CCU Undercover: PappaRich Luncheon Part I

CCU was feeling a little nervous – she actually had not met many food bloggers before, so to be going out to dinner with the greats? Eep! She adjusted her dry-cleaned trench coat and casually folded her sunglasses and slid them in a pocket.

Can’t come across as too mysterious right? She fluffed her hair, linked her arm in her friend’s and walked into a Malaysian cuisine paradise to enjoy with some of Sydney’s finest food bloggers 😀

She also told me to warn you that if you are not sitting down with a nice large cup of coffee (mocha preferred), you should because you are in for one long post!

I assure you right now, before even starting this post, that I was not so creepy as to where a weird little trench coat to a lunch out I promise you that! Mingling with the likes of Amy from @Milkteaxx, Christie and Matt from @Snapshots of Food, Annie @The Random Foodie, and Irenke @Travel With Irenke (just to name a few), I was lucky enough to attend a Luncheon at this restaurant courtesy of Laura and Alana from Wasamedia.

Just as my mate and I walked in from Argyle St, I knew I was in for a very good time. Why? Because I immediately ran into three old friends from high school, who were working there! It was such a surprise, but I know they were a good judges of places, so I was already feeling pretty positive about this restaurant.

There is only one word for PappaRich right now.

Trending.

It is absolutely, without a doubt, a restaurant whose name is on everyone’s lips, be it they are bloggers, or be it they are your average foodie loving citizen. Now how can I prove this to you? LOOK AT THIS LINE.

Sunday lunch time, and this line had been there for 20 minutes before even opening. Honestly, when my friend and I (I will refer to her as AA), asked about the reserved luncheon, we were stabbed with dagger eyes from every person patiently waiting in the line. Sorry guys (so not even sorry :P)

We were at this restaurant for around 2 1/2 hours. The line was the same length the entire time, if not longer at peak lunch time, despite the flurry of new customers that kept coming in!

There is a reason that the tagline for PappaRich is ‘best Malaysian restaurant’ – easily the truth if you ask for public opinion.

So we went inside, just admiring the decor may I say, which was not overly glitzy or glamorous, but welcoming and warm with its green, gold and earthy brown tones. I loved the open kitchen, but I think we will go into that a little bit later, and you will be super thankful for it 😉

Those two in the far back – they are my high school friends 😀

As we were seated and idly chatting with Irenke, who apparently got there super early :P, a waitress came over and introduced us to the ordering system. Quite innovative, I have never seen it before, it basically uses a coding system. On the extensive menu, there is an individual number code corresponding to a particular dish or drink.

Basically, you write the codes of what you want, and how many serves of the dish you want, on a pad provided, press the button on the side and almost immediately, a waiter/ress will appear to take your order. Since PappaRich was very efficient, this system works really well for them – they have a policy that no food should be left on the counter, lest it begin to cool even a little. Bless!! 🙂

It is also really handy for customers, since, at least with my family, we are very picky about when our food comes out in between courses – at least this gives us complete control over that, and there is no pressure to order immediately if a waiter comes over. I mean, haven’t you all had that panic attack when you are still looking over the menu, but a jovial waiter suddenly asks ‘are you ready ma’am?’ – Absolute worst! 😛

Once all the other bloggers had arrived, and Laura and Alana had made us chuckle with their stories of the horrendous traffic that Sydney is basically infamous for, it was time to start ordering some dishes! AA and I were probably the happiest we have ever been, because our stomachs were twisting in and eating themselves by this point!

We decided, of course, to start off with some drinks. Here, a drink is not an ordinary little coca cola. While that is available, PappaRich goes way beyond the mainstream by offering an array of exquisite, indulgent mocktail-come-icecream soda style drinks. With flavours ranging from exotic red bean slushies to barley grass creations, we definitely did not know where to begin!

Coming in large, beer style mugs for majority of the slushie-style drinks, they were the perfect way to begin the luncheon. I ordered the Tropical Lime (Ice blended lychee and lime with vanilla ice cream) because you all know of my obsession with lychees. It was refreshingly sweet, with a small kick from the lime. The vanilla ice cream on top of the crushed ice went well, as the sweetness undercut the slight, tasty bitterness.

I appreciate the fact that they gave large (giant sized basically) straws to suck all that slushy goodness up! Now if only, McDonalds could start using such straws for their milkshakes… 😉

But anyway, back to the drinks! AA decided to go all classy and ordered a delicious Iced Lychee Soda. It came in a beautiful glass, and was aesthetically gorgeous with the mint leaves wrapped around the inside of the glass. It was light and refreshing, and the lychees on top was quite the bonus!

It was quite strong in its lychee flavour, but not overpowered by sweetness thanks to the spritz of lemon in it. AA was smart to have ordered this drink, because it went perfectly with the hot food to come!

Amongst the other wonderful, wondrous, drink creations all over the table, we also had an order of Matcha Rocks (Green Tea Soya with Red Bean and Green Tea Ice Cream) for the more adventurous bloggers amongst us (ahem… Amy)! It looked quite beautiful, which is saying something considering that I have often thought red bean looks a bit like a red blood cell…

But that’s just me 😛

The Mango Mania was also a popular choice, chosen by both Irenke and Christie. I don’t think I really need to describe why, I mean, it is soft, flavoursome mango decorated with lychees and flavouring the refreshing shaved ice. Almost like a more drinkable form of a snow-cone in mango flavour! The orange colour was inviting enough, and it definitely would have been my next choice of drink!

One of the iconic drinks to apparently ‘must have’ at PappaRich is their Coconut Paradise (Ice blended coconut juice with coconut flesh) – for all those ardent coconut fans who would die for the delicious tropical flavour, please try this drink. It comes highly recommended!

Finally, if you are not all drinked out already, this was the drink tried by Annie – A delicious concoction of all that is Australian meeting chocolate meeting refreshing meeting Malaysian – The Milo Dinosaur (Iced). Can I just thank god or the spirits or whatever that this particular dinosaur did not go extinct? Because oh my gosh, it looked so indulgent and decadent, sprinkled with extra milo and with its gorgeous milk chocolate colour!

Note: For non-Australians, Milo is a wildly popular (with good reason) malted barley chocolate powder for hot/cold drinks 😀

It was also at this point that I learnt how it is when a whole congregation of food bloggers come together in one setting. Not jostling, not fighting, rather peacefully snapping happily away while talking and laughing and requesting better angles from everyone for their drinks. I swear, we genuinely did not drink for the first five minutes just so we could take photos of what everyone ordered – poor AA #foodbloggerhazards

I was sitting on the side so in advance, just want to say thanks to some people who took photos of the other end of the table for me – Mwah, mwah! xx

Now, I know what you are thinking – where is the alcohol? Well, we didn’t want to order any – but if it makes you feel better, the water ‘bottle’ looked a little bit like it was begging to be spiked with vodka… 😛

Guys, I am about to start the food now so seriously – strap in and seriously, hold on because you are in for a crazy Malaysian cuisine roller coaster (and my fingers are already beginning to hurt… oh no!)

Laura and Alana were actually super nice, insisting that besides the dishes we were all going to order, I get a little something extra being a vegetarian. I was so touched and made good on their offer!

First up, you should know this – PappaRich is Australia’s new roti central. People come from far and wide to taste their exquisite Malaysian Roti Canai and let me tell you right now – they most certainly do NOT disappoint.

Close up of the Roti Telur Bawang

We ordered a few different types of rotis to try and no matter in which order you took them, they were all flaky, but crispy, without being crunchy and soft and silky in the centre. The rotis tended to leave a sweeter-sided aftertaste and honestly, you didn’t need many sides to enjoy them, because of the flavour they had in themselves!

Firstly, we ordered the straight Roti Canai. A vegetarian dish, it came with a mix of sambal (an Indian-origin lentil curry), some yellow dhal and some red chutney. It was heaven, and a piece of delicious art that I had a lot of trouble stopping from devouring whole as I paced myself throughout the luncheon.

We got a variation on this dish, with the Roti Canai w/ Curry Chicken. The chicken looked succulent, and was generously dished out with gravy.

We tried two other rotis alongside these two platters. In one, was the Roti Telur Bawang, as shown in the close up shot above. This was a twist on the roti, due to its additional filling of onions and egg throughout the bread, making it more filling and a big flakier. It was also softer and luckily for me, did not smell too strongly of egg, allowing me to try and enjoy its flavoursome texture!

We also got  this with beef curry, though sorry sweeties, didn’t get a shot of the beef, it was already long gone from the curry 😛

I am pretty sure the last type of roti we tried was the Roti Planta (Roti canai with margarine and a dash of sugar running throughout the bread) – I didn’t find this to be exceptionally sweeter, but it definitely was slicker in feel and softer, and had a melt-in-mouth texture. A perfect combination with the hot red chutney!

Was this the end of our entree (Yes entree) – Nope! For the meat eaters there were quite a few treats still left to try! One of course, was the iconic (yes PappaRich has a lot of iconic dishes already) were the Pappa Deep Fried Chicken Skins. They looked very crispy and I would say our table was divided between ‘they were ok’ and ‘they were fantabulous’!

AA personally thought they were a little salty and oily for her tastes, but I suppose it really depends upon your personal palate. They were a hit though at our table and were gone immediately after photos were taken (never get between a blogger and her photos – do NOT even try!)

There were also some delicious Satay Chicken Pieces available, the platter surrounded by salad greens (which I thought was a nice touch) and some chutneys. They looked perfectly cooked and the meat seemed very tender and enjoyable for everyone 😀

AA was super patient with my food photo obsession 😛

The final entree (unless I missed something which is possible), was the delicious Vegetarian Shui Kua (Dumplings) – There were steamed perfectly, and the filling had a slight soya taste to it, flavoured with spices!

I was basically overstuffed at this point.

But we still had a lot more dishes to come, to try and to enjoy 😀

I guess you will just have to wait till Part II to see what other incredible dishes we were lucky enough to try then, no? That means our actual lunch, our dessert AND a blogger-only peek into why the roti is the best only at PappaRich!

Stay tuned mes amis – a meal is not made from entrée and drinks alone *you can totally quote me on that* 😀

PappaRich Parramatta

Address: Shop 185A – Zone G
Westfield,
159-171 Church St
Parramatta, 2150, NSW

Phone Number: 9633 3387

Websites:

• Home
• Main Menu

Disclaimer: Go Bake Yourself and her guest was invited to this Luncheon courtesy of Wasamedia. However all thoughts and opinions expressed in these posts are honest and her own.