Café De Vie - Metro Town

We remembered Cafè De Vie’s old Lintas outlet especially for its mille crepe cakes. After it disappeared from that location for a period, finding it at Metrotown in Kolombong brought that association back. This visit was to the Metrotown outlet, where the savoury menu had grown well beyond the cakes we remembered.

Otak-otak Pita was one of the most interesting orders. It felt relatively uncommon in KK, and we found it tasty. There was a mild spicy kick, but it was manageable even for someone with low spice tolerance. It was a clear positive from the savoury side of the meal.

Tuhau Pasta was a new menu item at the time. We liked its aroma and light spiciness. Butter Prawn Spaghetti went in a richer, creamier direction. That richness was enjoyable, but a large amount eaten alone could become heavy or jelak. We felt it was better shared.

The Nasi Lemak Fried Chicken had a mixed result. The fried chicken’s exterior was a little dry, while the inside remained relatively tender. The crisp bayam goreng was enjoyable and worked well with the rice, so there were still good parts to that plate.

Mushroom soup was decent and fairly standard, with nicely crisp toast alongside it. Hawaiian Pizza was the weaker order for us: fairly ordinary, and something we felt could be skipped if choosing only a limited number of dishes.

The mille crepe cakes still carried the strongest nostalgic pull. The cakes were described as made fresh daily at the time; our own enjoyment was in their light texture and restrained sweetness. Avocado was especially refreshing and the flavour we would most readily recommend. Mango felt like a safe, crowd-friendly choice, and durian was good too.

Cempedak was less to our personal taste compared with the others. That was a preference, rather than a reason to dismiss it for everyone. Someone who loves cempedak might enjoy that flavour more than we did.

Drink options included Dirty Matcha, Iced Latte and Yuzu Matcha. The Yuzu Matcha was our favourite during this visit: tangy, refreshing and especially nice alongside cake.

We left with a broader impression of Cafè De Vie than our old cake-only association. There were worthwhile savoury choices, particularly Otak-otak Pita, alongside dishes we liked less. Still, avocado mille crepe and Yuzu Matcha would be our clearest reason to come back.