Update: This business has ceased its operations.
43 Café is an eatery near USM’s Sungai Dua entrance. The premises is a residential corner lot unit, which provides ample space of dine-in customers.
The dining section is sheltered but not air-conditioned. This is fine because business starts in the evening when the weather is usually cooler anyway. The place is decorated in a youthful manner. This is unsurprising as most customers are university undergraduates.
43 Café is renowned for its pork burgers, but these have been discontinued since my previous visit. Instead, the restaurant is now focusing on Western meals such as steak and pasta.
Homemade ice cream (or Ice Scream as 43 Café calls it) is also another specialty here. However, I was told that Ice Scream will be discontinued soon too. In fact, my visit today is to catch the Ice Scream before this happens.
The flavor of my choice is Baileys Irish Cream (RM13.90). Baileys Irish Cream is a brand of liqueur which is notable for combining Irish whiskey with dairy cream to form thick emulsion. Yes, this Ice Scream is alcoholic (albeit mildly), so think twice before allowing your kid to have one.
The consistency of this Ice Scream is decent, although I must say that I have encountered better ones. According to 43 Café, the best way to enjoy this dessert is with salt and chili pepper.
Using salt with ice cream is not unheard of; in fact I enjoyed Salt & Straw’s salted ice cream in Portland, Oregon.
But using chili pepper is an entirely different story. I just feel that chili pepper does not connect with ice cream. It just tastes wrong. Or perhaps I just don’t know how to enjoy artisanal ice cream this way.
Although I did not order any proper meals here at 43 Café, a peek at its menu revealed that the food is not as affordable as one might expect. In fact, its pricing is comparable to air-conditioned restaurants in shopping malls. The fact there are many youngsters eating here indicates that I underestimated the spending power of university students. Or their parents.
By the way, 43 Café is seriously understaffed. The staff are too preoccupied in the kitchen to entertain existing customers, or to notice new walk-ins.
Address: 43, Jalan Sungai Dua, 11700 Gelugor, Pulau Pinang
Contact: 016-430-7009
Business hours: 5:30pm-10:00pm
