La Manila Cafe — Restaurant in Petaling Jaya

My wife suggested to come here, as she wanted to buy her favorite Carrot Cake. I was already contemplating of having the delicious Mushroom Soup in the Bread Bun...But upon our arrival at the usual shop at Taman Megah, we found that they had moved out about 3 months ago!!!

Not to be deterred, my wife called the shop, and voila...we were re-directed to the new location at Sunwaymas...But to our horror, the parking situation was horrendous!! People were double parking their cars haphazardly at will, making it almost impossible to drive through!!

Eventually, we found the exact location of the new shop, and there appeared to be a vacant parking lot right in front of it..As we drew closer, it turned out that a motorcycle was actually occupying the said lot. Fortunately for us, the nice gentleman who works at La Manila volunteered to relocate the motorcycle for us, allowing us to park comfortably. He mentioned that these cars which had parked indiscriminately were even taking their parking lots, and they were from the few workshops which operated along the same road. Hence the double parking scenarios...For a moment, it did cross my mind that maybe La Manila had actually moved back to the Philipines...🤭🤭

You dont have to go to the Philipines, La Manila is located just in Taman Megah, PJ!! It offers a variety of western cuisine as well as local delicacies, at very affordable prices...and dont let me get started on the cakes and pastries...they are simply to die for!! Its good to make a reservation first, as the place is often full, mostly because patrons dont feel like leaving too soon after...

This place goes a long way back since the 1990s'. That was when we were introduced to Shepard's pie and of course their famous Toffee Banana. Ask any locals, am sure you will get the same answer. And this was way before Secret Recipe became the hub for pies and cakes, it was the to go to place.

Today, we opted for their Shepard pie (what else), Chicken Mushroom Soup served in a huge soft bread, Black Pepper Chicken Chop and Grilled Dory Fish. Must say, the first 2 were very much to our liking. Dory was a little over cooked and hard on the edges. Chicken was just Chicken chop :) The portions were big for us (2 adult small eater women and 2 kids) but should be just nice for most people.

Ambience; it was quiet and cosy, old school, evoking childhood memories of the 1990s. Nothing flashy nor flamboyant. We took our time with our lunch. There were more walk ins and take away customers than there were dine in customers. I also get the feeling most were frequent customers. Our visit was a Sunday afternoon.

Love the service from the Malay girl (Fitri). She mentioned she was new. But she was polite and nice, I even see her taking a box of cakes out to the car for a customer. She also know the word 'tapau' for our cakes. Today we decided to be a little different by having their burnt cheese cake and flourless chocolate heaven. I think we will stick to their specials and not waver from there the next time.

We visited this cafe as I wanted to introduce it to my children, sharing somewhere I used to go to when I was younger...

I gave it 4 stars for the Pie and Soup that we had and...

I walked into this cafe first just to check around the eateries around here. I walked in again for the second after finally deciding this is where i want to eat. No one greeted me both times. However, Ordered a piece of cake, a hot chocolate, a shepherd's pie. The cake was good. But one slice is just too much for one person. By the time I was one with the cake, shepherd's pie and hot chocolate served. I breaked into the pie. The pool of mushroom sauce rushed into the pie. I had a bite. I was in a paradise where the mashed potatoes were singing while the pastry was doing chorus in far distance almost non existing and the mushroom asked me "can I have this dance with you". I said yes!!!! I just took a step forward and backward. I snapped out of my fantasy world and the pie was half gone. Goodilicious!!! The cafe looks beautiful clean and so nostalgic. I would give 5 stars if i had much welcoming staffs although they were surely...