I’m not quite sure why but I feel more peckish in the afternoons on weekends than weekdays. Perhaps it has something to do with more time to think about food and not ignoring the hunger pangs on weekends? Last weekend, I went looking for a tea-time treat around Bandar Baru Sri Petaling. No lack of choices there with a whole row of restaurants and then some. InHouse Cafe is the latest to join the crowd and it’s a 24 hour cafe so all you night owls out there know where to go if you don’t want to have teh tarik at the local mamak stall after midnight.
InHouse’s menu is extensive, there’s local and Western fare so you have all the local favourites such as dim sum, rice and noodles as well as spaghetti, chicken, lamb and pork chop (note : NOT HALAL!). The drinks menu is equally extensive with lots of cold drinks. Desserts not so much, mostly ice cream.
Smokers can avail themselves of outdoor seating. There are quite a number of tables inside with an inner space within the indoor seating area which is divided by a sliding glass door. If I do go there again, I would choose to sit within the inner inner seating area as the outer inner seating area attracts flies.
There is a selection of flower and fruit teas available such as jasmine, blueberry, mango, peach, lemon, green and earl grey. Set lunches are only available from 11-3pm weekdays and excluding public holidays while breakfast sets are available between 6-10am. Most of the dim sums cost between RM3.50-5 which I suppose is quite reasonable.
One of the best ways to find out whether the food is any good is to go for the local fare first. I am no food expert but since I love to try food at new eateries, this is just from my experience. My “long jing” tea came in a pot, it’s RM2 per pax but why bother with sky juice which is alreadyRM1. There are 2 other Oriental teas available but I went for “long jing” which I presume would be more worthwhile than the other 2. There’s more than enough in the pot for 1 pax.
The prawn mee (RM8.90) came before the caramel coffee (RM5.90) which took ages to arrive as they’d forgotten about it and it was only after a few reminders to the waiters and someone who looked like he was a manager that the drink finally made its long-awaited appearance. Just as well I wasn’t expecting much from the prawn mee. I just wanted to fill up my belly. The soup was average, hardly left me wanting seconds. No sambal on the side and when I asked for it from one of the foreign waiters, he didn’t understand my request so I gave up.
I guess the caramel coffee was worth the wait as it was really good and this coming from someone who stays away from caramel. It wasn’t too sweet and complemented the coffee perfectly. I think the drinks at this cafe are far better than the food but don’t take my word for it since I have only tried the prawn mee which I think was worth RM5.90, certainly not RM8.90. They could have given an entire boiled egg instead of just half and the 3 miserable prawns and few strands of kangkung hardly justified the price.
All prices are subject to 10% service charge. InHouse Cafe is located at 53, Jalan Radin Anum, Bandar Baru Sri Petaling (03-9054 4035) with outlets in Taman Midah, Pandan Indah and Bandar Mahkota Cheras.
