My previous weekend trip to Malacca was more than 2 years ago. During that trip, my friends and I were deeply disappointed at the death of our favourite cafe – Coconut House椰子屋 … the cafe was still there but the details (ambience, products) were all gone (including our favourite – yam paste pizza). We assumed the cafe had changed hand (the real story).
We were thrilled to stumble across a successor in this trip over the national day weekend.
While we paid our routine visit to Puri Padi (a home decor shop) for new decor ideas and some hand-painted t-shirts, some of us with less strong legs had already settled down at the front of a cafe opposite the shop. Hiding in a small lane, it was a perfect hideout to sip a cuppa and watch the occasional passer-by. The strongest impression I had was that the cafe serves coffee beans from 13 states of Malaysia. I asked for recommendation for a strong bitter taste and got Negeri Sembilan. It was great. Cal who tried Selangor, liked that as well.
The next morning, after dim sum breakfast at a popular local coffee shop (Rong Mao) where coffee was so-so, we set out to look for a nice coffee before returning to hotel. We ended at the same cafe – Calanthe Art Cafe … only this time we asked for seats inside. As we were led deeper and deeper inside the cafe, it dawned on us that THIS would be THE cafe we will come back to every time we visit Malacca.
We were led across a patio into the inner most section of the cafe, where it looked like a living room from our childhood – sofa of the 60s/70s, black and white TV set (some of us pretended not to recognise it). Shortly after we settled down, rain started. Since we were stucked there, we took the time to look around – they sold ornaments in the cafe, with some stingrays as wall decor and a cosy small balcony section.
And the rain kept us there.
The coffee took quite a while to come, but we were not complaining … cos there was no where else we wanted to be other than listening to the rhythm of the rain. I am thankful to the rain.
Just immersed in the cooling, cosy, quiet, laid back and nostalgic ambience.
Time stood still.
This cafe embodies what Malacca is about.
