The Malaysian Insider :: Food
The Malaysian Insider :: Food |
| ‘No loitering’ says Thai McDonalds Posted: 25 Dec 2012 04:37 PM PST  The dining limit applies to seating areas throughout lunch, dinner and weekends though how strictly these rules will be enforced remains to be seen. – Reuters pic BANGKOK, Dec 26 – While normally synonymous with fast food, McDonald's has found that customers in Thailand are taking a different approach to grabbing a Big Mac, turning a quick bite into a long dining experience and transforming the fast food chain into a temporary workplace. McThai, the only franchisee of McDonalds in Thailand, recently announced the introduction of a maximum one-hour dining time in order to combat the problem of loitering customers. Diners are also being discouraged from charging their mobile phones and other electronic devices for more than 30 minutes while enjoying their meals. The dining limit applies to seating areas throughout lunch, dinner and weekends though how strictly these rules will be enforced remains to be seen. The Wall Street Journal also reports that earlier this year Starbucks in Thailand also began cracking down on what they believed was misuse of outlets of the coffee chain, asking students and teachers not to conduct large group lessons there at lunchtime. Over in the USA while McDonald's offers services, such as free WiFi, which could be used by individuals who are studying or working, the fast food chain has no nationwide policy regarding time limits on their time in the restaurants. – AFP-Relaxnews |
| Posted: 25 Dec 2012 04:02 PM PST  The interior of the café in the evening. – Pictures by CK Lim & Kenny Mah
Is it – and this one seems obvious – the coffee? Is a café's value determined by the range of beans available and their country or even precise farm of origin? Is it the barista? Whether he or she has won a slew of awards – best espresso, best latte art, and such? Is a café not worth visiting if its titleholder barista happens to be off duty that day? I can't help but wonder as I am drawn back to a few cafés, time after time, whilst not returning to others after the first visit. Top Brew Coffee Bar is one of my regular haunts for arguably some of the best coffee in town, so I decide to ask the head barista JH Yee for his thoughts.  A cappuccino made with Ethiopian Yirgacheffe single origin beans roasted by Five Senses Coffee. He explains, "I've always wanted to run a café of my own and after entering this industry, I've realised the potential for not only a career as a barista but a whole business revolving around coffee." Despite having been a head barista as well as a barista trainer (no mean achievements these), setting up a café from scratch was a new experience for Yee. "I wanted to start small," he says, "and not rush into making big design or operational decisions that would be costly and difficult to reverse later on. I figured we will add what turns out to be necessary as we got more feedback from our customers."  JH Yee, the Malaysian Barista Champion 2012 and owner of Top Brew Coffee Bar. There aren't many cafés around where young professionals exchange banter with retirees while minding their children or grandchildren (a well-behaved lot, thankfully). This is not a place to people-watch or to be "seen"; this is a café for relaxing and enjoying your coffee, the way it's meant to be. While Yee doesn't need everything to be perfect from the get-go, this doesn't mean he isn't a perfectionist. This champion barista is very, very serious about his coffee and makes sure only the best cups go out to his customers: "A brand, to me, should be about a promise to your customers. The promise that Top Brew is conveying isn't about a fancy décor or the latest gimmicky flavoured syrups but about delivering a consistently good cup of coffee every time."  Head barista Yee at work. To make sure he's always offering his customers the best, Yee is open to trying out new beans. Besides using a well-balanced blend from Penang-based Lighthouse Coffee for his standard espresso beverages, he also brings in seasonal single origin coffees specially sourced and selected by award-winning Australian roaster Five Senses. One firm favourite with his regulars is a cappuccino made with an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from Five Senses. A sweet blueberry note that is more blueberry jam than fresh berries makes this a fruitier-than-your-average cappuccino. Who knew coffee could have such depth?  Top Brew's popular homemade Belgian waffles. Yee smiles when I tell him that I've not had better waffles in recent memory. He offers his take: "Very few can resist the fragrance of freshly-made waffles, I find. On the other hand, it's hard to please everyone with the right choice of music for the café. Some like jazz; some don't. I prefer to allow the sound of human conversations become the café's music." And perhaps this is what makes a café a café, or at least one that works: that its customers and regulars come and return because they've found what they have been looking for – be it a cup of excellent coffee or a chat with the barista behind the counter or the delight of biting into a deliciously warm waffle. Like the slow but steady tortoise that wins the race, Top Brew is in no hurry to prove itself. This is a café where you can catch your breath and let go of your day, one cup at a time. Indeed I don't know which I'm looking forward to more – my next cup of coffee or my next conversation here; I only know it will be a good one. A satisfied Top Brew customer and his coffee. Open daily (except Wed) 9:30am – 6:00pm Tel: 03-62063062 & 016-2757500 Website: http://www.facebook.com/topbrewcoffeebar/. * Kenny's superhero alter ego is the Too Much Coffee Guy. Read more about his highly-caffeinated feats at http://lifeforbeginners.com. |
Is it the service? Whether your waiter is polite and warm or if you're given the evil eye for no apparent reason whatsoever – the wrong dress code perhaps?
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DUBAI, Dec 25 – Rafael Nadal's comeback from a long-term knee injury has been put on hold by an illness that has ruled him out of an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
NEW YORK, Dec 25 — After a season of holiday revelry, cold and flu season lurks around the corner ready to spoil all the fun. But a new study finds that chicken soup can cure what ails you, just like your mother told you.
NEW YORK, Dec. 25 – Charles Durning, a World War Two hero who became one of Hollywood's top character actors in films like "The Sting," "Tootsie" and "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," has died, a New York City funeral home said on Tuesday. He was 89.
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 25 — "She loved to walk down the street with a book under her arm. It differentiated her from the others." ? Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Soon we will celebrate and go on our long awaited holidays. After Christmas, it will be the New Year and time for another round. Some of us will start on diets again, to fit into that new dress for the office party, or to try once more to lose that paunch, a souvenir from a year of good beer. (I mean, good cheer, surely?) 
KUALA LUMPUR, 25 – Kerajaan tidak pernah melupakan masyarakat Kristian di Malaysia kata Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak hari ini sambil menekankan penganut agama tersebut juga berperanan dalam pembangunan dan kemajuan negara sejak merdeka lagi.