PappaRich

Level 2, Shop 11, QV Square, 210 Lonsdale Street Melbourne
Date visited: 31st January 2013

PappaRich is a Malaysian restaurant that opened up a while ago at the venue which was once Old Town Kopitiam.  They specialise in Malaysian food like roti canai, bread with kaya and butter, satay, nasi lemak, laksa, chicken rice, mee goreng and even desserts like ice kacang.  A visit here was long overdue, so when MerlinFan suggested we go the other day, I readily agreed.

We were greeted outside by a friendly maitre d and brought to our seats inside by a waiter.  There was ample space in the restaurant and we got a comfy booth seat near the back.

They give you time to review the menu and write your orders down on a pad of paper.  When you're ready, you press the green buzzer and someone comes to take your slip of paper.

I had an Air Bandung which was milk flavoured with rose cordial syrup.  When I first tasted it, I had to try it again.  If it hadn't been mildly pink, I would have thought they brought me the wrong drink.  I don't know if they used soy milk, but it tasted exactly like soybean milk. There was only the faintest hint of rose syrup, so I don't know man, to me, it tasted weird, like it couldn't decided to be Bandung or soy milk.

Air bandung $3.90

MerlinFan had the Teh Ais, which was cold milk tea.  It was pretty standard.

Teh Ais $3.90

MerlinFan had the Char Kuay Teow.  It came with prawns and fishcake, but MerlinFan asked the waitress when she took our order slip if she could change it to chicken and fishcake.  The waitress said okay, but she only wrote down "chicken" so MerlinFan's kuah teow came without the fishcake :(

Char Kuay Teow $11.50

MerlinFan said presentation could have been better - a pet peeve of hers is when food looks as if it's just been tossed carelessly on a plate.  (Maybe they were going for more authentic hawker feel LOL)  Taste-wise she said it was nice at first, with mild wok hei but as there was only chicken without the fishcake it got a bit boring toward the end.

I had the Roti Canai with Chicken Curry.

Roti canai with curry chicken $10.90

It's funny, because having lived in Malaysia till my teens, I never liked roti canai.  And then, fast forward many years later and two years ago, I had it in Melbourne and what d'you know, I decided that I liked it.  My only explanation is that perhaps out of sight is not out of mind - absence does in fact make the heart grow fonder.

My first thought when my dish was brought out was that the roti canai looked very different to Mamak's.  It looked less fluffy and thicker, but it tasted amazing.  It was different to Mamak's, but hell, tasted damned good to me!  It was also fluffy, actually, and deliciously crispy.  I couldn't pick which one was nicer - they were both good.  Different, but good.  The other curry sauces were thankfully not as bloody spicy as Mamak's, and for that I was grateful.  I loved the spicy, super tender curry chicken - it was nice to have an option to have the roti plain or with curry chicken on the side as I sure love having something else to go with my roti!

Overall, food and drinks were not bad, but the roti canai with curry was excellent - I would come back just for this.  





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