Asam Pedas Tenggiri Rice Bowl. — Photos: MARIAN YU and PATSY KAM
Angela Chong calls her health café a “natural kitchen and fermentation house”, churning out sourdough breads, dishes featuring biodynamically grown and organic vegetables, with seasonings cultured and fermented from scratch.
Lunch at BeReal Café in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, kicked off with a butterfly pea and beetroot apple enzyme drink that opened up our palates.
We couldn’t resist having a slice of buttery, moist and aromatic Nangka Cake that had chopped bits of nangka to quell our hunger pangs.
Black Pepper Pork Rice.
For starters, we had Pumpkin Tamarind Soup that was light, sweet and tangy with umami from the shiokoji, lacto garlic and spiced oil infused with cardamom, star anise and chilli.
Topping the soup was chopped biodynamic choysam, served with a slice of sourdough.
Shiokoji is obtained from a fermentation of sea salt and koji rice. Koji is a mould (Aspergillus oryzae) which ferments rice and other cooked grains.
House-made bacon and sausages from Be Real Cafe.
At BeReal, koji is used to make shiokoji, miso, mirin, douchi, red yeast paste and amazake.
Here, I learnt about how rejuvelac, fermented from sprouted soya beans, is used to curdle soya milk for tofu in the Rejuvelac Tofu Salad in White Miso Dressing.
The pan-fried fermented tofu, organic vegetables and wakame are tossed in koji white miso for a healthy salad.
Double Cheese Black Angus Beef Burger.
You can build your own breakfast (or lunch) at BeReal and ours was an assortment of country loaf slices, brioche and almond bun, black garlic organic mushrooms and cabbage sauteed with sauerkraut.
This came with dollops of delish papaya ginger lime jam, pineapple chilli jam, lovely pumpkin kaya, ricotta cheese in oil and mellow miso butter.
It all sounded very experimental, but trust me, they were all scrumptious, just like the house-made sausages and bacon, made from pure meat without any flavour enhancers.
Rejuvelac Tofu Salad in White Miso Dressing.
Laksa Pasta was made with natural semolina and tossed with organic extra virgin coconut oil, aromatic laksa sauce and fresh herbs.
The pasta, topped with a pan-fried fillet of wild-caught tenggiri (mackerel), was quite special.
Black Pepper Pork Rice made eating carbs feel guilt-free.
This was lovely long grain rice that came with peppery hot chunks of tender, juicy pork.
Pumpkin and tamarind soup with a slice of sourdough.
Topped with a fried egg, the combination was paired with sweet pineapple and vegetable salad.
We also had Hakka Noodles, topped with pork, black fungus, seaweed and egg, all tossed together.
The noodles were made from lotus root flour, which gave them a springy bite.
The Double Cheese Black Angus Beef Burger put in the shade all the beef burgers I’ve had so far.
The patty was Australian Stanbroke Signature Black Angus beef (grassfed) with melted cheese sitting on fresh organic lettuce and tomato, and house-made pickled krautcheese beneath, organic beetroot ketchup and onions, assembled on a wholemeal sourdough sesame bun.
Local entry Asam Pedas Tenggiri Rice Bowl was cooked with organic spice paste and served with organic basmathi rice, yielding well-balanced hot and sour flavours.
There’s also a vegetarian version with organic egg and no fish.
After a good meal, wash it all down with a cup of organic coffee. It was truly a tasty, real meal.
