Review - PappaRich Chadstone

17th June 2012

PappaRich - Chadstone
Shop F029
Chadstone Shopping Centre
1341 Dandenong Road
Chadstone

Related Review: PappaRich Doncaster on 9th June 2012.

Cuisine: Malaysian


Taste Rating: 7.5/10   Value Rating: 8/10

Last Saturday, we went to PappaRich Doncaster. This Sunday evening, we decided to check out dinner at PappaRich Chadstone. The restaurant is located on the side of Chadstone Shopping Center facing Dandenong Road. It was easy to get a parking spot at one of the outdoor carparks. On a cold drizzly winter evening, you want to hurry along the short walk from the car park to the restaurant.

Same story, there was a queue. This time our queue ticket was number 3 and there were fewer people waiting so it looked promising. There was no bar for waiting although there was a row of seats in the entry area. Most people opted to stand in the queue outdoors. About 3 minutes later, number 3 was called and we had a table. Sadly, the location of the table was not great - cramped in a corridor near a work area. We requested another table from one of the two supervisors. He was very accommodating and reallocated us to another table soon after, this time near the window. It was next to the supervisor's station - perfect! This is one of the best locations if you need service. 

One difference between this PappaRich and the one in Doncaster - there is no buzzer to press for your order to be collected. Otherwise, the same system applies - write your meal numbers from the menu onto an order form, and hand to the staff. We ordered R13 Jasmine Rice with Red Chicken and Sambal Prawns, W02 Hainan Curry Chicken Chop, C02 Roti Canai with Curry Chicken, ST06 Satay Mixed (6 Chicken, 6 Beef), MF06 Lemon Tea (warm), P08 Banana Fritters and Ice Cream and E27 Green Tea Ice Cream. As at PappaRich Doncaster, I wanted to try the Pappa Bun at PappaRich Chadstone to see how it stacked up against the buns from Pappa Roti, but this item was not available.  

The Jasmine Rice with Red Chicken and Sambal Prawns was a nice dish. The chicken was tender and tasty. The prawn sambal was not bad if you like your sambal a bit sweet.

The Hainan Curry Chicken Chop will appeal to those who love fried foods. The chicken is greasy, as expected with fried chicken, but that is what gives it that great fried chicken taste. Is it a coincidence that someone at our table said that the PappaRich logo reminded them of the "Colonel"! The curry sauce was too generous - I would have prefered a bit less sauce.

The Roti Canai with Curry Chicken was another nice dish. Again, as at Doncaster, I like the crispy sweet roti, which may not be to everyone's taste. I found the curry chicken a bit salty and it did not have enough chilli hotness. However,  this curry was pronounced very nice by the person who ordered it, and they liked the "lemak" (coconut milk -infused) flavour.

The Satay Mixed was excellent. If I had to pick, I prefer the beef to the chicken. However, both are tasty, with lean meat and a nice marinade. The peanut sauce was good too.

The warm Iced Lemon drink was okay.

Slight hiccup with the service. Dessert was served just after the second main meal was brought to our table, with two more main meals still to be brought out. When I pointed out to the waitress that we couldn't possible eat our main meals and dessert at the same time, she indicated that it was the way it was. I asked for the surpervisor and once again, excellent response. He apologised and took the desserts away, asking us to call him when we were ready and he would make sure fresh desserts were prepared for us.

The green tea ice cream was creamy with just a hint of green tea. I wouldn't have minded a stronger green tea flavour. The banana fritters and ice cream had a generous serve of two bananas which were nicely battered without being too thick. We had requested in the Remarks column to swap the vanilla ice cream with green tea ice cream and the kitchen did take note of this the first time the banana fritters were brought out, but forgot to do this at the second appearance. The other supervisor was quick to rectify this.

Overall, a nice meal and we will come back again. Top marks to the friendly supervisory staff for responding quickly and courteously to issues. Mistakes happen especially in a busy restaurant. What makes or breaks the customer experience is how the staff redeem the situation and we were more than happy with how the staff had handled this.

Front of the Restaurant

Our Queue Ticket

Spot the difference - there is no Buzzer

at PappaRich Chadstone

Grilling Satay

Rolling out the Roti Canai dough

Getting Ready ...

... to FLIP the dough!

Packed with a constant stream of Diners

Queue waiting patiently for tables

R13 Jasmine Rice with Red Chicken

and Sambal Prawns

Jasmine Rice with Red Chicken

and Sambal Prawns

W02 Hainan Curry Chicken Chop

Hainan Curry Chicken Chop

C02 Roti Canai with Curry Chicken

 Roti Canai with Curry Chicken

ST06 Satay Mixed

(12 pieces)

Satay Mixed (12 pieces)

Desserts arrived with the second main dish

Green Tea Ice Cream - Act 2

Green Tea Ice Cream

Banana Fritters with Ice Cream - Act 2

MF06 Lemon Tea

Lemon Tea (Warm)

Review - PappaRich Doncaster

9th June 2012

PappaRich
540 Doncaster Road,
Doncaster

Related Review: PappaRich Chadstone on 17th June 2012.
Cuisine: Malaysian


Taste Rating: 7.5/10   Value Rating: 8/10

We went for dinner on a Saturday. Arriving in their carpark about 5.45pm, we got a parking spot immediately. Being winter, the day turns dark early and it felt like night time when we arrived. Even though it was relatively early for dinner, the restaurant was already full of people.  They don't take bookings for groups of less than 10 persons. We didn't have a booking and were told there would be a wait. Armed with queue ticket number 39, we went into the bar/lounge area to fill our time. It didn't look promising as the lounge was already crowded with waiting people. Surprisingly, about 10 mins later, number 39 flashed up on the screen and we had a table.

The staff member made sure to ask us if we knew how the ordering system worked. For those new to PappaRich,  you write your meal numbers (from the menu) onto a little order form. Then press the buzzer and a staff member collects the order form from you. About five minutes after we did this, the first of our items appeared, followed by the rest in quick succession. We had been seated about 6pm, then filled in and put in our order form,  and the photo I took of the first dish that arrived was time-stamped 6.15pm - so the service was running pretty fast. Our little table was soon crowded with the items we had ordered. The wait staff were fairly efficient, especially given the busy conditions. But they gave the impression they were not very confident when it came to questions about the menu. For example, I asked for Teh Tarik and one staff member was puzzled. So you may have to rely on your own knowledge of Malaysian cuisine.

We ordered R05 Pappa Special Nasi Lemak, N01 Chicken Curry Laksa with E08 Cockles, R08 Pappa Special Biryani Rice, R01 Pappa Chicken Rice, C03 Roti Canai with Tandoori Chicken and a takeaway N04 Char Koay Teow.  We also had iced PS07 Pappa Cham with Jelly, iced Barley with Jelly and Green Tea Ice Cream. I wanted to try the Pappa Bun and see how it stacked up against the buns from Pappa Roti, but this item had a sticker with "NA" stuck against it on the menu. One staff member checked and said it was available (yay!) but the next staff member then said it wasn't so (not "yay" after all).

The Pappa Special Nasi Lemak comes with curry chicken, prawn sambal, fried anchovies, fried peanuts, half a hard boiled egg, spicy sambal and cucumber slices. We wrote 'more cucumber' on the order form and the kitchen took note and provided extra slices (compared to the picture on the menu)! This is a nice dish overall. The curry chicken had large, tender, tasty pieces of chicken on the bone. The sambal was sweet at first, then the chilli hotness hits suddenly and it is hot! I found the sambal nice but would prefer it not so sweet. The nasi (rice) was not as lemak (coconut milk infused) as it should have been.

The Chicken Curry Laksa can be ordered with or without cockles. This is simple to do by choosing one of two different item codes from the menu. There is a good amount of ingredients including eggplant which does not normally come in a laksa. The soup was not as spicy as we are used to.

The Pappa Special Biryani Rice comes with sambal eggplant, fried chicken and sambal prawns. The biryani rice had a nice deep colour and tasted mainly of the clove pieces which had been mixed in - it could have done with more depth of flavour. I like the scent and flavour of cloves but others who are not used to it may find it musty. The prawns were in a hot sambal sauce, slightly sweet - about average rather than fantastic. The two stand-outs for me were the sambal eggplant and the fried chicken maryland - both were great. The eggplant was tasty and came in firm pieces. The chicken was juicy with a nice crispy skin.

The Pappa Chicken Rice had tasty, tender, boneless chicken pieces. The surprise was that these were sitting in a soya sauce that was overly sweetened. And the bean sprout side dish also came in the same very sweet sauce. The chilli condiment was fine but it was accompanied by a very thick soya sauce which was bitter. I would much prefer a thinner non-bitter soya sauce which blends with the chilli sauce.

The Roti Canai with Tandoori Chicken was not a bad dish. The chicken was tender with a mild spicy and slightly sour marinade. The sambal was the same as the one that came with the nasi lemak - deceptively sweet at first, then the chilli hotness kicks in. The stand-out for me is the roti - slightly sweet and buttery (or "magariney"!), with a crispy outer layer. This roti is not to everyone's taste if they like their roti salty and soft. This looks like roti but tastes like crepe! I could happily eat this roti on its own.

The Char Kuay Teow, being a takeaway, is reviewed taking into account it has been transported in a container and not eaten immediately after cooking. First impression is that it is a small serve . However, the taste is good and the small serve is mainly due to skinner noodles, and less noodles, being used. I don't mind this compared to other places which gives an abundance of noodles but not many other ingredients.  There were three medium sized prawns and a good number of fish cake slices which had the requisite wok-seared marks on them, as well as my favourite in CKT dishes - egg stir-fried into the noodles.

The Pappa Cham was fine. The Barley drink was not sweet enough for this drink

The Green Tea Ice Cream has to be the best value in Melbourne at $1.80 a serve. It was creamier than most other green tea ice creams we had tasted.

Overall, I would order each of these main dishes again - after I have tried the other dishes on the menu. I would also come back to try the other snacks, desserts and drinks. You can only eat so much at one meal!

Front of PappaRich Doncaster

Entry to Lounge

People waiting for tables

 Fill in the Order form,

then press the Buzzer

R05 Pappa Special Nasi Lemak

 Pappa Special Nasi Lemak

 Pappa Special Nasi Lemak - close up

 N01 Curry Laksa (Chicken)
E08 Cockles

 Chicken Curry Laksa with Cockles

 Chicken Curry Laksa with Cockles - close up

 R08 Pappa Special Biryani  Rice

Pappa Special Biryani 

 R01 Pappa Chicken Rice

 Pappa Chicken Rice

Pappa Chicken Rice
With soup on the side

C03 Roti Canai with Tandoori Chicken 

 Roti Canai with Tandoori Chicken 

 Pappa Cham with Jelly drink (Iced)

E27 Green Tea Ice Cream

 Green Tea Ice Cream

 MF08 Barley Grass Jelly (Iced)

 Barley Grass Jelly drink (Iced)

 Kitchen on Display

 Making Roti Canai

 Char Kuay Teow
In takeaway container

Pappa Bun
Not Available!

Review - Namaste

18th May 2012

Namaste
104 Lygon Street,
Carlton

Cuisine: North & South Indian, Malaysian, Indo-Chinese

Taste Rating: 7.5/10   Value Rating: 8/10

Our group of  six people went for lunch one sunny Friday in late autumn, arriving at about 12.15 pm. We had made a booking a week in advance. We had also pre-ordered our meal the day before. This clearly popular restaurant was almost full when we arrived, suggesting we would be in for a good lunch. (For those in the northern hemisphere, Melbourne in the southern hemishpere has its autumn from March to May!)

I like the Lygon street area. Its old time Melbourne look and feel was enhanced brilliantly by the autumn colours. This conjured warm, wonderful overtures of a place to enjoy good company and delicious food.

Namaste restaurant is not huge but they manage to fit quite a number of people in. The ambience is simple. The test of the authenticity of an ethnic restaurant is how popular it is with its own ethnic group and Namaste is very well frequented by a large number of clientele from the Indian subcontinent. Two of our party hail from Hyderabad and they were enthusiastic about the menu offerings. Both provided excellent guidance in selecting a great range of dishes, which we all shared.

The menu is quite extensive covering a large range of North Indian, South Indian, Malaysian and Indo-Chinese cuisine. It is easy to get lost whilst searching through the menu items! There is a helpful rating of 1 chilli for Medium Hot, 2 chillies for Very Hot.

We enjoyed the following selection:

• Chicken Kal Masala (Boneless chicken marinated in yoghurt & spices.)
  Splendidly tender and flavoursome chicken. I liked the nice crust on the chicken. With curry leaves. Also had cut green chilli which was a nice touch.
• Pepper Chicken Chettinad (Chicken masala with crushed peppercorn)
  Chettinad cuisine uses a variety of coarse ground spices. Very tender chicken. Very chilli hot - hence the 2 chilli rating! This spicy dish is not for the faint hearted, however, when accompanied with the yummy Naan, a good beer and our other dishes, it worked well.
• Lamb Shukka (Lamb cubes marinated in yoghurt, coriander leaves and spices.)
  The gravy was salty and spicy. The lamb was very tender.
• Tandoori Chicken (Chicken Maryland marinated in curd and spices, and grilled in the Tandoor oven.)
  A full serve comprises 4 Maryland pieces served on a large platter. The drumsticks were covered in foil. For the purpose of sharing between six people, we used caveman-like tactics to break off the drumsticks using our bare hands. It was easier than using a knife and fork, and safer!
• Saffron Rice (Rice favoured with saffron)
  Pleasant yellow coloured rice. Tasted OK. 
• Butter Naan (Naan bread spread with butter)
  Tasted OK.
• Dal Spinach (Split yellow lentil with garlic, cumin and spinach puree.)
  Slightly "musty taste" was how one of our party described this dish. This could be due to the spinach.
• Murgh Dum Ki Biryani ( Chicken and Basmati rice cooked with spices)
  This translates as Chicken Biryani! Very tasty. With dark cinnamon bark pieces. The rice had chicken pieces mixed in and sat on top of two chicken drumsticks.
• Ginger Chicken (From the IndoChinese range, chicken marinated in herbs and spices, finished with fresh ginger masala)
  A dish which draws from the northern Indo Chino area.  Very tender chicken. Zingy and bitter so will not be to everyone's taste. Different, interesting and a reflection of Namaste's wide ranging cuisine.
• Dingri Doolma (Paneer/cottage cheese with mushroom in onion, cumin, tomato gravy.)
  The Paneer looks like minced chicken! Flavoursome and different. Our Indian dining companions said this is a good version of this classic dish. 
• Lamb Chettinadu (Boneless lamb flavoured with pepper, coriander leaves and curry leaves).
  Unfortunately, this dish did not make its way to our end of the table so I am unable to provide a photo or a taste review!

Overall, a great Indian meal in Lygon Street in Melbourne which is synonymous more with Italian cuisine. Namaste is definitely a place to recommend for affordable, delicious Indian food.

(Thanks to DF, one of my colleagues who was at this lunch, for his contribution to this review.)

 Front of the Restaurant

 Namaste Drinks Menu

 Chicken Kal Masala

 Pepper Chicken Chettinad.

Lamb Shukka

 Tandoori Chicken

 Saffron Rice

 Butter Naan

 Dal Spinach

 Murgh Dum Ki Biryani

Translates as Chicken Biryani!

 Ginger Chicken

 Dingri Doolma
(Grated Paneer/cottage cheese in tomato-based gravy)

 Another view of the front of Namaste