Happy Mansion in Seksyen 17, Petaling Jaya is one of those places where you never would imagine finding a hipster café. However, in the past ten years, Happy Mansion has transformed into a foodie’s paradise. It has everything from traditional kopitiams to modern cafes.
One of these cafes is Food Foundry, located in Block B. Many don’t know this, but Food Foundry started out way back in 2006. This was when hipster cafes were almost unheard of and the trend was only beginning to make an appearance in the Klang Valley. That makes Food Foundry one of the pioneers of the whole café craze here in Malaysia.
They’ve withstood the test of time and even stayed in the same location for the past 10 years. I got extremely curious about this place years ago and wondered what made it special, which is why I wanted to stop by.
I understand that they’ve renovated several times and made small adjustments to their menu. However, the essence of the place has remained the same. It was quite packed when I dropped by here on a Sunday night. That being said, however, there isn’t much seating and the café can seat about 20-30 people before it becomes too cramped to move around.
If you’re hosting a big group here on the weekends, it’s best to make a reservation beforehand. Anyhow, I didn’t know what to expect here. Me and hubby were greeted by a clean and minimalistic café with a very neighbourhood vibe. The menu was pretty concise, and fortunately for my (vegetarian) hubby, there were several vegetarian-friendly pasta options for him.
7 Layer chocolate cake
One of the first things I did was to hop on over to the cake chiller. I’ve read online somewhere that their mille crepes were really good. Not being a fan of mille crepe, I set my eyes on their 7-layered chocolate cake. There were several other non-mille crepe options there too, like the signature carrot cake. The menu is quite neatly divided up into breakfast items (only until 3 pm), poultry, salad and seafood.
Pesto Pasta
I settled for their Chicken Cordon Bleu (RM22) and hubby ordered their pesto spaghetti (RM20). There was also a double chocolate milkshake (RM13) and the chocolate cake(RM11) for dessert so we were all set. The Chicken Cordon Bleu was made with lean chicken breast meat stuffed with spinach and cheese. It was served on a bed of mashed potato and a side of salad with balsamic vinegar dressing.
Chicken Cordon Bleu
I actually liked the spinach stuffing in the chicken. You don’t often see that in other cafes or restaurants serving Chicken Cordon Bleu. I also liked that they included the carbohydrate in the form of mashed potatoes and not fries, and the softness of the mash evened out the deep fried texture of the chicken.
I wished I could eat more as there were a few things on the seafood menu that caught my eye, like the Ikan Bakar CousCous (RM26) and Seabass with mango (served on a bed of rice). I’ll probably stop by if I’m in the area again for those.
Double Chocolate Milkshake
That being said, I found Food Foundry a comfortable but pretty regular neighbourhood café. Its charm is probably that it holds a lot of sentimental value for those living around that area. Hopefully, it continues to service happy PJ-ians for decades to come.
- Address: BG-8, Happy Mansion, Jalan 17/13 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
- Phone: +60 3-7932 2322
- Opening Hours: Daily 10am-10pm
