Le Fuse Café – New Muslim Owned Mala Café At Lim Tua Tow Road!

The craze for mala doesn’t seem to be dying down anytime soon. In fact, more and more Singaporeans seem to be loving the numbing heat, which is the direct translation for mala (麻辣). We’ve also seen the rise of Chong Qing grilled fish, another Sichuan delicacy.

There is a boom in the number of eateries that offer the famous mala xiang guo, and we’ve done a short compilation of 13 places here. I will be introducing a brand new mala café that is 100% Muslim owned!

Located along Lim Tua Tow Road is 2-week-old Le Fuse Café. It took over the premises of the now defunct Sunday Market. The café is co-owned by two Muslim brothers, Eddy and Leonadi, who also run the Muslim-owned Ma La Hui Cui Guan 麻辣荟萃馆 restaurant along Middle Road.

With their expertise in Sichuan cuisine and all things mala, the duo decided to set up a new mala café that offers Malay-Sichuan fusion cuisine.

Some interesting dishes include Rice Cake Soto Sichuan ($8.80), which features homemade lontong rice cakes, cooked in a Sichuan-style mee soto broth. The dish comes with pieces of braised chicken wings, which are fork tender and well flavoured. Another highlight is the begedil, which is a traditional deep fried potato patty. The spicy soto soup, which binds harmoniously with the aroma of Sichuan peppercorns, promises to leave a delicate numbing sensation on your tongue.

If you visit the café for mala dishes, the Mala Xiang Guo – Spicy Dry Pot ($12.80) is what you’re looking for. Although you don’t get to choose your own ingredients, the xiang guo comes with the typical mala essentials, such as cabbage, potatoes, luncheon meat and even black fungus. Eddy shared that the café imports some of the ingredients, such as Sichuan peppercorns, directly from China to ensure that the flavours are authentic. Although the mala xiang guo had the numbing effect, we felt that the xiang guo wasn’t spicy enough. But that’s not an issue, as the spice levels are customisable.

The most interesting dish for us would be the Prawn with Green Tea Leaves ($10.80), which isn’t something that you see every day, even in Sichuan restaurants. These deep fried prawns are tossed with green tea leaves. The tender and flavourful prawns were very enjoyable but what stole my heart was the deep fried green tea leaves, which were shatteringly crisp.

Eddy shared that they’re looking into introducing more spicy delights, such as the Chong Qing grilled fish. The café is still in its infancy stage, so you can be sure that bigger and better things are in store!

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.