Sunday Vibes

Sanctuary of calm — and cakes!

FIREPLACE. Remnants of Christmas decorations. Pretty blooms in little vases. The familiar smell of cake baking wafting in the air. A strange sense of having been in this cosy little space before suddenly envelops me.

Home.

It's just like walking through the door into the familiar embrace of that place called "home". Eagerly, I continue to take in the picture-perfect scene of my dimly-lit surrounds from the open doorway — the eclectic mix of furniture; the whimsical touches in every nook and cranny; the charming display of creativity on the walls…

"Hideaway", the word emblazoned across the glass window by the entrance of this boutique cafe makes me smile. That, it certainly is, I muse silently to myself, recalling how I almost missed this place in my exasperated attempts to locate it earlier.

I'd driven around Happy Mansion apartment in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, built in the 1970s but famed today for housing a number of buzzing cafes, at least twice over!

The sight of an elegant-looking lady, her dark hair tied back in a neat bun emerging from the kitchen bearing a tray of freshly baked scones propels me to hasten my steps towards the counter. "Oh my!" I couldn't halt the embarrassing squeal of glee from escaping my mouth at the sight of rows of cakes sitting demurely under the cover of glass. The young girl manning the till smiles at me knowingly, before continuing to serve her customer.

Pandan Gula Melaka. Marble cake. Orange Poppyseed cake. Victoria Sandwich. Lemon Drizzle. Blueberry Almond. Without realising it, I find myself mentally reeling off what's written on the cards by the cake stand.

Oh, what's this? A cake stand where a chocolate butter cake should have held court is empty. My dismay must have been so glaring for the girl at the counter to turn to me once again and assuage me that they're baking more at the back.

"Would you like to try the Pandan Gula Melaka? It's our bestseller…" The sound of a soft, motherly voice makes me look up from my pensive scrutiny of the empty glass.

It's the elegant lady with the neat bun, her kindly face wreathed in a pleasant smile.

"I'm not a Pandan Gula Melaka person," I protest, the image of the "lost" chocolate cake still haunting me. But she's pretty persuasive and eventually, upon her gentle urging, I relent. "Can I have a hot chocolate with that please?" I find myself saying to Doreen Thean, whom I'm soon to learn is the affable owner of this charming little hideaway.

TRADITIONAL AND CLASSIC

"I don't do 'pretty' cakes!" exclaims Thean whom I'd eventually invited to join me for a chat at my table by the window, as a modest slice of Pandan Gula Melaka cake and a cup of hot chocolate magically appear in front of me.

A furtive glance to the world beyond the window and I can see the sky has turned a moody canvas of graphite grey, hinting at an imminent downpour.

"This cafe prides itself on giving customers the kind of traditional, classic cakes that your grandmother might have made. Our specialty is our butter cake, by the way," she adds, chuckling good-naturedly.

Butter cake is a cake where one of the main ingredients is butter. Considered one of the quintessential cakes in American baking, it's said to have originated from the English pound cake, which traditionally used equal amounts of butter, flour, sugar and eggs to make it.

Certainly, there's a noticeable absence of fanfare and frills in the selection of cakes here. So used to the richer Insta-worthy, picture-perfect creations, Thean's inclination to offer more "understated" cakes takes me by surprise.

"I just want people to be able to actually TASTE the cake," says the attractive 55-year-old, before sharing with me that half of the time, she feels that the fancy icing and cream et al only serve to drown out the real taste of the cake.

Her foray into the world of cakes began when she was challenged by a customer to go beyond her comfort zone. She was still working in a bakery at Publika, which belonged to her daughter's godfather and his sister. "I was there for seven years and had taught myself how to bake all kinds of wholemeal bread," recalls Thean, who is of Melaka-Nyonya descent.

Adding, she remembers that a customer had asked her why the bakery didn't sell cakes. "She suggested that since I could already make bread, why not I bake cakes too." It was a suggestion that Thean decided to contemplate seriously.

Almost breathlessly, she reels off: "I'd taught myself how to make bread. And being a Nyonya, I already knew how to make pineapple tart. By then, I'd also been supplying fresh, homemade Nyonya caramel kaya to an upmarket supermarket for years. So, why not cake next?"

After poring over YouTube, the mother-of-one made her first cake — an Orange cake. It was well received by her customers, remembers Thean. "I recall someone saying, 'don't dress the cake up, if you dare. Let the cake speak for itself!' Those words stayed with me."

After the success of her first cake, she was asked to make a Marble cake. Rolling her eyes in mock horror, the former Malaysia Airlines (MAS) stewardess, who soared the skies back in the late 1980s to early '90s, exclaims: "Macam mana nak buat Marble cake pulak (How to make Marble cake)? I had no idea how to create that swirly pattern! But my customer told me to watch YouTube lah. So I did and was eventually able to pull off a Marble cake!"

It wasn't long before another customer, a lawyer this time, came in to request for something special for her mother — a butter cake. "I was like, errr…" says Thean, chuckling heartily, before adding: "But then I reflected, if I could make a Marble cake, then I guess a butter cake would be the same jalan (method) — but without the chocolate!"

THE RIGHT MIX

So, for the next eight months that ensued, Thean was offering her loyal customers three types of cakes at the bakery — Orange, Marble and Butter. "My daughter, Amanda, said to me, 'Mama, you're just SO sad. Only THREE cakes in eight months!'" she recalls with mirth.

It was upon Amanda's urging that Thean, who was also in the insurance line for more than 20 years, decided to up her game. "She suggested that I check out YouTube to see how I could make Blueberry Almond tea cake pulak," shares the avid baker, who confides that she grew up in a household that used to make a lot of Nyonya kueh — but not cakes.

"My grandmother never used to make cakes," she recalls with fond smile. "We all Nyonya la! From young, I remember my great grandma, my grandma, my mother… they made and sold Nyonya kueh in the estate that we lived in. Last time, my father used to work with Sime Darby in Merlimau, Melaka. I'd just help with putting in the fillings for the kueh."

Chuckling, she acknowledges her sudden digression and swiftly returns to the topic at hand. "Where were we?" jokes Thean before proceeding to tell me that what she discovered on YouTube didn't really sit well with how she wanted her cakes to be.

"They were so dense. It was obvious I couldn't rely 100 per cent on what I saw. So I decided to play around with the ingredients to see if I could achieve what I wanted."

Thus followed months of intense experimentations; from just basic ingredients, Thean started incorporating fresh fruits, nuts, seeds and various natural ingredients to her mix. "Soon enough, I was able to make Poppyseed cakes, Polenta cake, Banana cake… Today, at Hideaway, I bake at least 18 types of cakes, which are rotated daily," shares Thean, eyes dancing with pride.

Asked what the secret to a good cake is, she smiles before replying simply: "Good ingredients. The flour, the butter… and definitely, no shortcuts. If you don't get what you it is that you're after, try and try again. Don't be scared to be adventurous and experiment!"

Beaming, she poses: "And do you know when a butter cake tastes good?" I shake my head, confusion probably etched all over my face. A knowing nod, and Thean exclaims: "Eat it the next day!"

Eyes dancing at my bewilderment, she advises: "Look closely and you'll see that by then, the bottom part of the cake will be dry because all the oil has risen to the top, making it nice and moist. Meanwhile, if margarine is used, by the following day, the oil would have travelled to the bottom making the cake taste quite oily!"

Now, I know!

MOTHER-DAUGHTER SYNERGY

Bathed in a dim glow, the only source of light filtering in from the few windows in the cafe, Hideaway, a name coined by Thean's daughter, really does live up to its name. There's not the kind of harried bustle that you tend to encounter at the more "happening" cafes around town.

The happy punters here comprise families and groups of girlfriends out for a sweet treat and a good catch-up. Suffice it to say, it's the promise of good old-fashioned cake amidst a homey surrounding that has lured them here.

"Today marks our second year that we've been opened," shares Thean, before adding that prior to this, the space was actually a spa, which had somehow ceased operations for more than 11 months. Asked why this somewhat unusual, nondescript locale, surrounded by towering blocks, became her venue of choice, Thean, who actually resides somewhere in Bangsar South, explains: "I like the fact that it's a little hidden, away from the madding crowd. And parking is easy!"

As I take a leisurely sip of my hot chocolate, I spy her daughter, Amanda leaving her port at the counter and making a beeline for an empty table at the back. I wave in her direction, beckoning her to join us. The attractive 23-year-old psychology major smiles before sauntering over and pulling a chair next to her beaming mother.

"Everything you see here was sourced by me and my daughter," continues Thean, a single mother, pointing to the eclectic mix of furnishing and the crockery on the tables around us. "The chairs and the tables, the colour scheme, the decor items … we wanted everything to exude that rustic, homey feel."

Nodding enthusiastically, Amanda confides that she and her mother have a passion for cafe-hopping — in Bangkok! "We love Bangkok! We used to go quite often before the Covid-19 pandemic hit," she reveals, before adding: "It's not so much that we go for the coffee or anything; but we love the creativity that they imbue in their cafes.

They have some amazing concepts that we can actually derive inspiration from."

Excitedly, she pulls out her phone and begins scrolling. Amazing images of cafe interiors assail my sight. "You see, this one is actually a villa turned into a cafe. Notice the opulent fittings and the fixtures. I personally enjoy seeing how they gel what they're selling with the concept they choose," confides the KL-born Amanda, who occasionally displays her baking prowess by making the cookies sold here.

Nodding, her mother, who'd hitherto been listening intently to her daughter, chips in that when they decided to open Hideaway, they leaned towards the familiar. Shares Thean: "People tell us that the cafe has an English country-home feel. But actually, what we're after is for those who walk in to feel like they've come home. I guess that's why we decided to go with traditional homemade cakes as our main draw. Because cakes spell comfort."

FOCUS ON QUALITY

They extend further the "home" touches by even offering a "bespoke" service when it comes to the orders. For example, in addition to cakes, the cafe also offers a limited food menu. The modest staples are three types of pasta dishes — Sambal pasta, Aglio Olio with chilli flakes and Tomato with Basil Leaf pasta.

"When you order your pasta, you can tell me how you want it. Or what you don't want inside it," elaborates Thean, who proudly adds that not only is she the one who does all the baking here, but she's also the one to do all the cooking. "Whatever I have in my fridge, I can just incorporate. We don't pre-prepare things. We make only once you've placed your order. It's just like being at home."

They're both keen to reiterate that the decision to have a limited menu is due to their desire to focus on their traditional cake offerings. "We want people to enjoy going back to the basic cakes," says Thean, her voice soft.

"Yeah, but not everyone knows how to appreciate this kind of cakes though," chips in Amanda, her brows furrowing. Adding, She adds that these days, most people seem more interested in "cakes for the camera"!

"The pre-requisite is 'pretty to look at' so the camera can eat it first!" she points out, a trace of disdain in her voice. Adding, Amanda muses: "I'm not even sure that these people know the value of a good butter cake. That's why they balk at the thought of paying RM10 for a slice of our cake. They say it's not worth it because it looks so simple."

That said, the duo aren't willing to submit to "pressure". "I'm just going to continue doing what I do best," confides Thean, adding that there are plans to refine — and explore further — what they can do with their canvas. "But at the end of the day, I only have a pair of hands. I can't get too adventurous. My priority will always be quality," she says, emphatically.

Any plans to maybe open a restaurant, I couldn't help asking. Her eyes widen at the suggestion before Thean replies: "Well, aside from baking, I also love cooking. But I know if I were to own a restaurant, it would be very challenging."

Pursing her lips, she muses: "Definitely it'll be a bigger set-up and there'll be more to consider. Furthermore, I'm so particular with everything I do, I'd probably end up wanting to do everything myself. Like when I cook, I wipe. Immediately. My kitchen is spotless. Maybe it's the stewardess in me."

"Once a stewardess, always a stewardess!" Thean exclaims, eyes sparkling, her hearty chuckles accompanying her closing words to me before she and daughter, Amanda excuse themselves to tend to the sudden bustle of a post-lunchtime crowd.

HIDEAWAY

Where: AG7, Block A, Happy Mansion Section 17, Jalan 17/13, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Opens: Thursdays and Sundays, 11am to 6pm. Fridays and Saturdays, 11am to 9pm.

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