VCR @ Galloway, Feeka @ Mesui & Quartet @ TTDI

There are more than two dozen viable ways to start a story about VCR. Heres one of them.

Its 2009 when the U.S. financial crisis forces a Malaysian information technology worker whos spent the best part of his twenties in Honolulu & San Francisco back to his homeland. Hes not happy about it; a chunk of his next three years is consumed by labor in which social isolation is the soul-deadening rule. Its not the life he wants.

Its February 2012 when the glimpse of a different future crystallizes, born of the same thought thats struck thousands of other people seeking a fresh beginning: Open a cafe. In his case, the circumstances prove encouraging: He has a buddy wholl take that leap of faith with him, plus a family willing to bestow both financial & moral support.

Its in Japan, at a conference of coffee lovers, that he secures both inspiration & information by speaking with people whove trodden this path a lifetime ago. Its back in KL, in Artisan Roast Coffee, that he learns what its like to spend weeks, then months, making coffee that meets his own expectations & being part of a place where people want to be. 

Its late at night when hes in a car heading home from a wedding. Hes not 100 percent sober, which might explain that wrong turn into a dead-end street of decades-old houses near Pudu. Others will describe it as destiny. Why else would he return the next day, haunted by the vision of something thats not there, the possibility of something like a coffee ashram.

 And finally, its here on that street, at VCR Cafe, that this man will be on Oct. 10, not alone but with a team of passionate collaborators wholl officially open their long-gestating coffee-&-cakes outlet; they include the barrister-turned-barista whos a co-founder of the Cafe Hop KL community (https://www.facebook.com/CafeHopKl ... follow them).

For the rest of the story, visit VCR 11am-8pm daily from Thursday (business hours will evolve), take a table by the street-level counter (the space upstairs is currently reserved for private events & Eyes-Wide-Shut-style orgies), talk to the people here & enjoy their coffee (might be Artisan & Coffex blends, with the occasional manifestation of names like Smitten & Nylon).

Call it 1001 Arabica Nights: Therell be other coffee tales to hear & tell this year, like the fable of Feeka, the cafe thats seemingly under perpetual renovation in the Mesui realm near Changkat BB, certain nonetheless to someday captivate acolytes of venues like PJs Butter + Beans ...

... & the enigma of what lurks within Quartet, soon to stir (we hope) in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.