Insideout coffee — Restaurant in Penang

So we ended up at this place a few times during our stay. Don’t ask me how we found it — it’s like one of those spots you stumble upon when you’ve taken a wrong turn in a video game. Middle of bloody nowhere. I half-expected to see a guy in a hood selling cursed trinkets or offering me a side quest to defeat the local warlord.

You sort of hack your way through this intrepid little jungle path, like you're on some Bear Grylls adventure just for a flat white. And when you get there — the venue's this weird, spacious, half-cool, half-dystopian open-air setup. Think Black Mirror meets your mate’s Pinterest mood board. You’re sitting there wondering if you’ve accidentally joined a cult or if you’re about to get pitched essential oils.

The coffee? Solid. Every single time. No messing about, no hipster nonsense where they try to tell you the name of the goat that shat out the beans or whatever. Just good, proper coffee. Chargesld for the privilege though.

The food though — bit of a mixed bag. Some of it’s great, you take a bite and think, alright, fair play. Other times it feels like they let the intern have a crack at the menu while blindfolded. More hits than misses though, and when it’s good, it’s properly good.

And the staff? Cute, friendly, like a bunch of indie film extras that never got the call back. Sweet as anything, even if you do feel like you’re intruding on someone’s private creative retreat.

Would I go back? Yeah, course I would. It’s weird, a bit mad, and you leave both caffeinated and slightly confused. What more...

Surrounded within Bagan Lallang street, Sungai Puyu street, Raja Uda street, with adjacent of rural building and roads, giving a non local person who drive here with Google map the feeling of wrong direction, this Inside Out Coffee warehouse is definitely a surprising spot of itself. Firstly this is a pet friendly coffee house, with its warehouse like structure (no pillar, ultra high ceiling, glass surrounding wall), totally suitable for pet lovers to hang along. Secondly about the Matcha, my favourite drink, they has two types of it, one of it Yuri does really taste well, with its matcha aromatic and nice chawan served, any matcha lover should spend their chance over here. With its custom made lighting and the center of the cafe, above of their island alike design, matched with the nice selection of music and cold ambient (even though 40% glass), it gives me the airport or main station feeling, mostly due to the high ceiling and bright interior, thumb up for its atmosphere provided. With the menu served, this is perfectly fit for youngster to hand around either for main course or after meal tea session. Perhaps, some decoration on the red brick wall is extra mark which they could consider, if they have figure out the real theme or feeling they want their...

This is hard place to find. Even with Waze, I was worried when it brought me through small untarred road. Parking is ok but it's dirt and pebble ground in front of the cafe.

The decor is interesting. Minimalistic and simple. Just 4 walls with seating along the wall and a central island where they make your drinks.

The drinks came fast and generally lovely to drink. Good mix and enjoyable flavouring. Aesthetically pleasing to the eye too.

Food however was a different ballgame. A bit subpar in my opinion. Even though I enjoyed the smoked duck carbonara, the rest weren't great. The carbonara had a thick delicious creamy sauce with generous portion of duck in a bed of well cooked spaghetti. Sadly I felt the breakie on the go wasn't up to the test. Even though the bread was nicely toasted and tasted good, the ham, sausage and beans wasn't impressive. The Moshi Moshi was over fried but fortunately the chicken meat wasn't dry. The accompanying fries arrived crunchy and hot.

Lemon tart filling was a bit too sour but generally good except for the pastry which tasted manufactured.

All in all, it's a nice place to relax with a very open space decor concept with good drinks where food...