Mother's Day 2018 (Part 1): Balik Pulau Dragonfly Garden | FOODIE HUNT

This is an overdued post but I still want to write this because it's something worth documenting in my life. For this year's Mother's Day, dad planned to bring my grandma and mum around Balik Pulau for a treat. If you feel like I'm very much of a foodie and an explorer already, tell you what, my dad is ten times younger and definitely more energetic than me to explore new stuff at heart! No jokes. 

I have decided to share a little cafe hopping adventure we did on Mother's Day with you guys so that you guys know where to head to if you guys decided to visit Balik Pulau, which is a modest small town where you can hardly find a place to hang out with friends and family, unlike the cafes in the town that multiple at the rate of mushrooms after the rain. Lucky you reading this post, cause you're just about to find out two places where you can head to for good food and good environment in BP.

P.S. I'm only sharing one of the cafes this week, so stay tuned for the second cafe recommendation next week~

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Address:

Solok Pondok Upih

Balik Pulau  

Business hours: 

Sat, Sun (9am - 2pm)

Located in one of the lubang lubuk in Balik Pulau (beside the Taman Krystal residential area), this cafe and vegetable farm combo is definitely a hidden gem! The cafe looks quaint and modest from the outside, surrounded by lush botanicals and flora. When we entered the cafe, the cafe looks very retro and organic in the sense that everything feels so close to nature. Besides being surrounded by greens, they have a little garden where you can take instagrammable photos in the cafe itself with the accompaniment of the little friendly animals like birds and rabbits!

We stood there for a good 7 - 10 minutes because there were no vacant seats for us because their business run in such a small scale but managed to keep ourselves entertained by going to the vegetable farm behind the cafe. Immerse ourselves in the refreshing crisp on the air surrounded by the greens. The vegetable farm serves as the backbone of the cafe - the cafe owner yield the crops to be made into organic food sold in the cafe, sells some of the organic vegetables and occasionally have educational trips from education institution to visit the vegetable farm as well.

As for the food selection, I would say that they have more breakfast food items which are light and healthy generally. The price range is definitely on the cheaper side - very reasonable and down-to-earth. Since we visit around noon, we had no choice but to go ahead with some of the lighter ones like tea and breads and add on the curry rice and spaghetti. Maybe because it's a family-based business that doesn't really focus on the profit and commercialising, their food sold out pretty fast. It was only around 12pm when we got there but they said they only have one more plate of spaghetti left and a lot of other food were finished as well.

Despite the fact that they had a large group of visitors before we got there that caused a lack of choice of food situation here, it was a good effort that the female owner of the cafe who was also the one who took our order tried to recommend us the dishes that she thought might be delicious or dishes that we might want to take as our lunch. She also tried to promote some of the healthy drinks by enlightening us with the benefits of the different plants.

The purple one tastes good! I would describe it as a natural carbonated drink.

bread & kaya in its most traditional form

egg immersed in herbal essence (not really tasty but it's definitely healthy!)

curry rice with complimentary corn soup

spaghetti with very strong aroma of mushroom

After our lunch, we actually decided to move on to our next spot, but it was raining cats and dogs, so we lingered in the cafe for a bit. As it was after their business hour, the owners very kindly approached us and talked to us. I can't tell you guys enough how sweet they were - they gave us a few glasses of ginger tea because they said ginger tea can keep us warm in a cold day like that. WHOA. If this is not first class customer service, what is?

We got to know that the cafe is actually run by a lovely couple who are KDU lecturers, and who are both also very knowledgeable and enthusiastic in botanicals, plants and all the food beneficial to our body. During weekends when their family and friends come over to visit them, they often don't have any idea where to go to have a cuppa and just chill. In the end, they decided to invest on this plot of land that BP Dragonfly Garden is now built upon and turn it into a small family business where they also get to bond with each other in the little green empire they have built together.

Overall, the food tastes really organic, fresh and healthy. I can't make commentaries on each of the food because I think they all fall under the one common adjective, which is - organic, and I think anything organic is definitely a thumbs up for me. I would definitely recommend this cafe to all of y'all who wish to spend some relaxing time in Balik Pulau while snacking away some organic food. This is definitely a great place for your idle morning visits - with friendly animals, friendly plants and friendly humans, what more can you ask for? 

Love, J.