A tale of two sourdough bakeries in Penang

I first tried sourdough bread several years ago. I think it was overseas, perhaps in Perth. Then for a long while, I went off sourdough bread because I couldn't find it easily in Penang. Didn't try hard enough to find its source, actually.

Then about three months ago at the Penang Adventist Hospital, I happened to see the bakery there selling sourdough bread by the loaves. Freshly baked, smelled heavenly and very soft. So I bought a loaf. Went home with it to proudly show it to my wife, and we had a nice sourdough bread dinner that night. Just bread with butter and a shared cup of kopi-o. Boy, did we enjoy ourselves.

Joies Café & Sourdough

A few weeks ago, a friend told me that there was a sourdough bread café in George Town. Where, I asked him. In Pulau Tikus, he said, close to the market there. Moulmein Road, to be exact. And he gave me directions. I was excited. Soon, I told myself, soon my wife and I will go there for a meal. And by a coincidence too, I also came across a second sourdough café while driving around the heritage area. This one was in Claimant Place, practically next to the Campbell Street market.

In the middle of last month, my wife and I dropped into Joies Café & Sourdough, the outlet in Pulau Tikus. Wide variety of food in their menu. Not only did the café sell sourdough bread but also pasta. But since our intention was to have sourdough bread, we chose one of their bread items from the menu. We felt heartened when the dish came out. Four pieces of toasted bread - sourdough bread - with two eggs sunny side up and generous portions of creamy egg mayo, sauteed mushroom, vegetarian ragu melt and onion jam. Enough to make us happy.

Yin's Sourdough Bakery & Café

But our joie immediately turned to disappointment with one bite into their bread, The crust was way too tough. If this sourdough bread was their specialty, then I wouldn't want to order any more bread dishes from them. Greatly disappointed with this particular experience.

Yesterday, we decided to drop into the second sourdough bread cafe, the one in Claimant Place, called Yin's Sourdough Bakery & Café. But before we went in, we told ourselves to be mentally prepared if their sourdough bread did not meet with our standards.

So did our order meet with our expectations? I've got to admit here that, yes, their bread did. A very simple dish but we found their version of toasted sourdough bread so much softer and definitely good enough to be eaten, not once but many times. I'm satisfied, very satisfied, that I've found this sourdough bakery.

VCR Bangsar

There is an interesting sourdough postscript to this story. You see, between our visits to these two sourdough cafés in Penang, I happened to be in Kuala Lumpur for a chess activity.

Professing hunger, my daughter brought me to the VCR Restaurant in Bangsar for an early lunch. I felt a bit surprised to see sourdough bread featured in their menu.

Before I knew it, I had already ordered one of their heaviest sourdough meals. Or course, it took me a while to get through this huge plate by myself but yah, it was enjoyable while it lasted. And the sourdough bread, lightly toasted, was soft and delicious. Likewise, my daughter's sourdough bread with egg and an avocado spread was equally good.