food

Good food, cooked right at Huckleberry Food and Fare, Bukit Damansara

BY JULIA YEOW, NEWS EDITOR
October 28, 2015

A deceptively simple-looking pasta is actually a perfectly executed dish of al dente spaghetti tossed in light olive oil, chilli flakes and a generous amount of duck bacon and fried onions. – The Malaysian Insider pic, October 28, 2015.Barely open for half a year, Huckleberry Food & Fare has already become a neighbourhood haunt in the thriving Bukit Damansara community, as well as a popular go-to for foodies from around the Klang Valley looking for some inspiringly delicious food.

As you walk into the restaurant-cum-bakery, you’re greeted by the sight of bakes fresh out of the oven, tempting you to consider giving up a hot meal for a feast of pastries instead. Try to resist, because Huckleberry’s kitchen offerings are a real delight.

If you love freshly-baked breads and pastries, you must definitely check out the selection at Huckleberry Food & Fare. – The Malaysian Insider pic, October 28, 2015.The Pasta Duck Bacon (RM25.90) looked deceptively simple, a dish of spaghetti tossed in olive oil with a light sprinkling of chilli flakes and generous portions of diced smoked duck, topped up with a poached egg. But the dish was a work of perfection, each flavour balancing the other out magnificently.

We loved the home-made duck bacon, which had the delightful subtle gameyness of duck meat, its slight saltiness pairing perfectly with the light pasta. The added touch of fried onions, cooked just beyond caramelisation so they had some crunch to them, was the perfect bonus to this dish.

We decided to try the Chicken Banh Mi (RM19.90), and were pleasantly surprised at how it managed to accurately recreate the complexity of flavours this Vietnamese sandwich dish is so well known for. Slices of chicken breast, seasoned to be just slightly sweet and pan-fried to have a slight char, were accompanied by generous slices of cucumber, shredded carrots and pickled jalapeno chillies. The buns are also worth mentioning for their soft fluffiness, a testimony of their freshness.

The complex flavour of Vietnamese sandwiches was successfully encapsulated in Huckleberry's take of chicken banh mi. – The Malaysian Insider pic, October 28, 2015.We also shared a Chillie Cheese Toast (RM13.90), but were less impressed by this snack. The béchamel sauce didn’t quite work for us, as it was a tad dry and crumbly and wasn’t the rich sauce we were expecting. The slight heat from the sambal that was used to top the toast was a nice touch, as was the sunny-side-up which dripped runny egg yolk all over our toast, but other than that, there was not very much to celebrate about it.

There was alot of potential for this toast to leave a real impression, but we felt it fell short as the flavours were too subtle. – The Malaysian Insider pic, October 28, 2015.Huckleberry’s also has a decent range of fresh juices, and also a wide variety of breads and pastries to choose from on top of some guilty pleasures in the form of freshly-baked desserts. Our favourite was the baked cheese cake (RM14.90).

Everything about this cake was perfect, from the thick biscuit base which was neither too crumbly nor too firm or hard, to the cheese filling which was creamy and rich, but not overpoweringly sweet. The bonus was the tiny specs of orange peel mixed into the cheese, which really lifted the cake with a citrusy aftertaste. – October 28, 2015.

Recommended dishes: Pasta Duck Bacon, Chicken Banh Mi, Baked Cheese cake

Huckleberry Food & Fare | Add: 2G & 4G, Plaza Damansara, Jalan Medan Setia 2, Bukit Damansara, 50490 Damansara Heights | Tel: 03-2098 7933 | Opening hours: 7.30am – 6.00pm daily, closed on Mondays | GPS coordinates: 3.149622, 101.652090 |Pork-free

* All of The Malaysian Insider food reviews are incognito and reflect the personal opinions of our merry band of foodies. If you know of any restaurant serving awesome grub, share it with the rest of the world and drop us a line with details at [email protected].