It was the first day of 2009, and we have to leave KL for home in Penang after a week there. But before we started our journey back, we decided to try out this place, Coliseum Cafe which was established in 1921. The cafe serves Hainanese cuisines minus the Pork, that is why many of our Muslim friends like to patronize this place too.
Colesium Cafe was established since 1921
The moment we enter into the reception area, we were like entering into another time in space. The furniture and fittings seem to be as old as my beloved parents, well aged! The place don’t only look and feel antique, it also smell old. Not only the furniture looked like collectibles, even some of the ‘kaptens’ (waiters) seem to be antiques themselves. 
Reception or lounge area.
An aged bar counter top.
Dining area with realy old tables and chairs, even some of the waiters are walking antiques.
As we were quite starved, we ordered quite a line of dishes to sample. The first thing that was served was the Ox Tail soup which had quite a lot of meat in it, but no tail! In the menu it was labelled as freshly brewed. The taste was very rich and heavy, and quite salty too for me and Gill.
The Ox Tail Soup was too thick and salty.
Then came their butter and cheese toast. The toast was crisp but not dry, just nice. The butter and cheese spread was sufficient to entice our taste buds. It was actually nicer than the toast we had at Edelwise for our 2nd Penang Food Blogger gathering.
In House Special Toast with Butter & Cheese.
The next order to come was the Hainanese Chicken chop. It looks and taste like the type that my parents used to served at their cafeteria and at home. It brought back many memories of them. The deboned whole leg of chicken was tenderised and lightly seasoned. The batter used was not too thick or heavy, just coated to the right thickness and deep fried to crispy golden brown. The sauce was not the usual Hainanese potato and mix vege sauce that we found at Yut Kee, it was in fact made of tomato sauce with peas, onion and mushroom. The tomato sauce was not too sour nor sweet, it went well with the chicken.
The Chicken Chop reminds me how my mom used to make them. It brings back memories!
The sauce is different from the usual Hainanese clear sauce found at Yut Kee in KL.
The rib-eye steak I ordered was medium-well, and came just as what I wanted although it was served on sizzling hot plate. The steak was plated and served like they used to during the 70′s to 80′s, simple and old school. The steak surface was caramelised and yet maintained the tender texture inside. But the browns sauce was a bit overwhelming. If I am not wrong the sauce was something straight from the can or a instant premix. Anyway, this steak was at least better that the one I had days ealier in Memphis Bistro at Subang Jaya.
The plating and cooking method was something that I experience many many years ago during my childhood and Teenage years at The Ship and Eden.
Then came the Inchi Kabin or deep fried chicken Nyonya style. Initially we thought, OMG it is overcooked. But one bite into the piece I took, it was crispy at the outer layer and amazingly still juicy and tender. It may not look appertising but the texture and taste was enough to change our minds.
The Inchi Kabin looks can be deceiving.
After all that food we still have some space to spare, thus we made two extra orders as my sis wanted to try them. We asked for their Hokkien Char and Cream Caramel. The Hokkien Char had lots of ingredients as will see in the photo below. The prawns were fresh and fragrant, but the noodles did not have that distinct taste of seafood or prawns. Usually Hokkien Char is fried and then stewed in a special broth made from prwans shells and bones, and that is why it has that distinct prawny sweetness in each every strand of noodle.
The prawns were firm and fresh, but the noodles did not have the prawn aroma.
Lastly, we had our dessrt which is cream caramel, which is also one of my moms specialty which my sister’s all time favourite. It looks good enough, but the custard was too stiff and firm. And the carmel sauce did not have that rich and smokey taste to it, just plain old sweet. It was bit of dissappointment there.
The Cream Caremel was a bit too firm and it did not have the smokey taste of caremel.
The business hours are from 10am to 10pm dailly except for Weekends and Public Holidays, where it open from 9am.
The address: 98-100, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, 50100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Phone No. : 03 2692 6270.
GPS Cordinates: N03*09’208″ E101*41’795″
On average, I would give this place:
- 3/5 for value (slightly expensive to Gill’s point of view)
- 3.8/5 for taste & texture (not all dishes hit the note)
- 3/5 for service (because of one specky guy I reduced the rating due to his unresponsiveness, the rest was polite and freindly)
- 2.5/5 for cleanliness (Gill complain about the table cloth which was also a piece antique – pretty dusty)
- 3.5/5 for atmosphere (brought back some old memories)
Popularity: 48% [?]
Coming 28th January 2009 or the 3rd day of the 1st month of the Chinese Lunar calender, their Pitt Street stall which is located at the corner of Lebuh Armenian and Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling (former known as Pitt Street), will be moving out of that corner coffee shop and into a shop house a few doors away. They will be have an official opening on the 28th at around 11:00-11:30am depending on the arrival of the lion dance group and God of Prosperity. We will be back with more details of the new shop after we attend their opening. Stay Tune!
Labour-intensive job: Bee Choo (left) helping Ah Geng take the ‘nian gao’ out of the steamer at their home in Perak Road.
