MACE BY COFFEE CHEMISTRY SIGNATURE,
42, Jalan SS21/58, Damansara Utama,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: 03-7732 4721
Business hours: 11.00am to 10.30pm from Sundays to Thursdays
and 11.00am to 11.00pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Pork-free.
COFFEE Chemistry Signature may be best known for their adorable 3D coffee art, but their latest restaurant concept, MACE aims to serve a variety of good fusion food, too.
Coffee Chemistry Signature started operating in SS15 Subang Jaya nearly five years ago, but moved to Damansara Uptown in the middle of 2015 and is called MACE by Coffee Chemistry Signature.
Managing director Ryan Hew said they wanted to serve food alongside their popular coffee.
In case you were wondering, the name MACE is an acronym for Modern Malaysian Culinary Experience, to reflect the nature of their new fusion dishes.
The Smoked Salmon Tortilla Wrap (RM21 à la carte) is neither heavy nor oily, and is one of the popular starter items on the menu.
The interior of MACE.
The wraps are served with plain tortilla chips and salad topped with mango salsa, accompanied with a sweet and creamy dipping sauce comprising mayonnaise, tartar sauce, thousand island dressing and chopped basil.
From the pasta menu, I sampled Black Pepper Grilled Chicken Pasta (RM15.90 on the set menu). The chicken has a hint of teriyaki and a generous helping of black pepper makes the dish quite spicy.
If rice is more your thing, the MACE Wholeleg Chicken With Pandan Herb Rice (RM15.90 on the set menu) is highly recommended.
MACE Wholeleg Chicken With Pandan Herb Rice is a tasty and fragrant rice dish that is popular with customers.
The chicken, fried with turmeric and ginger, is paired with rice boiled in a mixture of pandan and herbs, making for a very fragrant dish. This is served with strips of egg omelette, some pappadam, and rather mild sambal.
Meat lovers like me will probably like Chicken With Beef Bacon Jacket (RM21.90 on the set menu)(top pic). For me, what really made this dish shine was the sauce, a mixture of mushroom and thick soy, giving it a slightly sweet and savoury flavour.
From the dessert menu, I tried one of their boldest culinary experiments – Waffle With Fried Chicken (RM17.90 nett).
Waffle with Fried Chicken is a blend of sweet and savoury elements.
Some may abhor the very thought of mixing sweet with savoury, so the dish can be a hit or miss, but I found this interesting combination not too bad.
The fried chicken fillet is meant to go with the sweet and slightly spicy mango salsa while the waffle comes with a variety of three sauces – chocolate, caramel and maple syrup.
Personally, I liked the chocolate sauce best on the light and fluffy waffle, and eating it together with the crispy chicken felt very much like eating a sweet and sour chicken burger, so it was not nearly as bizarre as I thought it would be.
Last but not least, I just had to see exactly how their 3D coffee art was made.
Hew explained that the techniques used in making the coffee were pioneered by a Japanese man, Kazuki Yamamoto.
The 3D art is usually done with cappuccino as it has a higher foam content than other types of coffee. The secret lies in frothing the milk so that the size of the air bubbles are minimised, making the foam firm and able to stand on its own.
Hew chose to shift the cafe’s focus from coffee and desserts exclusively to include fusion dishes as well.
I watched how the barista first separated the froth from the coffee with a spoon before carefully putting it back in small amounts to form the basic shapes of cute animal characters. They then etched designs into the froth with the help of tools.
Their 3D coffee art is a little more expensive than regular coffee (RM16.50) as it is more of a novelty worthy of Instagram pictures.
It is available for both the hot and cold varieties of cappuccino as well as chocolate and green tea latte.
This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
