Premaas Cafe

Now, this cafe looks like an ordinary cafe and you might be forgiven for thinking it does not have much to offer any visitor. Back then during my university days, I often passed by this cafe on my way home to the apartment (in Puchong Jaya) up the hill and by the time I got home, I would ask myself why I didn't drop by when I had already worked up a big appetite. My roommate, CLS (and constant food kaki akin to the Makan Club as mentioned in lemongrass' blog) suggested one balmy evening that we try the cafe, having run out of affordable eating places nearby (we were students on a shoestring budget although we did not mind the occasional splurge for special celebrations). So we made our way there and helped ourselves to the free wi-fi with my laptop while perusing the menu. We were hooked on the potato cheese chapatti, potato masala thosai, fusion food sets and traditional North Indian fare including our perennial favourite Banana Leaf Vegetarian Set. Since then, we have been coming back for our fix of North Indian food.

It is really a tastefully decorated restaurant-cum-cafe with outstanding paprika red walls, a few Indian artistic wall-decorations, sturdy wood-lookalike melamine tables (that look like classy dining tables) and comfortable chairs in the café’s interior. The air-condition, soothing (and sometimes lively) music and fascinating Astro programmes (I don't understand why they tend to show National Geographic whenever I drop by – it is not very pleasant to tuck into the thosai after witnessing a crocodile wolfing down some thirsty animal) lend to a rather convivial ambience in the cafe. There's a small space in front of the cafe for puffers (smokers) on one side; the other is taken up by a huge display steamer stand where a variety of cooked vegetables and meat with droolsome smells of spices lie waiting in metal trays heated underneath by the hot water inside.

Whenever I come into this cafe, the waiters would warmly welcome me with a menu and pictorial menu-collection of the food. Maybe it helps the patrons to see how the food looks like rather than reading the matter-of-fact description of the dishes especially for fusion food but I would often order the North Indian food (ironically not shown in the pictorials).

This particular morning, I woke up rather early (would anyone in his/her right mind get up at 7.45am on a Saturday morning?) and found out the internet connection was not working much to my dismay (and growing panic). I am a technosaur after all. After much fiddling with the ethernet wire (which required some contorting under the low table on which my roommate's PC stood, to get to the CPU and “Jack-in-the-box” moving above/under the table to see these "Your computer has limited or no connectivity" messages on the monitor despite repeated plugging in/out of the ethernet wire) , I sent a SOS sms to the main tenant (who was probably sleeping in the master bedroom) and he later replied, saying that I just had to switch the modem off and on and the internet connection would be as good as new. Half-distrusting his advice, I followed the instructions and I was speechless with the miraculous popping of the MSN list. The joy of technology.

Anyway, after CLS woke up several eons later, we decided to have brunch at Premaas Café and languidly walked there. Sitting in the puffers’ section (I am not a puffer), we perused the menu and he suggested the potato cheese chapatti to share when he realized with horror that I didn’t try the particular dish (I mistakenly sampled the potato masala thosai the last time).

I was rather hungry so I asked the waiter whether they had curry puffs which were not proffered in the display stand and the waiter said the curry puffs could be made straight away, much to our incredulity. They actually turned out to be vegetarian samosas when I later checked the bill. Oh.

Resembling a crispy wanton dumpling with a small charming croissant shape, these piping-hot samosas were so sinfully delicious – the curry potato filling was superbly flavoured with spices and the dough shell was soft yet crunchy. We loved those samosas; I had already made a mental note to ask my parents to come up next time to try these.

Soon, our medium-sized chapatti arrived with a small sauce-plate of wet coleslaw dip Indian style (julienne carrot, some white vegetable and onion rings) and and a bowl of creamy yellow dhal with lots of small potato cubes. I am very particular about dhal; if the dhal is good, the following curry sauces and roti canai/thosai/chapatti/naan would be probably good as well (and I am sure any food lover would know that). The chapatti looked like a cross between a flattened pancake and (ok, this is going to gross you out) a sole fish’s spotted exterior skin. Without pausing, CLS just attacked the chapatti and his face displayed that blissed-out look which persuaded me to partake a little of the chapatti despite my misgivings (I am a naïve eater who tends to eat according to the pleasing aesthetics of the food).

What is that word to describe the feeling when you bite into a luscious rich chocolate fudge cake slice and go into orgasmic convulsions? That described my reaction to that cheese chapatti. The long stretchy strands of cheese mingled together with bite-sized soft potato cubes and the just-right baked chapatti was a wonderful meal in itself. The coleslaw dip was a wonderful accompaniment- it provided a zesty tang to the warm chapatti and within minutes, the dip was finished (I requested another sauce-plate!). The dhal was considerably chunky yet it spread rather well onto the chapatti.

We initially intended to eat the banana leaf vegetarian set later after the chapatti but we were rather full – this is how substantial the chapatti was! Maybe the vegetarian samosas were quite filling. Our regular-sized drinks of teh tarik ais probably contributed to the full feeling. Perhaps, the excruciatingly hot weather (such clear blue skies with nice fluffy clouds!) made us too lethargic to order the vegetarian set. Whatever it is, this chapatti has got to be one of the nicest meals I have had at Premaas Café and I shall order this dish again on my next visit.

Note: I’d upload the directions and address of Premaas Cafe later on.
Samosas - 80sen each
Potato Cheese Chappati - RM3.90