Foodies Haven

For food lovers, food keeps their souls and happiness alive! You may not be a food lover but you will find a good selection on The Artisans Haven to whet your appetite and satisfy your palate.

There are also some teas and drinks specially created for their health benefits.

Two Dads

The Sambal Laut from Two Dads hits the right spot for those who love a lil spice in their lives.

“There are various ways you can enjoy our Sambal Laut, be it with nasi panas and some lauk, or bring it up a notch by making kailan ikan masin,’’ says Sheridan Shahadan of Two Dads.

Sambal Laut is made from two types of salt fish - ikan talang and ikan mayong – chilli padi, ginger, garlic and pure vegetable oil.

In two varieties - Original and Level Neraka – yummy food ideas include:

Grilled cheese stuffed with Sambal Laut

Level Neraka egg salad sandwich

Sambal Laut egg on toast

Sambal Laut cheesy Neraka omelette sandwich

Sambal Laut with meehoon soup

“Some customers have our sambal with their burgers, pasta and oatmeal!

“We guarantee the ‘sedapness,’ we are all about making your life easy … just pop the jar and enjoy … simple as that,’’ says Sheridan.

Sweet Indulgence Malaysia

Enter the heavenly world of cakes with:

Rich chocolate moist cake with fudge; the best seller to date, this cake pairs well with teas such as English breakfast, Earl Grey or Chamomile.

Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting; made with premium fruits and nuts, it fits well with current health trends for low fat superfoods.

Pistachio almond butter cake; with a nutty fragrance from blended pistachios and almond nuts, the cake texture is soft and fluffy with buttery goodness.

Poppy seeds were added for a crunch and ‘popping excitement’ in your mouth.

You will really enjoy its buttery and nutty taste with a cup of latte or expresso.

Traditional fruit cake; made with premium preserved fruits, nuts and rum, this cake will be popular with the upcoming Christmas and Chinese New Year.

There are customers ordering for the elderly as it is not too sweet despite the generous amount of mixed fruits.

Maskofis layer cake; due to its symbolic meaning of wealth in multi layers, this cake is popular during Chinese New Year.

It can be ordered with or without rum, the spice added is just right and not over-powering, making it favourable to both young and old.

Adults and children’s novelty cakes; from single to multiple tiers, this butter cake is usually covered with fondant and designed with figurines to suit the celebration theme.

Butter cakes are used as the base to withstand the design; no sponge cakes are used for the novelty cakes.

For two-tier cakes, customers are allowed to choose two types of cake flavours – rich chocolate moist cake, red velvet, Earl Grey, orange butter cake, almond butter cake, pistachio almond cake and fruit cake.

‘‘We often do research and development on new cake types to continue coming up with new flavours,’’ says Jessica Wong of Sweet Indulgence Malaysia which was founded in 2010.

“Our cakes are home baked with pure butter, by my Mom Audrey who has been baking for 30 years,’’ adds Jessica who was the cake decorator for her Mom’s cakes, and a Wilton Method instructor for cake decoration.

With her fulltime job, she helps her Mom part-time and decorates cakes for existing repeat customers.

Perfectly Tea

Calling tea lovers!

Handcrafted with dynamic lifestyles in mind, Perfectly Tea creates a healthy way of life from morning till night.

Its top products include:

Power to Create; a bright tropical blend from fresh pineapple bits with lush, high quality Oolong tea, to give that morning boost, to help you create your best day!

Beauty Sleep; this caffeine-free tea from mint, lemongrass, rose, liquorice, lemon balm and stevia leaves, has calming effects for deep relaxation and rest, so that you can conquer the next day, all refreshed.

Sweet Heart is a refreshing blend of Sencha green tea, roasted golden buckwheat grain and carrot.

“With the pandemic and seeing how Malaysians are feeling, we wanted to create something uplifting; placing happiness as a top priority, we came up with Sweet Heart Tea,’’ says Cindy Lee of Perfectly Tea.

“Just looking at the sweetheart blend melts my heart, with its warm, beautiful colours and sugar trinkets in the shape of a flower.

“The aroma from the tea is a great blend of warmth and sweetness; on a hot day, add some ice to this lovely drink!’’ adds Cindy.

My Kefir World

Kefir, an increasingly popular fermented milk drink, is also considered a superfood due to its wide ranging health benefits such as improved digestion, immunity and better sleep.

There are many ways to enjoy milk and water kefir:

Milk kefir can be blended with fruits to make a kefir smoothie or a kefir popsicle, or poured over a bowl of fruits, seeds and nuts.

Water kefir is best drank after a meal; it is fizzy and refreshing, and helps with digestion.

Kefir cheese can be eaten on its own, or as a spread with some butter on crackers or bread; it can be softened up to be used as a dip.

Kefir ice cream comes in chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and mango flavours.

Water kefir can be combined with kefir ice cream to make a kefir probiotic float.

“Milk kefir tastes like sour and thickened milk; on its own, it is a complete food with all the nutrition of milk that has proteins and minerals.

“Blending it with fruits like berries, bananas, avocado and mangoes makes it a totally delicious and nutritious probiotic food,’’ says Wong Chai Youn of My Kefir World.

Milk kefir can be cow or goat milk, while water kefir comes in various flavours, the bestseller being roselle; other flavours include passionfruit, lemon, ginger, lemongrass, coconut and original.

Water kefir tastes fizzier over time, as ongoing bacteria and yeasts inside the drink continue their fermentation when kept in the fridge.

It is best to consume them within one to four weeks.

Both milk and water kefir do not turn bad even if they are kept in the fridge for months; due to ongoing fermentation, the taste will get stronger and can become vinegarish and bitterish after many weeks.
My Kefir World was interviewed on The Yum List that features good food and travel.

Seven Tea One

This award-winning, accredited social enterprise produces healthy F & B to earn income to support differently-abled teens from the B40, and single parents segments.

Its products include:

Nine types of handcrafted infusion teas

Six varieties of childhood cookies that include premium nutty tarts

Six varieties of dried fruits

“Our teas are pleasant to drink at any time of the day, as they do not contain caffeine; they have high antioxidant properties which naturally promotes wellness.

“They are best taken with cookies during high tea and after meals; our cookies are gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian,’’ says Lai Chong Haur of Seven Tea One.

Seven Tea One has supplied corporate gift sets to universities, banks and companies; it also does food catering for events, as donations to welfare homes and to feed the needy.

Seven Tea One has a community café and center that provides vocational training and employment to differently abled teens; it won the Star Golden Hearts Award 2020 and the Gamuda Inspiration Award 2020.

Oishi Ollete Empire

The richness of chocolate can be savoured from the Chocojar and Beescotti at Oishi Ollet Empire.

Chocojar is made of:

Belgium milk chocolate with crispy rice (choko)

Belgium dark chocolate with crispy rice, almond nibs and dried strawberries

Belgium milk chocolate with crispy rice, almond nibs and specially made salted caramel nibs

Meanwhile, Beescotti is pure butter cookies with rainbow chips.

“In the case of chocolate, we use couverture, not chocolate compound; most of our customers love the richness of its taste,’’ says Zaliza Zainuddin of Oishi Ollet Empire.

Couverture chocolate is ground to a finer texture than regular chocolate, and contains more cocoa butter compared to the other ingredients.

The Chocojar and Beescotti can be eaten on their own, and are also delicious with ice cream, waffles and bread.

BG Coffee

Coffee pairs well with foods that are light and mild-flavoured.

At BG Coffee, the four aromatic flavours are:

Brazil Caldas Royale which is chocolatey, nutty and with a caramel flavour

Colombia Popayan Reserve is more towards the taste of orange and sweet caramel

Ethiopia Guji Shakisso is light body, fruity and winey

Thailand Chiang Rai 100% Arabica Beans is chocolatey and earthy with a sweet caramel finishing

“Pairing coffee with bread is good, as it has a mild flavour; it’s also good with English breakfast like croissants, scones and light biscuits,’’ says Fletcher Kong, trainer, BG Coffee.

BG Coffee is processed and sold by Beautiful Gate Foundation for the Disabled.

“Supporting BG Coffee is to support the work that we do for people with disabilities, giving job opportunities to the disabled while assisting them to live independent lives,’’ says Ivy Pua, acting executive director, Beautiful Gate Foundation.

MyGranny’s Foods

Savour the time-tested recipes of Granny’s cooking.

“MyGranny’s Foods brings you the feeling of those good ole days with every bite you take,’’ says Mindy Jassal of MyGranny’s Foods.

Mindy has put all her wonderful memories of days spent with her cousins, at her late Granny’s house, into her food range that include:

Sambal Udang Kering

Murukku

Achu Muruku (Kuih Ros) – Original and Sesame

Nutty Florentines

Latest is Spicy Chivda (Mixed Nuts Snack)

Besides enjoying the sambal for its good taste, it can also be used to accompany nasi lemak, char koay teow, nasi goreng petai, as well as to make yummy omelette, cheese toast and shrimp paste fried rice.

“Food from our childhood brings back warm feelings and good memories, and often becomes the comfort food that we seek in times of stress and frustration,’’ adds Mindy.

Padma’s Dapur

Her homemade coconut candies features popular flavours such as:

Chocolate/coffee/matcha

Pandan Gula Melaka

Roasted peanuts

Original in pink/green/yellow/mixed

Special edition (roasted peanuts. almonds)

“Since they’re sweet, you can pair them with black coffee or tea … or something salty, so you have sweet and salty at the same time,’’ says Padma Narayanan of Padma’s Dapur.

“It also goes well with green tea or Chamomile tea,’’ says loyal customer Adelaine Foo who takes the candies slowly in little bites, and lets it melt in her mouth while she reminisces of her childhood.

“I love the candies so much that I want to savour the pure taste of its ‘yumminess,’’’ adds Adelaine.

To Padma’s other customers, the candies have a great taste – moist, chewy and scrumptious - and are not too sweet.

Padma also has gift boxes and package deals in six flavours.

Juwita Bakery

Termed by a customer as ‘dream cake from my childhood,’ Indonesian layer cakes galore at Juwita Bakery features:

Original

Green tea (new flavour)

Pandan

Mocha coffee

Lemon

Belgium chocolate

Prune

Hawflakes

Orange mixed fruits

Cheese

The new flavour – Lapis Surabaya – comes in original and pineapple Surabaya.

Juwita also makes Bika Ambon (Indonesian Honeycomb cake); also known as golden cake, this is an Indonesian dessert made from ingredients such as tapioca flour, eggs, sugar, yeast and coconut milk.

“Our kek lapis can go along nicely with coffee or tea,’’ says Lenny Go of Juwita Bakery.

Among the reviews, the Lapis Surabaya pineapple is said to have a good pineapple taste; some customers look forward to their afternoon tea with Indonesian layer cakes and Bika Ambon.

The cempedak layer and banana cakes are also not too sweet, while real fruits – cempedak and banana – are used.

Juwita Bakery’s layer cakes are from their family recipes in Medan, Indonesia.

Nikki Muruku Ikan

From Grandma’s treasure trove of recipes comes Nikki’s healthy muruku, made from fish.

“I never knew there is fish in muruku until I purchased Nikki’s brand of muruku!,’’ says a customer, Ooi Cheng Cheng.

She adds it to her fried vegetables for some crunch and curry dish, to make it more flavourful.

Light and crunchy, the muruku ikan can be enjoyed by itself, for example, when watching Netflix, or added to nasi lemak and salads for flavour and texture.

“The muruku ikan is not hard, even my nenek loves it,’’ says another customer, Dayana.

So you had a ‘tour’ of the mouth-watering foods at the Foodies Haven at The Artisans Haven; do sample a few in support of our local artisans.

Also try the healthy range of teas and drinks that will leave you refreshed and recharged in time for the economic recovery.

SHOP ARTISANS!