Arrow Foodie: 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.