ScrappyDough Lao Gan Ma Bagel

Post by Chiefeater VK

Breakfast at ScrappyDough Sungai Besi is partly about the bagels and partly about discovering The Pocket itself.

The Menu

The Pocket occupies a repurposed old building at 139 Jalan Sungai Besi, where the raw concrete, exposed surfaces and deliberately unfinished character have been retained rather than polished away. It has evolved into a creative hub housing food, drinks, art and other small businesses.

ScrappyDough was one of the earlier food tenants here, specialising in sourdough bagels and focaccia with distinctly Asian flavour combinations.

What I Ordered at ScrappyDough

The Kam Heong Chicken Sandwich takes a flavour most Malaysians would immediately recognise and puts it between a sourdough bagel. There was plenty of chicken packed inside, and the Kam Heong seasoning gave it the savoury, aromatic character. It works surprisingly naturally as a sandwich filling rather than feeling like a Malaysian flavour forced into a Western format.

The more intriguing order, however, was the Lao Gan Ma Bagel.

It arrives looking rather formidable, its surface darkened by chilli crisp and scattered heavily with sesame seeds. There is that familiar savoury, chilli-rich character associated with Lao Gan Ma, and it turns what could have been a fairly straightforward bagel into something much more interesting.

Adding the Truffle Butter was a particularly good decision. The richness of the butter and truffle rounded out the chilli and savoury flavours of the bagel beautifully. At RM12, the spread actually costs more than the bagel, but the combination worked well enough that I would order them together again.

How the Bagels Ate

There is one qualification. These are bagels of the fluffier variety. ScrappyDough describes its bakes around sourdough, but if you like the dense, substantial chew of a more traditional bagel, you may find these softer than expected. That softer texture has also been noted in previous coverage of its Kam Heong Chicken Bagel.

Personally, I would have liked considerably more chew.

On the other hand, the softer bagel makes sense with some of ScrappyDough’s more assertive fillings. Neither the Kam Heong nor Lao Gan Ma has to fight against a particularly dense bread, so the flavours come through immediately.

Why ScrappyDough Is Worth Visiting in Sungai Besi

What makes ScrappyDough interesting isn’t simply that it sells sourdough bagels. It’s what they are doing with them.

Kam Heong, Lao Gan Ma, sambal and other Asian flavours give the menu an identity beyond being another KL bagel shop. And being inside The Pocket adds considerably to the experience. The shared spaces are airy, raw and quite unlike a conventional café, with different food and creative businesses occupying different parts of the old building.

Come for breakfast and there is a bit of wandering around to do afterwards. However, I didn’t particular appreciate the smell of the rubbish along the street parking.

Pricing

Kam Heong Chicken Sandwich – RM17
Lao Gan Ma Bagel – RM11
Truffle Butter – RM12

Food total: RM40

MVX Summary

MVX Score: 8.0/10

M – Meal Value
RM17 for the Kam Heong Chicken Sandwich is OK value, while RM11 for the Lao Gan Ma bagel is a premium price. The RM12 truffle butter is relatively expensive beside an RM11 bagel, but it was also the pairing that made the bagel particularly enjoyable.
Score: 8.0/10

V – Venue
The Pocket gives ScrappyDough an environment very different from the usual standalone café. The adaptive reuse of the old building, communal seating and collection of food and creative businesses make it a place worth exploring rather than somewhere you simply eat and leave.
Score: 8.0/10

X – X-Factor
Putting recognisably Malaysian and Asian flavours such as Kam Heong and Lao Gan Ma onto sourdough bagels gives ScrappyDough its personality. I just wish the bagels themselves had more of that characteristic chew.
Score: 8.0/10

Business Hours

Monday to Wednesday, Friday to Sunday
08:00 am to 04:00pm

Closed on Thursday

Editor’s Note

Chiefeater VK paid for this meal himself and reflect this own views