Merchant's Lane | Petaling Street Café
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Visited Merchant's Lane with my senior parents. It was a hot and sunny day where all we wanted was to eat and quench our thirst. We had to walk quite far from the entrance of Chinatown to look for this restaurant. When Google Map told us we have arrived there, it was still difficult to find. We asked 2 locals, showed them some Google pictures, and they didn't have any idea. The other lady said it's there but it maybe under construction. I had to call their IG account where one of their staff went out and pointed us their restaurant; thank you. There is a very minimal sign, it's at the corner of the building and you need to look for a green door with a mirror effect signage, which says Merchant's Lane. I wish they could have made a small banner or something that will clearly point to their location. Their menu is a fusion of Asian and Western cuisines. The food has very big portion. My mom was so overwhelmed she couldn't finish hers. We had lunch mains + 5RM drink promo. All our mains had salad, which was good. We recommend the Kai Fan 4.0, and Breakfast. Kai Fan 5.0 is not for our taste buds. Mom also recommends Superfruit Lemon Tea. The ambiance is good. The restaurant looks a bit run down, but that's where the charm and beauty is. We would have preferred to be seated inside the room with painted background, but we failed to see it at first (must be because we were so hungry). They have their own washroom, which is clean. Service is commendable. Just that one of the guys (an older one) didn't know how to take photos properly 🤣. Their restaurant is known in social media, I expected their staff to always get requests to take their guest photos; I guess not. Will I be back? Yes.
ArvinArvin
00
I had butter and cream chicken pasta while my friend had salmon with lemak cili gravy on sweet potato mash and vegs The cooks have a good general idea on fusing Western and Asian influences however lack of restraint in blowing you away with flavours was apparent. While the pasta itself was cooked to a perfect al dente, its gravy was sickeningly sweet and too rich, even roasted vegs with strong flavour like capsicum and yellow onion couldn't provide enough relief leaving you feeling overwhelmed. Fried chicken pieces were dry it was hard to swallow. A chicken does not deserve to be killed that many times. Friend's salmon if I am right, was of frozen salmon, borderline overcooked. Sweet potato unlike its siblings ie Russet potatoes is not a good vessel to carry another rich profile turmeric with chilli in coconut sauce (nonetheless I saw a lot of love put into making it - the coconut milk was cooked to perfection without being split and even at traditional Malay restaurants you can hardly get that) because it is best left alone or perhaps flavours should have been infused into it instead, but if you're a fan of big portioned food, then this is the place you'd want to try I had piccolo latte. While the barista impressed me with good latte art, that big isn't called piccolo. Ratio of frothed milk to espresso was off too. Still - good espresso was good espresso However I applaud the genius usage of worn down walls made into a quaint café strongly shouting vintage and rustic. Very Instagrammable
Zahirah ArdyZahirah Ardy
00
Entrance to this eatery is very vague. You can miss the entrance, other than the fact that people entering the vague door, or the occasional line that gets too long and spills out the door. Good thing the staff took initiative to manage the customers and get the line moving. The environment is unique. I'm guessing it's trying to go for a hipster and old school look. Unfortunately, I think that the owners need to paint the wall at least, paint seems to be peeling of the wall. High ceiling and a secondary eating area which look way better than the main eating space. The seat and table may not be too comfortable. Forgot to mention, there is stairs heading to the place, so it's not disable friendly. The place look like its understaffed as the waiters seems very rushed, but they were very attentive even in high crowd situation. Yes this place is very packed. Be prepared to line up. Now to the food, I had the breakfast and my friend had a salmon dish fusion with asian spicy take on it. Super fruit drink and Rose Honey Milk for drinks. And a unique dessert, with a weird name of " Better than sex". The breakfast was actually quite normal continental breakfast, but quite good. There is bread under the eggs. The eggs is well done, I didnt like the mushrooms. The hashbrown is overcooked and too thin. My friend's food was actually much better than mine. The dish is actually salmon cooked ala masak Lemak Chili Api, the name of the dish is Kampung Sg Tua. Please keep that item. It is spicy and delicious. Has a side of vegetable. Be prepared for a flood of taste into your mouth. The name of the dish on the menu written as Kg Sg Tua. Now to the drinks, we ordered Superfruit drink and Rose Honey Milk. The superfruit drink is very unique and delicious. I recommend this. The Rose Honey Milk is a healthy version of bandung drink popular amongst stalls in Malaysia. Finally to the dessert, we ordered "Better than sex" It is actually pandan pancake or crepe made fresh and hot, topped with cheese and almonds or nuts and strawberry slices, with two scoops side of delicious ice cream. Its very delicious. This dessert feeds two person, unless you are very hungry. The food and drink is very delicious and generally well done. The prices is quite high, 4 star prices, too high for too frequent, but once and a while will be fine. For me, the place is quite pricey. The environment is unique, but need some improvement on the main eating space, the wall needs a repaint, unless this is the design that they were going for. Good place generally.
Ahmad Zafir Mohd LotfyAhmad Zafir Mohd Lotfy
10
5 October 2024 | Brunch - total of 109++ - walk in without booking - disambut dengan lelaki botak which if dia owner kedai tu i think that might be last time I come to the place - other crew sambut by “welcome, how many pax. Any reservation” - but the man terus ada booking. Ok laa no big deal. I dont know why this abang botak have the service lower than mamak stall but kerja at place wth M40 above cafe. The price of the food is kinda hotel standard hence you should come wth the best service. Food 1. Italian Chow Mein - spaghetti with ayam rendang. Interesting taste kinda likey but will never repeat the order. 2. The Gray Burger - mindblow 🤯🤯🤯. A must order. 3. Better than sex - roti jala wth ice cream. It’s not better than sex for sure but better than italian chow mein yes. It doesn’t give you the foodgasm. But please try if you wanna taste the uniqueness. Suggestion to OWNER - we order roti jala with ice cream and didn’t put any instructions or remark. For me i ok if the food came together wth all main course. - usually if the waiter wanna check if the dessert come together or not, they will ask “come together or after main course” - but the abang botak suddenly next time put at the remark tulis after. Nnt chef buat terus keluar sekali pula. I was like it’s your platform. You can make the editing if there’s a lot of issues from people ordering it. Just put remark please indicate in the instructions to serve wth main or course. Before or after. Ni customer pula kena tegur kenapa x put remark when there’s no issue at all. - the online ordering coming from your sistem. Hence if there’s dessert section and you crew got issue wrh customer want before. Semasa or after then you put it there. zzzzz Because of this abang botak service. I totally didnt enjoy much the ambiance. The food is nice. The other crew is nice. The abang botak ruined it.
noradila hattanoradila hatta
10
I know there are so many good reviews but I had a terrible experience. Here's why: Let's start of with the Pros : 1. Drinks were good. Rose Honey Milk was sublime, Cappuccino & Tea were mediocre. 2. Food was great. We got the Port Klang to start off. Huge portion, cleaned prawns and well worth the price. Tip : Please dip with chilli sauce and lemon for optimal flavour. So, here's my problem : 1. Place is supposed to look great, me and my sisters (Group of 4) were asked to sit in a dusty corner. We weren't allowed to sit together according to the staff due to SOP. However, at the same time, 3 other groups (different ethnicities from us) got to sit together. So why the difference in practice for just us? Despite requesting to sit in another area nicely, staff turned down our request. But groups of people who came after us are allowed to sit elsewhere. 2. We also called in earlier to request a reservation and was also turned down rudely with no proper justification on why we couldn't book a table in advance. 3. Worst part, is the staff themselves. No greetings, menus and foods are dumped on the table and they run back to chit chat with one another. Like, we wanted to ask and order more food, but didn't feel like doing so just because of their own actions. So yeah, it's a cool Instagram spot with good food. However, the service alone makes me not want to go again, especially since there are so many more cafés that are a walking distance.
NandiniNandini
130
Heard and read about Merchant Lane as one of the cafes to visit. Had quite a high expectation seeing all the beautiful pictures. Super long queue before and after lunch. We wanted to come here for brunch but seeing the queue we went somewhere else instead. After lunch we walked around and ended up at Merchant Lane, so we decided to try our luck and queue. I would say we waited about 20-30minutes before we got a seat at the back/garden section. The moment i walked to the back section, my wow was extinguished. The outlook was really not as impressive as I hope it to be. Probably over hyped on social media. One thing i noticed there were a few tables that were empty, it's not close to each other but yet they left it empty and make us queue and wait at the stairs for a table. I could probably think of one reason for doing so, to create a queue to look in demand. Anyways i could be wrong. Food/Drink is on the expensive side. My tea cost me RM17 - just for a roasted oolong. That's too expensive. I don't like the Caramel cake, a malay word to describe the feeling is Muak, means something like feeling pukey after having a few spoon (like it's too much for the mouth. My friend had the Kai Fan 4.0, he said it's good. The toilet is quite icky. I am happy to finally try this place and write it off my food list but i won't be back.
Caryn JenCaryn Jen
10
Nearby Attractions Of Merchant's Lane | Petaling Street Café
Central Market
Petaling Street Market
National Mosque of Malaysia
KL Bird Park
Sultan Abdul Samad Jamek Mosque
Sultan Abdul Samad Mosque
The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Autograph Collection
Swiss-Garden Hotel Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur
Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia
Sri Maha Mariamman Temple

Central Market
4.3
(19.1K)Click for details

Petaling Street Market
4.1
(12.8K)Click for details

National Mosque of Malaysia
4.8
(9.9K)Click for details

KL Bird Park
4.5
(5.8K)Click for details
Nearby Restaurants Of Merchant's Lane | Petaling Street Café
Mollagaa Restaurant
Hut Dining Buffet (Lalaport BBCC)
VCR
Ho Kow Hainam Kopitiam
Luckbros Kopi - Petaling Street
Betel Leaf
Niko Neko Matcha 2.0 - Chinatown
Soong Kee Beef Noodles & Low Yau Kee Porridge
Junior Kuppanna - Kuala Lumpur
Mee Tarik Restoran

Mollagaa Restaurant
4.7
(2.9K)Click for details

Hut Dining Buffet (Lalaport BBCC)
4.8
(2.5K)Click for details

VCR
4.3
(2.1K)Click for details

Ho Kow Hainam Kopitiam
4.2
(2K)Click for details
Basic Info
Address
150, Jalan Petaling, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Map
Phone
+60 3-2022 1736
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Website
wa.me
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Reviews
Overview
4.2
(1.5K reviews)
Ratings & Description
Description
Chill, funkily designed cafe offering a range of light meals from Malaysia & beyond.
attractions: Central Market, Petaling Street Market, National Mosque of Malaysia, KL Bird Park, Sultan Abdul Samad Jamek Mosque, Sultan Abdul Samad Mosque, The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Autograph Collection, Swiss-Garden Hotel Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur, Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, restaurants: Mollagaa Restaurant, Hut Dining Buffet (Lalaport BBCC), VCR, Ho Kow Hainam Kopitiam, Luckbros Kopi - Petaling Street, Betel Leaf, Niko Neko Matcha 2.0 - Chinatown, Soong Kee Beef Noodles & Low Yau Kee Porridge, Junior Kuppanna - Kuala Lumpur, Mee Tarik Restoran

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