corn and wheat paste; peanut paste; black sesame paste; pumpkin paste and the lotus root special, which is popular with customers.
According to Joyce, they do not make all the desserts each day because of the time needed to make each type and they want customers to enjoy a fresh dessert that is made the same day it is sold.
JOY CAFE, 540, Jalan Riang 11, Happy Garden, Kuala Lumpur (Tel: 012-268 1123, Dennis Ng). Business hours: 11am to midnight (Tues-Sun). Non-halal.
