Big On Books & Food

Novel Café is pretty novel indeed. Serving Vietnamese fare, the cafe is a place where diners can choose a book from their big library and pore over it. But enough about literature, let’s get on to what we’re really here for —the food.

Chef and cafe managing director Ricky Vo Yip was born in Vietnam but raised in San Francisco. He landed in Malaysia in 2007 where after some contemplation and research (conclusion: Malaysians love to eat and they love to eat out), decided to open a stall specialising in Vietnamese fare as he knew it back in San Francisco. His recipes were passed down from his mother and dishes like his egg rolls, pho and spring rolls struck such a chord with the tastebuds of the locals that pretty soon, he had no option but to expand. The result is Novel Café, situated in the developing neighbourhood of Ara Damansara.

Some of the specialities at Novel Café include the Grilled Lemongrass Chicken or pork chop. The meats are grilled tender before they are cooked with a dash of Ricky’s special lemongrass sauce. Together with jasmine steamed rice or vermicelli, they are firm favourites amongst his customers. Novel Café is also a place where all your food is detoxified before it is cooked. We are all aware that the food purchased at a supermarket is never as clean as you think, in spite of washing it before preparation. The cafe uses the Okamizu Food Detoxifier on all of their produce, which effectively kills 99.9% of all chemicals, bacteria, colouring, preservatives, etc. So you can be assured that the food served to you is absolutely hygienic.

Novel Café prides themselves on their drinks, which was a major factor that persuaded them to move from their humble stall. Try their smoothies like the Banana Soy one or even one of their Novel Drinks—drinks inspired by a book. There is Romeo & Juliet (red honeydew with peach purée) and The Golden Compass (ice-blended tiramisu and coffee), for starters! Check out Novel Café for yourself at I-G-2A, Block 1, Ground Floor, Jalan PJU 1A/20F, Dataran Ara Damansara, 47301 Petaling Jaya. Tel: 03-7847 3351. Open: 11am – 9pm (Mon – Sat, closed on Sundays).