The traditional appam gets a delightful facelift with a contemporary reinvention, writes Gabriel Martin
“COME on, not another hipster cafe please,” I mutter to myself as my friend and I walk briskly along Jalan Pudu to Hoppers KL. Totally oblivious to what hoppers are, or what the six-month-old cafe would be serving, I hazarded a guess that we’d probably be looking at the usual sandwiches and possibly a selection of pasta infused with local ingredients.
The shopfront is decorated with vintage posters of Tamil blockbusters hanging from the ceiling outside. We make a beeline for the neon pink “H” sign next to the stairs and head upstairs. The space is beautifully designed with a colour palette of turquoise green and candy pink against white walls and bare ceiling. Potted plants dot every corner. But where’s everybody?
“We actually just closed the upstairs section temporarily to rebrand the place. We plan to bring something exciting in early April. Look out for the fresh new menu,” begins Sugania Naidu, founder of Hoppers KL, as she leads us downstairs to the dining area.
“What’s a hopper?” I couldn’t help blurting out the question.
“Appam!” the 26-year-old is quick to reply, as she forms, with her fingers, a bowl-like shape to demonstrate what a hopper looks like. The bowl-shaped pancakes, usually served with savoury dishes, are widely popular in Sri Lankan cuisine. In Malaysia, the appam is served as a sweet pancake.
“At Hoppers KL, we’re bringing this traditional pancake to a new audience. They’ve been given a contemporary twist where dishes are served within the pancakes rather than on the side. The recipes are a hybrid of my mother’s and my own because I love food,” confides Sugania.
JOLLY OFFERINGS
While the menu can be a little puzzling at first glance, Sugania is quick to explain how the food items are put together. She makes a point of talking to every customer to ensure that they understand what they’re about to tuck into.
A standard egg hopper is a great starter for first-timers as introduction to this Sri Lankan staple. Here, only fresh free-range eggs are used to make the perfect egg hopper. Customers can also choose between a runny yolk and having the egg medium-cooked.
The main ingredients to make hoppers are basically soaked rice and coconut milk. Rice grains are soaked overnight for more than seven hours before being blended with cooked rice, soda and yeast until a smooth mixture is formed. Fresh coconut milk would only be added when the cafe is opened in the morning.
“I do all the marketing first thing in the morning at the Pudu wet market to get the freshest local ingredients. I’m very particular about my food being well-presented, and made using fresh produce and tasting good,” confides Sugania.
The spread of hoppers looks Instagram-worthy and most intriguing. Each dish is well presented with garnishes and generous fillings. From meat-loaded ones and vegetarian options to a satay-inspired version and Hoppers KL’s take of nasi lemak, there’s certainly plenty to choose from.
I opt to try both the meat and vegetarian options. The buttermilk and lemongrass fried chicken in a peanut sauce, garnished with onions and cucumber, offers an amazing introduction to my all-Malaysian palate. Tender pieces of chicken, lightly coated in a spiced batter go so well with the egg hopper. With its soft, spongy centre and crispy outer edges, the mingling flavours of a hopper melting in is an experience to savour.
“Use the crispy sides of the hopper and dip it into the over-easy egg yolk,” suggests Sugania, beaming. Fingers first, I dig into the second hopper filled with braised spiced aubergine, crispy okra, capsicum and a sprinkle of white sesame. Beautifully-cooked vegetables with crispy fried slivers of okra offer texture and a harmonious blend of flavours.
Onto the third hopper, Sugania recommends the peppery goat, yoghurt, pomegranate seeds, coriander, and garlic pickle variety. It’s a must-try here, she tantalises. And she’s right. The meat is oh-so tender with a beautiful balance of flavours and there’s a pleasant numbing spiciness that’s countered with the yoghurt. Heavenly!
Just as I was thinking I’d had my fill of all the hoppers I could possibly eat, the bubbly cafe owner, a philosophy major and Master’s holder in psychology, exclaims: “No, it’s time for something sweet!”
HEALTHIER ALTERNATIVE
Hoppers, with their lovely texture, are a great alternative to bread or rice. “At Hoppers KL we believe in providing a healthier way in eating by using fresh ingredients from the get-go. We don’t practise freezing foodstuff. Everything that we have here comes fresh from the market directly or is supplied to us by our suppliers daily.”
The cooks, adds Sugania, only use sunflower oil to cook with as it’s a lot healthier, doesn’t contain saturated fats and can actually reduces the body’s overall cholesterol content. The graduate of Regent’s University London is a food enthusiast who believes in all-natural produce.
As Ed Sheeran’s song, Photograph, comes to an end, a waiter walks over with two sweet hoppers. They’re almost see-through thanks to the aerated and fermented rice and coconut milk batter. One is topped with mango, sprinkled with toasted black sesame and edible jasmine flowers, served with coconut milk.
The other is a vibrant green appam filled with pandan kaya, crumbled toast and drizzled with salted browned butter. “This is the only green hopper you can find in town,” exclaims Sugania, eyes dancing.
IMMORTALISED SPACE
The space on which Hoppers KL sits is actually a revitalisation project. The building was converted from an old-school solicitor’s office into a space that celebrates both old and new. While the interior delights with its fresh new look, it’s more the menu that piques my interest. The cocktails have names like Mr Ahmad, Miss Wong and Mrs Santha.
Shares Sugania: “When we took over this place, we found the names of the people who used to work in this office. So when we were scratching our heads trying to think of names to call our drinks, we thought it’d be fun to name them after the people who used to occupy this building.”
The young entrepreneur has set her sights on bringing back traditional offerings to urbanites through her love for food. By modernising the standard appam, she hopes that more people will be better acquainted with the uniqueness of this humble recipe, where, in most commercialised Indian restaurants, the hopper is secondary to other fancier offerings. Hoppers KL, concludes Sugania, isn’t just an Indian restaurant. “It’s a cafe serving Malaysian food — with a twist!”