Before my friend brought us to Havn Cafe at Kulai, Johor, she pre-empted us, “The food is so-so only har.” Actually, I don’t know why my friends think I’m very picky with food. I’m not! I’m fat. I eat everything. And besides, the food at Havn is decent. But I’m jumping the gun. Here’s an introduction to Havn:

It’s situated within a factory area. Before you go “oooh it’s so dangerous,” grow a pair. It’s not. It’s an open area and the factories are blocks separated quite far apart. There is fair amount of traffic so there will be witnesses. HAHA. Just kidding. It’s safe.

Furthermore, you seldom can find such a cafe space in Singapore. (Ok, there are Wheeler’s Yard and Wheeler’s Estate and Wild Seed, but they are expensive, mediocre, and the space is still small compared to Havn.)

There are a few sitting areas at Havn: the circle which is romantic but hot, or the stage area which has a high ceiling and cooler. 肥人怕热 so I chose to sit at the cool area.

As Havn was our third pitstop–we had been eating the entire day–we didn’t order much. Each of us ordered a beverage and we shared 2 cakes and a pizza.

The coffees all came with a heart shape. One cup has a ruined heart, lopsided. haha. Maybe they need to work on their latte art. I had a rose latte (12RM), which is basically bandung mixed in coffee, and tasted like that. Mr Fitness, who is Malaysian, said the coffee cannot be compared to Singapore’s. I think so too.

The two cakes (oreo crepe 12.90RM and Belgium chocolate crepe 12.90RM) were a cause of great hilarity. One plate wrote “Havn” and the other wrote “哈夫” (ha-fu).

Me: So… Havn is pronounced as 哈夫? Harvard?

Ms Atas: Harvard your head lah. Harvard is 哈弗, this is 哈夫.

Mr Fitness: Your Chinese so bad you still always say your Chinese is good.

Ms Atas: You can tell people you work at 哈夫 and let people think you work at Harvard. Haha.

Huccalyly: Wait, so Havn is pronounced as 哈夫, as in is the glass half empty or half full??

Me: No lah, it’s pronounced as “heaven” right? But isn’t “heaven” 天堂? Why is it 哈夫?

Hucaclyly: or is it “haven”?

Me: Maybe it’s “haven’t.” Has the food come yet? Havn.

Ok, back to the food. If you wonder why we ordered two similar cakes and didn’t order the matcha cake, it was because everyone had their own opinion. Anyway, the cakes are ok, not bad. Not Lady M great, but good enough. No complaints.

Honestly, I don’t know whose idea it was to order a pizza because we had already been eating non-stop for the entire day. But I’m glad we did. The margherita (18RM) is thin and cheesy, with a nice tinge of tomato which isn’t too sour. (I hate sour tomato.) It’s pretty decent but Ms Atas said, “Chey, I had better pizza at a restaurant.” People say I have high standards, my friends are worse. This is a cafe and I thought the food standard is already quite good.

We paid 106RM. We enjoyed ourselves here. Maybe next time, we will return with empty stomachs and eat lunch here. They have extensive menu of savory Western food including pastas.

Food: 6.5/10
Service: 6.5/10
Decor: 7/10
Price: 7/10

You may be interested in…
–Soon Kee Bitter Gourd Soup 新顺记苦瓜汤, Johor: Fantastic Hakka & Cze Char Food
–Duck Kway Chap, Lebuh Kimberley Night Market, Penang
–Weng Yin Seafood Restaurant, Port Dickson, Malaysia
–Best Cafes in Ipoh

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.