Motormouth From Ipoh

Gold and red shades all around to usher in the Year of the Horse? Bougainvillea City Cafe has been around for a good 4 months now.

And in a most persistent way seldom seen exhibited in Motormouth, the Ipoh Cafe Series continues for the fourth day with a story on a cafe that’s finally worth your time. Okay, at least, did justice with their food and drinks; without merely doubling their price and hoping to cash in on unassuming homecoming heroes. Bougainvillea City Cafe (BCC for short) occupies one of the charming refurbished lot along Jalan Lau Ek Ching; currently dominated by bars and watering holes like Brick & Barrels. With its stark yellow facade directly opposite of Bricks & Barrels, it’s pretty hard to miss this relatively new kid in town.

Helmed by an owner returning from the States with a wealth of culinary experience trained under Le Cordon Bleu; BCC focuses on fresh, quality Western cuisine with a touch of influence from Mexican cuisine (as in the case of their quesadillas range), and various new creations written on the board.

Ready? Here we go.

Low rattan chairs for those who are waiting for a seat I suppose. Yet, not a very pleasant way of waiting in line though; since you’re practically having someone staring at you from waist-height. Maybe they’re there for aesthetics purposes.

The menu covers a good deal of salads, pastas, sandwiches, burgers and desserts. The specials of the day were Wild Salmon Homemade Pasta, Wrapped Bacon Chicken Meat Balls, Roasted Grape Salad, and a few more. Even from the menu itself you can envision their aspiration to be one all-day cafe with a difference; instead of throwing in routine items like Caesar’s Salad or Cheese Burger or even Plain Old Carbonara, BCC serves Smoked Duck Alfredo Pasta, Traditional Chicken Ravioli, Donald Duck Salad (and no, I don’t think you will find the morbid sight of half a Donald in there), White Coffee BBQ Bacon Cheddar Beef Burger, Duck Mexican Quesadilla, and Honey Duck Wraps.

And thankfully, most items are priced below RM20/USD7 and came in rather substantial portions.

The Dragonfruit Shake was one wholesome, creamy and delicious shake (RM9.90/USD3.30) that deserves a thumb’s up, though the Iced Latte did not create the same wow factor.

The cafe opens only from 12 pm onwards, so you can forget your breakfast plans here. A late brunch or legally correct term should be lunch will suit you just fine, but do come early especially during this mad season and on weekends. The entire cafe can seat a crowd of 20 – 30 comfortably, yet when a few friends went there yesterday they had to give up as the place was packed.

Kiasu little Motormouth always come out triumphant; being the first customer for lunch.

Can’t say that they’re all substance without style though; as the beautiful (almost extravagant) mural on the feature wall looks splendid with a touch of festivities in accordance with the season.

Aside from various tea, coffee and fruit juices and shakes, BCC also has a wine list; a notch above the common cafes out there. So this completes the dining experience, and they serve pork as well.

White Coffee BBQ Bacon Cheddar Beef Burger (RM19.90/USD6.60) – Fresh made premium Australian beef patty, cheddar cheese and smoked bacon with white coffee BBQ sauce

Gimmicky? Maybe. But the white coffee BBQ sauce was one sweet, savoury and smoky sauce that complemented the beef well. And boy, was that a juicy patty of fresh Australian beef made in-house! The burger bun was not the conventional one; more like a cheaper bun from the bakery toasted but then that’s didn’t matter much when the meat and cheese combination was so good. Served with fresh lettuce drizzled with tangy balsamic vinegar and baked potato, the burger was rather filling and the juicy patty really left us in awe.

Wrapped Bacon Chicken Meatballs in Tomato Paste with shaved parmesan, roasted cubed potatoes and fresh greens (RM15.90/USD5)

And from their Specials menu, the meaty chicken balls wrapped with bacon were delicious and almost passing off as beer food if not for the abundance of potatoes and greens; rendering this more of a main than a snack. The tangy tomato sauce balanced out the carnivorous fare rather well, and this comes recommended. One point to note though; the chicken balls can be slightly salty, so you may want to hold off that dash of salt before tucking in.

Wild Salmon Homemade Pasta (RM39.90/USD13) – Another one of the Specials on the board

Surprisingly, the weakest dish amongst the three was the Wild Salmon Pasta. Don’t get me wrong; the lightly grilled salmon was beautifully done with the skin seared to a crisp and the moist flesh retaining the flavour of wild salmon. However, the homemade pasta suffered from a lacklustre presentation and taste; limp with nary a bouncy texture and the tomato-base spaghetti sauce was too diluted. Something that could be improved, I am sure.

All in all, the lunch at BCC was a mighty satisfying affair in my books; about RM100 for the 3 of us. We had no rooms for desserts there after, especially when I had to continue the cafe hop throughout the day. But their Tiramisu, Napolean and Crepe Cakes sounded like pretty fascinating affairs.

BOUGAINVILLEA CITY CAFE (Facebook)
21, Jalan Lau Ek Ching,
31300 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Tel No : +605-241 3782
Opens from 12 pm – 10 pm, closed on Tuesdays
GPS : 4.599111,101.085763
Opposite of Bricks & Barrels