During our visit to Cameron Highlands we stayed at David's Hotel Apartment in Tanah Rata, a little town in the Highlands. We arrived around 6pm by bus, dropped our stuff in our room, and went looking for a place to eat dinner. We walked along the main road and stumbled upon a nice little restaurant called Hill Station Cafe. The owner was really friendly, so we decided to give it a go. The food was good and cheap, we only paid RM22 for food and drinks. The portions were not that large, so we ordered some cheesecake for dessert, which turned out to be really nice.
Breakfast was not included in our room, so the next morning (and a second morning) we went to Starbucks. It’d been awhile since I had eaten a good croissant and I loved it! I guess everyone has been in a Starbucks and has his favourite drink. We really like the Caramel Macchiato (hot) and just love the Dark Caramel Frappuccino (cold), unfortunately sold out in Tanah Rata. We brought our laptops to get some work done and keep you guys posted about our adventures. You get free WiFi for two hours by entering the code on your receipt (just ask another one if you both want to go online, like us).
The next restaurant we tried became our favourite one: The Barracks Cafe. They have a great WiFi connection! And also good food of course. Spread over our three visits, we tried and liked the spaghetti carbonara (RM16.90) and the chicken teriyaki burger (RM16.90). The sweet and sour (and a little spicy) sesame chicken (RM14.90) and the Yankee doodle chicken chop (RM21.90) were OK. It’s cosy to sit outside in their garden and the staff is really friendly.
After our first day of hiking, we went to The Lord's Cafe for a treat, as recommended. We tried the strawberry scone (RM2.8) and the strawberry cheesecake (RM4.3), which were both delicious! Being in Cameron Highlands, famous for their tea, we ordered BOH’s peppermint tea and passionfruit tea. Brecht liked it, me not so much. As expected, tea just isn’t my cup of tea.
At Rosette, Brecht tried the black pepper steak with mashed potatoes (RM17.50), which was ok. I ordered the pineapple rice (RM10) and chicken satay (RM11). The satays were quite small, but really good, especially the accompanying sauce.
Indian restaurant Singh Chapati got really high scores on TripAdvisor, so we went there on our last night. Bummer! All the dishes we ordered had cilantro in them, which we both really dislike. Ah well, maybe we’ll get used to it by the time we leave Asia. Apparently they don’t serve boneless chicken, not a fan of that either (for me that is, Brecht doesn’t mind).
Brecht also tried some Indian food at Cameron aa Curry House with the same cilantro problem although it wasn’t as bad. The food was OK here, but make sure to pass on the mango juice. All in all nothing spectacular.
One night we went to Traveller's Bistro and Pub for drinks. Brecht had a beer, I a Singapore Sling, which tasted like grenadine, really not worth its money. There was no one else in the bar, so while sipping our drinks we watched the DVD of a live performance of Tina Turner that was playing. A second night we tried the Jungle Bar from Daniel’s Lodge, but there was nobody else around here either. So we enjoyed some beers while reading at a bonfire. Definitely a good idea when you’re with a group or in Cameron Highlands in high season. One large can of Chang (Thai beer) costs only RM9, which is cheap for Malaysia.
The food in Tanah Rata was OK, but not great. We liked the food in George Town a lot better. We have to admit we failed to try a food court in Tanah Rata, maybe that’s the issue. Nevertheless, for a couple days of hiking or just some peace and quiet, Cameron Highlands is the place to be!
You went to starbucks – you have no credibility when writing about food. Also – you ordered Spaghetti Carbonara in Barracks. You’re in Asia – really – no offence, but this is a pointless read. I’m no foodie – but at least I eat the local fare, not steaks, chicken chop and spaghetti. I can eat those at much higher quality in countries where they are the local dishes.
Now that we read back we definitely had a lot of Western food in Tanah Rata. I guess that’s what happens when traveling for months at a time, you just crave familiar things from back home. Even Starbucks sometimes (with the free WiFi being a big plus when you need to get some work done).
You might want to have a look at our food post about George Town. We tried a lot of different cuisines there and loved most of them!