CORE by The Mechanic @ Cheras - Better than expected 👌

I met up with a friend here recently and that was how I came to know of this cafe. CORE is located in Medan Connaught, a retail space. I’ve been here once before to visit Les Petits Jous , more than a year ago. Back then, the area was fairly new with most of the shops lots unoccupied. Fast forward a year later, seem like nothing much has changed as most of the lots are still empty.

Anyways, there are eateries scattered around the blocks and if I am not mistaken , almost all of them offer the Chinese variety. I however, was in the mood for Western food and I was glad my friend chose to meet at CORE instead.

When we arrived, the cafe was full house. There was literally no empty seats available but lucky for us, just as we were getting into a discussion on wether we should wait or go elsewhere, a couple was leaving. We ended up staying. 😁

Curry Laksa Pasta, RM 22 + Curry Ikan, RM 28

This pasta was sooo yummy! I enjoyed every bit of it. The taste of Laksa was evident from the first mouth in. Due to the fact that this dish is a wet dish, it is however on the dryer side. It has just enough gravy to make sure the pasta and the accompanying ingredients are covered. I honestly like it this wasy because it made the laksa flavor more prominent. I would not mind having it by itself but the addition of the mussels, the squid rings, cherry tomatoes was da bomb. I enjoyed this dish.

First of all, can I point out how impressive the presentation of this dish was. It literally looked like a dish I’d expect at a fine dining restaurant or something in the similar fancy bracket. On the top is a piece of Butterfish (since I did not know any better, I thought Butterfish was in reference to a random fish that was doused in butter prior to being served? However, after looking it up online, apparent there is such a fish called Butterfish), served on a burnt cabbage with a nice portion of coconut curry underneath.

The pan seared Butterfish was yummy. The outer layer was crispy, the inside was moist and dense. It was good enough to have it on its own but with a layer of the coconut curry though – simply delicious. The gravy was flavorful, it was creamy and slightly thick. The addition of curry powder? into the coconut curry provided me an extra ‘kick’ to the overall taste of the dish. Me like! The burnt cabbage was a nice addition. Slightly charred but mostly moist and dense, it was good enough to eat on its own or with the curry and fish. Yum.

Overall, food at CORE was da bomb. I do not about the other dishes they offer here but the two I’ve tasted so far was real good. It exceeded my expectations. Customer service was great too. There was one guy who attended to us and it was him, just him from the time we sat down to the time we left. He explained the steps to order, he made sure to keep an eye on us despite having to attend to other customers, he made sure our glasses we regularly filled with water whenever it emptied, he answered all our questions politely. I was impressed. To the guy wearing the long sleeve white shirt (in the images above), keep up the good work 💪💪