Hideaway Cafe — Restaurant in Petaling Jaya

There are a lot of hidden gems in Section 17 PJ - many of them are located in Happy Mansion. I'd been to most of them save for a few, and this particular cafe stood out because of one thing - butter cake!

Butter cake is something like a comfort food to me because I used to eat this quote often when I was small. Back then, it was the Chinese or Indian uncle drove their motorcycle around selling roti and snacks. I have a vivid recollection how my dad would buy many types of breads, cake, Choki-choki, Koko Jelly, Mamee, etc for me - I was so spoilt but also became a fat boy in the process. Then I would eat butter cake for breakfast while drinking a cup of hot Milo before going to school.

Nowadays I seldom eat cakes or bread anymore (but not entirely) due to the fact that I'm in low carbs diet. So when I really eat, Ive got to make sure that it was worth putting into my mouth.

Hideaway Cafe's forte is definitely their family recipe butter cake and they offer a bounty of creations - from original to a few fun tweaks to the traditional one.

◾various butter cake options - original, marble, etc. I would reckon to go for the classic butter cake to taste the original flavour and to gauge on the quality of the cake. Evidently good butter was used and each bite was a bliss. ◾We also went for their marble cake and pandan gula melaka - no ingredients were skimped and each tasted good on their own. ◾Coffee - I hope that they will improve on this because I always love a cup of good quality coffee to go with my afternoon dessert. The coffee was not bad.. but felt the quality could be improved further.

Coming here on weekends require luck and patience because they are very popular with butter cake lovers, and we had to wait for a while before securing a table. We didn't try their other foods as we just had lunch earlier and wanted something sweet to satisfy the craving.

Leo's verdict - come here for the...

Tried the cafe here recently despite the 1 star ratings I’ve come across. It’s just a shame that after reading some 1-star comments here (and some of these ratings come without justifications and comments) become questionable as to whether they are truly writing based on their experience, or if they’re driven by their emotions cos they didn’t have it their way. Usually, I would rate eateries such as:

☆ - hygiene and cleanliness ☆ - ambience and aesthetics ☆ - service ☆ - food and beverage ☆ - overall experience (to return or not — but it’s up to you)

which makes me question if people are fair in their judgments, or if they’re not pleased that things didn't happen the way they want it to.

This place also has two rules: 1) purchase one item per person (anything but water) and 2) no outside food and drinks. May not work for some people; so just a heads-up — don’t have to dine-in if you don’t agree with it. Very fair that outside food and drinks should not be eaten here cos they sell food (obviously). The one item rule cos they don’t have tax (checked with the owner); so pretty fair on my end. Unless you intend to bring food from outside, then it becomes a fuss for some customers.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on the whoopie pies and had a chat with the owner. She mentioned that she hardly makes them. Man, oh, man was I lucky cos they tasted as good as they looked. Also tried their signature pandan cake which paired well with black coffee, or any white coffee.

Experience was good. Don’t have to come in expecting service from high-end restaurants. If you’re friendly and are respectful, everybody is nice to each other. My suggestion: give it a try and be the judge on your own. Not every story is true cos some may leave out some details of their own. Will make sure to come back again and try other cake...

Cozy cafe with a kind of English-themed décor. Air conditioned environment. The cakes tried are the basic butter cake and strawberry yogurt cake, coz I love ichigo. And a cup of hot black coffee. The butter cake is served at room temperature, well, my impression is that it's crumbly airy for upper half surface of the cake, while its denser and moist towards the base(butter also settled down?). If you don't like the dry-ish type, as suggested by other commentators do request for the cake to be warmed up. The best cake for me was the strawberry yogurt version, it's moist, have strawberry bits. Moist, dense, fruity strawberry aroma and a bit more of a bite into compared to the crumbly original butter cake. For the coffee it's good, dark roasted type, however my gripe is the size of the serving compared to the price, it's a very small cup(I.e. piccolo cup)for that range of price, almost like Universal Bakehouse's . It's pricey if we compared the ratio of price to serving size to cafes like Rekindle, Extraction Cafe. This cafe doesn't have a plain water station, AND doesn't allow outside food and drinks, might be a turn off for some customers. Saw a notice too there's a 90 minute dining, makes sense since it's a rather small space with max capacity around 30pax. Also there's imposed policy of minimum one order PER PAX, so take note, or do takeaway. Cafe is adequately staffed; two(2) at order counter, food and drinks ordered will be sent to table. Service is prompt and efficient. TLDR; come for the fruit+butter cakes! Coffee...might need...