Rising from rustic ruins, Liku-Likoo is the city’s cavernous new cafe with a reflective sense of living heritage, repurposed with rescued heirlooms by the Mingle family of cafes and hostels.
Liku-Likoo’s name – Malay for twists and turns – is a bittersweet testament to Mingle’s long and winding path. Nearly half of Mingle’s 80-member team have remained since 2016, working throughout Mingle Hostel & Cafe, Timothy Cafe, Kafe Kleptokrat, and now, Liku-Likoo.
Liku-Likoo serves as Mingle’s central kitchen for house-made sausages, sauces and more; kombucha fermentation lab; and roastery for its freshly introduced coffee beans and blends.
The two-level cafe is an airy oasis infused with generations-old keepsakes, breathing beautiful vigour into a long-abandoned site, fronted by a ficus tree on Changkat Thambi Dollah.
Liku-Likoo’s entrance comes from a traditional Penang island home. Many tables were built with wood salvaged from a KL Chinatown fire. Cabinets lined with handwritten calligraphy hail from a family’s classic Chinese medicine business.
Take a seat by the langkawiensis crepe myrtle and other evergreens under the weathered skylight for a meal of thoughtful recipes and produce, including reinterpretations of nasi ulam from Mingle’s co-founder’s uncle and pomodoro sauce by his aunt.
Nasi Ulam is uniquely refashioned into triangular onigiri, aromatically uplifting with local herbs, lined with seaweed and daun selom, tempting with thick sambal belacan and tender tamago for a harmonious synergy of Malaysian and Japanese inspirations.
Savour with soulful sides of Daging Bakar Percik or Beef Rendang, robustly slow-cooked with tenderloin cuts, and Eggplant Pomodoro, luscious with pure, juicy tomatoes, not canned.
Pesto Pasta is a crowd-pleaser, seasoned with real Parmesan – top up with options like Liku-Likoo’s own-ground chicken and beef sausages, plump and pleasurable.
Espresso-based coffee harnesses Mingle’s Nutty Noir Colombian Supremo single-origin and Samba Gayo Brazilian-Indonesian blend for smooth richness; the roasted beans are available for take-home purchase in reusable bottles.
Also sip on kombucha in fruity and floral flavours like pineapple, passionfruit, apple, chrysanthemum or lemongrass, crafted with scoby that’s been mothering since 2018.
Find Liku-Likoo at 56 jalan 1/77A, Off Changkat Thambi Dollah..
Top In Asia
