I walked into a hidden gem for coffee lovers and audiophiles on the first floor of the Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) market yesterday.
My wife, eldest son and I had just finished eating lunch and wanted to have some coffee and Google found ASOF Coffee near us. So we drove to the TTDI market and found ASOF Coffee hidden in one corner on the first floor.
I walked in and heard a rock song being played. I looked around and saw an LP being played on a Rega Planar 3 turntable with the original S-shaped tonearm. The rubber feet were replaced with footers from Ikea. Next to the Rega Planar 3 was a Lenco L75 turntable with an unfamiliar tonearm which I thought was a Grace tonearm. So I asked the cafe owner what tonearm it was and he replied: “It is specially made by SPH.”
“Oh, you know SPH? You know Captain?” I asked.
By chance I had bumped into an audiophile who runs a cafe and makes a good cup of Americano too. His name is Ben Aoak and he is a music lover as well.
The Rega Planar 3 turntable was placed on top of a Japanese integrated amp with lots of buttons and levers. I took a closer look — it was a Luxman L510. A bit of Googling and I found out that it was made from 1981-1988. I couldn’t recognise the speakers and I asked Ben and he said they were JBL L100s. These were launched in 1974. So, there is a fabulous vintage system in the cafe.
ASOF Coffee also sells vinyl. Ben said most are new and the others are pre-loved with some sourced from Japan. There are also cassettes in the cafe.
The mood at ASOF Coffee is relaxing and it is a perfect place to chill out and listen to prog rock and jazz while sipping good coffee. The next time you go to TTDI market to buy groceries, let your wife buy the vegetables and meat while you head to ASOF Coffee to take it easy…
