Nestled among the century-old shophouses of Upper China Street, where history lingers in every weathered wall and colourful mural, Indah Cafe offers more than just a place to enjoy a cup of coffee.
It is a welcoming space where heritage, creativity and community come together, inviting visitors to slow down and appreciate the charm of Sarawakian heritage through art and locally sourced meals.
Behind the café’s warm atmosphere lies a story. Co-founder Trudy Tan, 48, originally from Kuala Lumpur, moved to Kuching in 2013 with her husband, Colin Ong, driven by a strong desire to promote the beauty of Sarawak through a platform for Sarawak’s creative community.
Despite having a background in public policy, she found herself venturing into an entirely different field.
“We sort of blindly opened this place because we wanted to create a space for the art community.
“When we started in 2014, there wasn’t really a place that promoted Sarawak arts. Kuala Lumpur had plenty of art bazaars but Kuching didn’t really have anything like that,” she said.
Currently, the cafe has become an art gallery and provides private trips, art workshops, cooking classes and catering services.
Expanding menu through customer needs
Indah Cafe began as an art gallery café, serving only coffee and cakes, while showcasing local artwork.
Over the years, Indah Cafe evolved naturally, largely driven by customer feedback.
“Initially, we only served cakes and coffee because providing meals meant having food wastage.
“However, as customers started to ask for more, we eventually provided homemade wholemeal bread, sandwiches, milk kefir and granola, including rice-based breakfast menus for the locals,” she said.
Following that feedback, she then actively researched vegan diets and healthier options to develop healthier breakfast options, including an expanded menu that continued to evolve with customer needs.
“We’re all about promoting Sarawak through food, but our condition is that it has to be healthy because what we eat affects our well-being and today’s diet contains far too much processed food.
“That’s why we don’t use monosodium glutamate (MSG) or even chicken stock in our kitchen. Everything is made from scratch, and even our sambal contains no refined sugar—we use locally sourced gula apong instead,” she said.
She further added that the menu was more about telling the story of Sarawak ingredients, and moving forward, there would be a lot of research into the ingredients to understand better about their health properties before incorporating them into meals.
Trudy believes food will continue to be one of the most effective ways to preserve Sarawak’s heritage and hopes younger generations will become as familiar with local ingredients such as ‘terung asam’, jungle ferns and ‘linut’.
“As more people shop at supermarkets instead of traditional markets, we’re gradually losing touch with our indigenous ingredients, which is why we want to document our local dishes and the stories behind them,” she said.
A platform for art and cultural expression
Beyond serving food and beverages, Indah Cafe contributes to the cultural vibrancy of Upper China Street by supporting local artists and creatives through paintings, handcrafted products and occasional exhibitions that showcase Sarawak’s growing creative community.
Visitors can also browse artworks by emerging artists, join batik painting workshops or simply spend time sketching in the café’s creative atmosphere.
“We enjoy seeing people become creative while they’re here.
“If someone comes in and starts drawing, and we think it’s good, we’ll encourage them to display and even sell their work as I believe all artistes have their own stories,” she said.
One featured artist is Yvonne Yeoh, a deaf artist who never attended formal art school but has built an impressive portfolio through her talent and perseverance.
The cafe also displays works ranging from paintings to graffiti-inspired art, introducing visitors to different forms of creative expression.
“For us, art is very widely defined. As long as you’re passionate about what you do, everything is about storytelling about Sarawak and it goes back to providing a platform for their art pieces to support their talent,” she said.
Building confidence, creating opportunities
From its earliest days, the cafe has prioritised providing opportunities for individuals who may not have had access to higher education or career advancement.
Trudy shared that as there were people who came to work solely as service workers, she encouraged them to explore their abilities as many of them turned out to discover strengths and talents they never realised they had.
“Personally, Indah Cafe’s greatest success is seeing the growth and potential of our team members.
“One of our staff, who left school at 12 and once worked as a cleaner, is now one of our head chefs, conducting cooking classes and has even represented us at a cooking demonstration in Singapore,” she said.
Other employees have grown into programme coordinators, trainers, photographers and content creators.
She then further stated that the biggest challenge out of all was when they were facing financial constraints as all of the services they provided were interconnected.
“Human capital also remains one of the biggest challenges, particularly in motivating people to pursue personal growth as many women who join Indah Cafe’s programmes are capable but often lack the confidence to realise their own potential,” she said.
To overcome this, the cafe encourages employees to look beyond their current roles and envision long-term personal and professional growth.
“We always ask our staff where they want to go in life.
“At first, they think it’s strange because they only came to work as service crew but we want them to recognise their abilities and see how far they can grow,” she said.
From cafe to catalyst
The evolution from an art gallery into a food manufacturing business was another unexpected chapter in Indah Cafe’s journey.
Rooted in the sudden loss of tourists during the COVID-19 pandemic, the decline prompted Indah Cafe to focus more on its food business, eventually leading the team to venture into food manufacturing in 2024 to meet growing demand for its products.
“We used to pack our products in plastic containers or kraft paper bags but they were often confiscated by customs.
“So we started exploring the available programmes and realised there was a gap as women from B40 backgrounds had limited access to programmes that could provide them with the skills needed to sustain a business,” she said.
Recognising this gap, Indah Cafe launched the year-long Sarawak Heritage Entrepreneurship Hub (SHEHub), supported by Yayasan Hasanah and the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC), based on the belief that aspiring entrepreneurs needed sustained mentorship and confidence-building to build more sustainable businesses.
“You cannot expect someone to attend a three-day course and suddenly know how to run a business,” Trudy said.
The hub involves participants receiving continuous coaching covering branding, product development, pricing, packaging, sales and real-life market experience.
A dynamic hub of art, culture and community
Overall, Indah Cafe stands out as more than just a place to enjoy food and beverages; it is a space where art, culture and community come together.
From its beginnings as an art gallery cafe, it has steadily evolved into a multifunctional venue that reflects both the creativity of Sarawak’s local scene and the changing needs of its customers, highlighting its identity as a living, adaptive space rather than a static cafe.
Through displayed artworks, handmade products and various workshops, it provides a platform for emerging and established talents to reach a wider audience while serving as a venue for events that bring people together.
The cafe stands as a reminder that heritage is not confined to museums or monuments.
Whether one visits for the food, coffee or atmosphere, Indah Cafe offers a rare space to pause, connect and explore creativity and personal potential through its artistic environment, cooking classes and opportunities for learning and self-discovery.
