PappaRich, Macquarie Shopping Centre

I’ve always scoffed at Singaporeans who go to other countries and seek out Singaporean or Malaysian food, because why go all the way to another place just to find what you can find at home? And then complain that it’s not good enough?

Well after living in Sydney for over half a decade, I finally succumb to the need for reliable Southeast Asian comfort food, and it seems that PappaRich might have the answer.

After a delicious experience at PappaRich in Melbourne, I was delighted to see a brand new outlet opening so close to home.

And I mean opening. As in Lion-Dancers-doing-their-acrobatics-as-the-door-opens kind of opening. I’ve always loved the noise and raucous festivities that comes with the opening of an asian restaurant – it’s a superstition that’s always made it that much more authentic to me.

We walk in, starving, and order a Chicken Ban Mian, $14.50. I ask for extra chilli, as you do, and was then told that I have to pay an extra $1.50 for extra chilli sauce. Which makes no sense since cut chilli in soy in free. So I ask for that instead, and then find out, when my meal finally arrives, that the chilli sauce that was meant to come with the meal is now replaced with the cut chilli in soy.

I catch the waiter’s attention and after triple checking with the order slip and the kitchen (with my food cooling rapidly in the meantime) another saucer of chilli sauce comes out.

Now I know that it seems like a lot of fuss about chilli, but with my experience with food costing and the number of people who order things without chilli sauce, I think that it’s perfectly fair to provide extra chilli at no extra cost. Or communicate a bit clearer with the customer and the kitchen so that the order isn’t going cold while you check with three other people on whether you’re allowed to provide one saucer of chilli sauce.

That being said, things might have been biased because I get a bit hangry after ice skating.

The bowl of noodles though, was good – robust flavours and a hearty serving – even having been tainted by the experience. I do hope that it’s just teething problems with the new location, because I would hate to lose another opportunity to satiate the Malaysian food craving.

PappaRich Macquarie
Macquarie Shopping Centre
Waterloo Rd And Herring Rd
Macquarie Park, NSW 2113
Phone: 02 9870 8754
Website: http://www.papparich.net.au/