Before I start this review, I have to ‘fess up: for all the food I eat, Malaysian cuisine isn’t one I have regularly. But when I do get it, I always order roti canai, because, well, it’s just awesome. Now that PappaRich has opened in Canberra, I think I’ll be eating Malaysian food—including roti—a lot more often.

I’d arranged to go to PappaRich’s grand opening on Monday with fellow food lover, HerCanberra editor Amanda Whitley. It’s a sign of how excited we were about trying it that we were the first customers in the door, just before they officially opened at 11am.

The outside boarding was still up on Monday, so I had no idea what the place would look like til we walked in. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting (to be honest, I had no idea what to expect since this was my first visit to any PappaRich restaurant—there are seven in Australia). While a lot of Asian restaurants are decorated in some way with paintings or wall hangings reflecting their… ‘Asian-ness’ (I know it’s not a real word, but you know what I mean), the fitout of PappaRich felt very colonial English.

PappaRich’s marketing manager, Wui Keat Chen, told us this was very deliberate. He told us that Malaysia, being a former British colony, had a lot of coffee shops in this colonial style, but a lot of them had fallen into disrepair and didn’t look that nice. So when PappaRich was looking for a design for their restaurant, they had the idea to take the colonial style, but jazz it up and make their restaurants look inviting and a bit more upmarket.

In contrast to the British fitout, my first thought upon sitting down at the table was, ‘It’s just like being in Indonesia!’. The reason for this was the container on the table, holding cutlery and, more importantly, a pad of paper and a pencil.

Almost every time I go to Indonesia, the first place my family takes me to is a restaurant called Bakmi GM. Apart from the delicious noodles there, the other thing that I recall when I think about it is the same paper and pencil ordering system that Papparich has.

At PappaRich, each item on the menu has a code. The pad of paper has a template which is pretty easy to follow. You write down your table number and number of diners in the appropriate boxes, and then you write down the code of the dish/drink you want, how many servings, and any comments (I’m guessing this might mean things like ‘no chilli’, ‘no bean sprouts’).

Once you’re done, you push the buzzer on the cutlery container. Be warned—it makes a very loud sound (Amanda and I both jumped)! Your table number will flash up in big red figures on the wall, and a waiter will come to take your order.

PappaRich’s menu is fairly extensive, but I decided to go with my usual method of testing if a restaurant is any good, i.e. by ordering the ‘staples’ and seeing if they’re up to scratch. Amanda left the deciding to me, so we ended up with mixed satay (chicken and beef), roti canai with curry chicken, Pappa char koay teow and Pappa chicken rice and steamed chicken (Hainan chicken). I also decided to try a lychee soda, after being a little overwhelmed by the extensive drink selection (and amused by something called a ‘milo dinosaur’).

The first dish to arrive was the char koay teow. It looked nice enough but Amanda and I were both a little disappointed that it used the small rice noodles (like in pad thai) rather than the thick flat ones. We agreed that it tasted all right but not as good as other char koay teows we’ve had in Canberra.

Next to arrive was the Pappa chicken rice and steamed chicken (more commonly known as Hainan chicken). While steamed chicken may not sound very appealing, I assure you this is definitely worth ordering. The chicken was juicy and the chicken rice was delicious, especially when mixed with the accompanying soup, bean sprouts and soy sauce (there was also chilli but by now you’d know I’m not a fan of it).

We got the satay next, which came with peanut sauce. The chicken satay was quite nice and we both liked it better than the beef. The peanut sauce went well with both types but I still prefer the Indonesian version of peanut sauce, which is a little bit sweeter.

My preference for sweeter-tasting food was happily met with our final dish, the roti canai. At PappaRich you can order the roti in different ways: by itself, with chicken curry, with kaya (a kind of sweet coconut spread), and more. We had chosen to have it with chicken curry (and there was also daal and chilli), which offset the sweetness quite well. The chicken curry had a very slight kick to it, but it was tasty and the chicken was nice and juicy.

We were told that PappaRich’s roti is a bit different to other places, as it’s a little bit sweeter and crispier. I personally loved it and would have happily eaten a big plate of it by itself—it’s definitely up there with one of the best rotis I’ve ever had. For those of you who are familiar with Mamak in Sydney and are wondering how it compares, I liked it just as much if not better, and have had other friends who love Mamak say that it’s just as good. Another friend of mine found the roti a bit too sweet, whereas I’m planning to have it with kaya next time, which will make it even sweeter! My recommendation is that if you like roti, it’s best to just go there and try it for yourself.

The other awesome thing about the roti was watching it being made. Part of the kitchen is open, and if you look towards the end furthest from the door you’ll be able to see someone making it. Amanda and I were enthralled by the performance, it was just amazing!

We were told that the man we were watching has been making roti for at least 10 years and had won roti making competitions in Malaysia. As I’m a supreme klutz I was very, very impressed—if I’d tried to fling the dough around the way he did it would have definitely ended up on the floor, the wall, my head, or someone else’s!

One of the other highlights of eating at PappaRich is that the meals are really reasonably priced. The roti canai with curry chicken was only $12.50 and the Pappa chicken rice and steamed chicken was only $12.90. Either one of those would have been enough on its own, but with everything else it’s a miracle we didn’t have to be rolled out of the restaurant (we may have suffered from a case of eyes bigger than stomach. Ok, I did, since I was responsible for ordering).

So, while I’m no expert on Malaysian food, I do know what I like and overall I liked the food at PappaRich, especially the Pappa chicken rice  and steamed chicken and the roti canai (last mention of the roti, I promise!). I did seek out the opinions of some of my Malaysian friends, just to see what they thought about it, and they all gave it a big thumbs up. But, as I said before, the best way to find out is to try it for yourself—I’d love to hear what you think!

The essentials

The place: PappaRich
Where: Shop FG13B, Ground Floor, Canberra Centre, Bunda Street, Canberra (across from Nando’s)
When:  Monday – Thursday 11am to 9.30pm; Friday – Saturday 11am to 11pm; Sunday 11am to 9.30pm.
Food: Malaysian
Drinks: Malaysian drinks, especially tea and coffee variations, soft drink.
Contact: Call 02 6230 4929, visit the website at papparich.net.au/store/canberra-centre or check out their Facebook page.