Operator 21 Cafe, Damansara Uptown: Review, Menu & Verdict
Hidden within Uptown’s brand new pickle ball court Pickl3 Town is a brand new cafe serving up aesthetic and delicious cafe favourites. I’ve been seeing their Dutch Baby Pancake here, there, and everywhere, so I really just had to try it myself! Here’s what I thought of Operator 21!
Is it Halal
At this point in time, my understanding is that they are pork-free but don’t have Halal certification, but do check with them if this is something that concerns you.
Where It Is
It is located right next to Pickl3 Town, so you can really park anywhere within Uptown and walk towards it. I still think the easiest option would be to park at Starling Mall itself and walk over. Pro tip: you can walk over by heading over to the car park exit near the Samsung shop on the Ground Floor (near the customer service counter). Walk to the left, and you just have to head down the escalator and you’ll find yourself at Operator 21!
Address: Lot 1089, No. 7, Jalan SS 21/39, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Operating Hours:
Daily | 7am to 12 midnight
Look for this exit to head to Operator 21 from the mall!
What it Costs
I would say that what is shown today is probably representative of a typical meal eaten by two and a half people. I just eat a lot, and my objective of these visits is to try more than necessary so I have content to share. What I’ll say is that this will easily be my biggest complaint. Their prices are quite exorbitant for what they offer, here’s the breakdown of what I tried:
Signature Dutch Baby Pancake | RM34
Strawberry & Cream Matcha Latte | RM18
Salted Egg Yolk Pasta with Soft Shell Crab | RM38
Chocolate Banana Bowl | RM26
I would say that the only one that is almost in an acceptable range would be the Matcha Latte, but even that is really on the border of normal prices. You can check out the their full menu selection here below:
How it Tastes
Okay, enough about the complaining, because the one place I won’t complain is the quality. I would say that each dish, if I didn’t have to look at the price, is actually quietly brilliant in their own way. Starting off with the Signature Dutch Baby Pancake. I’ll be the first to say that I haven’t had many Dutch Baby Pancakes, but it’s a really interesting dish. Aesthetic and tasty at the same time. I think that there is many different dimensions to the dish. The core of the dish - the pancake - feels like somewhere in between a pizza and fresh bread just out of the oven. The part that really gets to me is the fact that I can’t really tell if this is a savoury or a sweet dish, just because you have the savoury hit from the straciatella cheese and their chicken ham bringing a nice salty tint to the dish, but you also have the fresh figs cutting through that and adding the sweetness.
The interesting part is that they also have a maple syrup that they share for you to add at your fancy. It really does transform the dish - as it goes from something that is more on the savoury end to something on the sweet end completely. Both with and without are really interesting, so I would say that this is definitely my must order if you do take a visit over here. As again, I do think that the pricing still seems a bit steep regardless, but if there was anything that was unique and something that I would recommend, it would clearly be this!
Their salted egg yolk pasta was also a pleasant surprise. I think with salted egg yolk pasta, places will always get one thing wrong - the strength of flavour vs how heavy it feels - especially because of the salted egg yolk. They really do get it right here. There’s a nice thickness to the sauce and the flavour isn’t overly heavy to the point that you can’t eat for the rest of the day. So I really enjoyed this dish. I think Soft Shell Crab is also a perfect complement for this dish as well, as the sauce slowly breaks it down from crispy to a more tender and delicious soft shell crab. Once again, if you ignore price, I do think that this is quite a nice dish that I would recommend.
Their chocolate banana bowl (and acai / yoghurt bowls in general) would be something that I have mixed thoughts about. I think that in general, this should be for people who are health conscious and are mindful for their calories - in many ways, that is the way it is marketed - below 400kcal, above 10g of protein. My thoughts first of all is that the bowl was maybe a bit slower that I mentally had in mind - especially at RM26. My second thought would be it is definitely on the sweeter end overall. At least for the chocolate banana bowl. There’s Sabah organic honey, chia seed, chocolate hazelnut granola and ovomaltine in this dish, but maybe I’m just a bit surprised that their choice of yoghurt was definitely on a bit more sweeter end of the scale.
Their Strawberry Matcha latte is a solid pick, I like the fruity and sweet notes but maybe it looks slightly prettier in some of the images that they shared. But overall, I still think it’s a pretty nice and tasty Strawberry Matcha Latte.
Star Rating
6.5/10. I’m quite sure you see the recurring theme of this review. Really nice food but at a price that I find hard to justify. This is definitely in that category of try once for the novelty, but I wouldn’t think that many people will make it a regular spot. That’s why I would still say, this is a really solid spot for a nice chill out and catchup with friends. Really nice food, just at a price that is really hard for me to justify.
