Cafe Discovery #9: Lapis @ Wangsa Maju

Day 99: Lapis @ Wangsa Maju

My family and I went to Lapis cafe today for dinner. Lapis means layers in Malay. I was told that the menu was rather limited and that it is a cafe not a restaurant. The decor is very “hipsteresque” which I like. Very modern and cute. Definitely an instagramable spot.

The menu only had 10 main dishes, a couple of sides and kids food and a few drinks. Very limited. They also do daily specials and today, it was “pulled” lamb sandwich (RM 18.00). Of course I ordered that as my main dish. Service was quick and it arrived rather fast. They buttered up a cut of french bread and had a few thinly sliced lettuce and a generous amount of shredded lamb meat in between the bread. It came with chips, garlic aioli and a runny chilli vinaigrette. The chips were decent. Really thick cut, soft on the inside chips. Garlic aioli I found really garlicky and the runny chilli vinaigrette was strange. It had a really strong vinegar smell and taste. I don’t know whether to have that with the lamb sandwich or the chips. It definitely didn’t go with the sandwich. Neither was it any better with the chips. The lamb sandwich was dry. There was nothing interesting about it. The lamb smells and it had no taste. It would’ve help if it had a barbecue sauce or caramelised onion or even pickles to help give it taste and not leave it so dry.

My sister ordered the Creamy Fusilli (RM16.00) which was basically fusilli in a bowl of mushroom soup.  It was literally just garlic, onion, cream, thyme and a few slices of button mushroom. It was well seasoned and the sauce was nice. The sauce was just too runny to be a pasta sauce. Runnier than a bowl of mushroom soup. Some parmesan cheese would’ve help to thicken the sauce and make it stick to the pasta.The fusilli was over cooked – you don’t have to chew it anymore, it just melts in your mouth. Since the sauce was too runny, the fusilli ended up tasteless and tasted separate from the sauce. It was a disappointment really.

Usually cafes like this, they concentrate on their coffee and desserts. Since I don’t drink coffee, I had to try their dessert. I ordered the carrot cake and it was a tiny portion. It definitely was an awesome slice of cake. The creme cheese frosting was smooth and not too salty. The frosting and cake ratio was perfect. The carrot cake was moist and it was not over powered by the spices. Walnut was in the cake too and it added texture. It was beautiful.

My sister ordered a banana flavoured whoopie pie (RM2.50). I’ve never tried a whoopie pie before. But I know it’s traditionally a tiny sponge cake with icing in between. Their whoopie pie was dense probably because of the banana flavour. I’m not too sure. It was nice and moist and not too sweet. I can taste a little bit of nuts in the cake, probably walnuts. It was decent but the carrot cake was definitely a winner.

The service was fast and waiters were all attentive to the customers. However, I was pretty concern when I saw all the waiters with long hair, men and women, not tying their hair serving customers with food. I don’t think thats proper. Thats just my opinion. Lapis is a nice cafe for when you want to grab a quick bite or to catch up with friends over coffee and cake. It is a really pretty cafe. I adore the decor.

Ambiance: 7 out of 10
Food: 5 out 10
Service: 6 out of 10
Price: $$

Cafe Lapis
No.3, Jalan Wangsa Delima 1A
Seksyen 5 Wangsa Maju
53300 Kuala Lumpur
Tel:  03-4141 8297

Good luck!

Love,
A