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Monday, June 08, 2009

The Bread Shop @ Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur

1. simple yet sublime tomato sauce with fresh basil leaves to be eaten with slightly toasted baguette slices, 2. minimalist rules here with brown paper bags stamped with the logo

"We love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all, we love each other!"

Fans of sweet little
Madeline from her book by Ludwig Bemelmans and the cartoon, will know of this famous line, which the 12 little girls used to chime out at every meal they had in an old house in Paris covered with vines. Seems incredibly apt in these circumstances for this bakery we discovered after a tip off from my friend S. In fact, the whole weekend has been a long drawn doughy affair.


working hard; a study of reflections


At this 2-month old The Bread Shop, tucked in the affluent neighbourhood of Damansara Heights, this is where we both found dough heaven. Opened by GDP architects whose offices take up most of the space in this single row of shophouses (where the original Decanter is located), the bakery boasts a modern unfinished look that reeks of an artistic touch. We love the cool unpolished cement interior, the stainless steel kitchen with in-built ovens, the long sinks, the cool mirrors you can play with the reflections, the tall wooden tables and cement sidebars to sit at and the delicious breads found here. Sadly, we couldn't capture the look unless we had a better lens (I reckon a fisheye lens will work well here), but hopefully these pictures will tempt you to visit it soon.


1. simple works best with delicious tomatoes perfumed with fresh basil leaves 2. thick cafe lattes perk up the afternoon


Choose from an array of breads and buns to eat here or takeaway in brown paper bags. You can dine here by sitting at one of the 4 tall wooden tables in the middle or at the side cement bar counters. It's not a very big space and can probably fit about 20 persons (if pushed). Since it was for lunch cum tea, we ordered loads of buns - the sausage cheese roll (RM4.80), garlic bun (RM2.80), chocolate danish (RM3.80) and cinnamon swirl (RM3.80).


1. Unravel the cinnamon swirl to discover its fragrance 2. Delicate and flaky chocolate danish can be chomped down in seconds

We loved the soft breads, which we finished in minutes. My favourites were the soft fragrant cinnamon scented swirly bun. Not too sweet, the bun could be easily pulled apart and demolished in seconds. Best eaten with their cafe latte (RM6.80). If you want something more delicate, the chocolate danish with a thin layer of chocolate within is a good choice.


inspired by Bill Granger's Feed Me Now cookbook (a birthday present, thanks S!) - the rustic lamb sausage, cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella melt with torn basil leaves using the organic wholemeal studded with pumpkin seeds bread from the Bread Shop

Aside the array of baked goodies, they also offer all day dining within the bakery; either 4 baguette slices or 2 pieces of toast with either kaya, butter/jam, 2 halfboiled eggs, tomato & basil sauce or chicken curry. Prices range from RM4.80 to RM9.80 for these selections. We ordered the tomato and basil sauce with baguette slices (RM5.80) and loved it. A simple chunky tomato sauce with torn basil leaves complimented the slightly toasted baguette slices so well, we were scraping the sides of the ramekin it was served in.

Not satisified with bread eaten there, we even took away some loaves - organic wholemeal for RM6.80 and cranberry walnut for RM8.80, which we shared with my friend S. The organic wholemeal bread went well with a Bill Granger inspired recipe of tomato, mozzarella and sausage melt that was a quick dinner from his latest cookbook, Feed Me Now!. Cranberry walnut is also excellent with chunks of walnut and dried cranberries that adds an interesting touch to the chunky rustic bread. I'm keen to also try their wholegrain (it was sold out when we were there) the next time. Reckon, I either have to make a point to get there earlier to sample that. Thanks S for the tip! I reckon The Bread Shop is going to be THE place for me to indulge in some bread bliss. For more pictures of The Bread Shop, see my Flickr set.

The Bread Shop
11, Jalan Setiakasih 5
Damansara Heights
Kuala Lumpur

Tel No: 03 - 2093 8734

(Pork free. Open from Monday to Fridays (8am-7.30pm) and Saturday (8am-5pm). Closed on Sundays. Located 2 doors away from the original Decanter, within Damansara Heights. See
this link for the Google Map. If coming from the Science Centre from Kiara highway, at the traffic light at the top of the hill, which is Persiaran Bukit Kiara, take a left hand turn onto Jalan Beringin, go straight and take a left at Jalan Setiakasih 5 when you see this sign that says Bukit Damansara. It's either the second or third turning on the left hand side. You will see the shophouses on the right hand side, The Bread Shop is next to M.M Mini Mart. )

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.


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21 comments:

  1. A new place for bread and bakeries? That's great! And they use paper bags instead of plastic ones, environment friendly. :)

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  2. BREAD??? I luvvv bread!
    hope they have good varieties..

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  3. mmmm, definitely tempted, especially by the cinnamon swirl (is that some sort of vanilla cream inside?). getting here by 7.30pm on a weekday is gonna be tough though.

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  4. sounds good, but paper is only environmentally friendly if you are going to recycle it!

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  5. sugar bean - definitely a place to visit often as the breads here are excellent.

    nomadgourmand - they have yummy varieties. I love the cranberry walnut, had it for dinner last night lightly toasted and it was delish.

    Sean - yeah, I can imagine it being tough to reach here by 7.30pm. Moreover if you go so late, am not sure what kind of breads will be left by then. Probably better to hangout here during Saturday?

    bawa - good pt abt the recycling part!

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  6. Wow, great find! Am always on the lookout for good breads. Too bad they close so early though...office workers like me will just have to load up on a weekend.

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  7. oooo i LOVE breads! and that sausage, tomatoes & basil leaves on bread combo is enough to tempt me to make my way there!! hopefully i'll be able to find it! :)

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  8. The tomato-basil paste looks divine :-) Great shooting!!!

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  9. This looks wonderful! We can never have enough of real bakeries. And brown paperbags are so much sexier than icky plastic bags! What kind of coffee do they brew? Looks inviting enough!

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  10. LL - yes, they cater mainly for the residents around there, so watch out for the datins dining here.

    Lingzie - the last pix is my own concoction though while the bread is theirs. You just can buy the bread and recreate that at home.

    Thxs Jules. The reflection pix is my fav, taken by mr. failed plumber.

    550ml - dunno what brand as I couldn't see it from where I was sitting but it was pretty decent stuff. I love brown paperbags too esp the sound they make when you crunch them.

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  11. i see your food shots more often than i see you .. sulk :( lol

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  12. Hopefully more of these kinds of foreign inspired upscale bread offerings will make our kampung KL "world class" soon , which seems a pretty long way
    lol !

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  13. ciki - awww, don't sulk, we'll see each other soon this Friday I guess?

    hiya bsg, long time no see! LOL, KL will never be world class, maybe world class in hawker food?

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  14. I just came from The Bread Shop after reading your review. What a FABULOUS array of bread to enjoy...I'm so happy that we now have this place in KL! Thanks for the lead!

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  15. Hey there! Thanks for posting my blogs link! When I was an Intern, I went to the Bread Shop everyday for their Cinnamon Swirl. Truly Delish!

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  16. do you have direction how to get here from ampang ? would like to visit this place ;)

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  17. hi, i would like to thank you for suggesting, it's a great place !

    it was a nice place with good bread..

    being a freelance photographer, i can't help to shoot delicious food.. it was inspired by your images here, hence, i attempted to shoot my version ...

    this is my blog :)

    http://www.dstudio10.com/blog/

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  18. Thanks so much for sharing this! I love, love pastries and bread. Thanks to your blog... i went to check it out today and had breakfast there. Hubby and I loved it!!!! Been using your blog as our food guide whenever I am out of ideas... We love living here in KL. Lots of superb food choices. Keep up the great food blog!!!

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  19. I just passed by this shop over the weekend and I fell in love with it ! Too bad, my friends and I just had our lunch when we discover it.
    It is such a lovely place and your pictures and writings described it really well ! After reading your review, I will definitely go pay a visit soon!

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  20. While the breads here are definitely delicious, the service here leaves a lot to be desired. KL will never have a reputation as a gastronomic destination when we cannot grasp the basic concept of service. When I asked for my croissant to be cut, we got a very rude reply of 'you've got the cutletry'

    In a place such as this, service must be a given yet the staff here lacks even basic courtesy. Best to avoid if you don't want to be snubbed that way.

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  21. Found a hair inside my bun. Instead of apologising, they suggested that I could have possibly placed my own hair inside the bun and refused to refund my money. This isn't the first time too. A couple of months ago, my friends and I found bugs in the glasses of water they served us. Completely unacceptable. Extremely poor hygiene standards and customer service

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