好家婆 Best Ah Ma Cafe Pudu — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

Update 3/10/24 - treated myself to their house made special ondeh ondeh cake (I had the pandan later cake before & that was good). It’s spendy (about the same price as my assam prawns nasi lemak entree), but big & more than enough for two to share! It’s delicious moist sponge cake infused with pandan and vanilla, light butter cream and shredded coconut & just enough palm sugar.

Update 3/4/24 - They are now open until 6:30pm & new menu items have been added, including a yummy purple rice coconut drink! Also I just tried their new assam prawn nasi lemak & love it, nice mild spicy sour flavor to the prawn sauce! Def try it since it’s good & different than the usual sambal udang nasi lemak.

Update Jan 2024 -

Food & service are still A+ like when I first found this place almost a year ago! Came by 2x in just a few days for lunch to have my favs (see newly posted pics).

2023- Update again - came back a few more times and tried new dishes! The dry fish ball noodle is so good - the soy sauce is lightly sweet/salty & best part is the fragrant onion scented oil used here, gives this dish that authentic traditional flavor hard to find these days, love that the yellow noodles have a nice chew/not too soft. The fish balls & soup are flavorful. Ate this dish 2x in a row here :)

Also tried their kaya & butter toast finally - very nicely toasted - crispy on the outside and not burnt anywhere :)

Tried their home made “snow crisp” cookie, really good, chewy on the outside and crispy on the inside. Delicious pieces of almond, pistachio & cranberry inside!

Tried the brown sugar ginger drink - so good, they slow cook thin slices of ginger to get a strong flavor and the brown sugar adds a delicious flavor. Also had the fish balls noodles, delicious clean fresh taste! Update - been back two more times since my initial review. Tried 4 new items. They BestAhMa signature coffee is strong & not too sweet, def a good choice for the AM with breakfast! The classic butter croissant is so good, they warm it up for you and comes with a pot of high quality butter. Not sure which bakery supplies the croissant here, but it is closer to a really good classic French croissant than the one I had at DONQ at Lala Port mall, which is supposed to be a famous Japanese French bakery but their croissant wasn’t as good as here.

The mee Siam was tasty, and it wasn’t oily at all. The classic nasi lemak was also good, especially the rice. It was soft and fragrant with mild coconut flavor.

Initial review -

A rare 5 stars for great combination of nice clean space with AC, friendly & welcoming service, good taste & value (good/fair prices & portion size). No pork/pork products used or served here, as stated on the menu :)

Best Ah Ma Cafe has only been open about 4 months, but word has gotten out that this is one of the best cafe/ restaurant in Pudu! They open 8 AM to 5 PM (closed every other Tuesday), but get here before 1 PM if you want to avoid the lunch crowd.

A nice young couple (both speak English for those who can’t speak Malay or Chinese) run this place & the wife makes an aromatic and moist pandan layer cake that is a must try if you’re in the area.

It’s my first visit today - very happy with the clean space with air conditioning (most eateries in Pudu don’t have AC) & staff were nice and welcoming.

Everything I ordered was GOOD - hot cham had a nice strong coffee taste and tea undertones & not too sweet, the chicken hor fun soup might be the best I’ve had - generous portion of noodles soft/fresh, big prawns, and terrific tasting broth that I finished (normally I don’t eat the broth because it’s not tasty enough, or too salty). The soft boiled egg was perfect - not undercooked like at some places.

I’m definitely coming back to try their popular Ah Ma signature coffee & other dishes! They have upstairs seating too, a large group of about 20 people (looks like office group)...

Went on Tuesday and found out they were closed and finally managed to dine in on Wednesday ie today. Be sure to check their FB page to get the latest comms on business hour if you want to come to the restaurant

The Onde-Onde cake is truly yumilicious! The cream is nicely fluffed, light and smooth, the pandan flavored cake is soft and lightweight, topped up by the coconut flakes coated with brown sugar —- the taste is just out of this world! Was told that it is the owner’s wife who made it herself using her own recipe. It’s one of the yummiest I have tasted. Definitely worth investing some calories here!

Other meals are nicely made too. We are fortunate to have the owner of the shop to come by to confirm our order - our needs for customization of the dishes are just too complicated 😆 but the owner “settled” all our fussy requirements to the Tee! Bravo!

Serving time is good too except for the nasi lemak which took longer than usual. So if you are ordering this dish, please check for estimated wait time.

Highly recommend if you are in the...

Average food, expensive. Cozy restaurant.

Food tastes ok but meats are mostly frozen for a long time. Curry is savoury from sauce to potato but when it comes to the chicken, inedible.

Drinks are just ok, not great.

Everything is priced above average, portions are small.

A reply to the owner’s comment: A check from your CCTV certainly can tell that our body gesture was uncomfortable when we first tasted the chicken or it would be even better if you got voice recording around the seats. The fishy smell was very apparent; and if you are confident that parts are freshly delivered before cooking, perhaps can relook into your SOP - that may help. As you were expecting, this review is exactly to highlight the problem to you - not everyone likes to confront directly and certainly I dont like to record the entire dining experience or love other to see/share how I dine. The ability to finish off food that I’ve ordered reflects how am I being brought up and not entirely because of the taste. Taking constructive feedback certainly wiser than being...