Papparich

Have been here a few times and N17 is the best! I leave craving it and when I don’t order it and opt to try something else, I regret it! This place is always busy but the food comes out fast. I feel like its a little on the pricey side for Malay food though.

It’s probably time to confess that I’m a little resistive to chain stores and franchised restaurants. Partly because I like supporting independent start-​ups (aka ‘the little guy’) and creative ideas, but also due to a subconscious expectation that I’ll receive reduced quality from a franchised venue.
I mean, just look at that ubiquitous American sammich store (also the world’s largest restaurant chain) as an example: almost 44K offshoots worldwide, massive inconsistencies in product quality and delivery (despite en masse use of plastic cheese and pressed meat in waxed paper), predictably terrible service, media reports of poor hygiene and… their mascot, Jared the felon. Sad sammich times.
Anyway, so I’m not a big fan of franchises. You might call it snobbish or hipster but on most days, I’d drag myself half way across the city to eat at a hole-​in-​the-​wall noodle shop owned by a diasporic Malaysian family, rather than eating at a Malaysian franchise with a parent company that has expanded to approximately 90 restaurants over 10 years. It just seems right.
But despite these facts, I found myself in a line outside PappaRich Cannington last night, mostly as my husband enjoys eating packets of dried mee goreng and my mother thought he could use an introduction to the ‘real thing’. My expectations were admittedly low. Mostly due to 1) not being able to find parking at the shopping mall (PappaRich is located at an entry point to Carousel shopping centre), 2) being knocked against a retractable tape barrier and 3) I was queuing outside a FRANCHISE. But despite the intolerable trifecta, we were ushered inside the restaurant rather swiftly by a pleasant-​enough Chinese waitress. We were given graphic menus, a ‘chit’ pad (to write our meal choices down) and instructions to press a green button when we’d completed our list of choices. Fun stuff, particularly in a bustling atmosphere full of families and… most noticeably, jet black hair. There were almost no Westerners in the ‘Malaysian Delights’ restaurant. That’s a good sign, right?
Whilst perusing the menu, my partner looked like a kid in a candy store. He loves oily, saucy, sweet sugary food whilst I like… well, kale and black bean burgers. And yep, I’m the cook. He grabbed the ‘chit’ (I really want to know what that means) and with wide eyes, quickly chose four items including a noodle soup, a single roti canai (fried bread) with dal, a milky longan fruit drink and sago pudding for dessert. My mother chose a teh tarik (frothy ‘pulled tea’) and nasi lemak (with peanuts and anchovies) whilst I conservatively chose a roti canai with dal, chicken curry and a side of eggplant sambal. Oh, and a barley drink with grass jelly (their drinks menu is hard to resist. So. Much. Interesting). We rang the bell and the waitress appeared. Snap.
I’d say it took about 3 minutes for the first order item to arrive: the longan milk drink. The rest of the food and beverages trickled onto the table over about a fifteen minute time period, with the roti canai taking the longest to arrive (it’s made fresh in store in an open kitchen). My food arrived last, so I’d spent roughly ten minutes inspecting the small fried fish on my mother’s dinner plate (sitting proudly against similar sized peanuts) whilst sucking pieces of grass jelly through a straw. But… that’s when I saw the crispy, flaky, deliciously fresh roti sitting proudly on a compartmented metal tray. I tore off a piece and dunked it into the eggplant sambal. It was AMAZING.
Now, I’m going to cut this review short as, post roti, I’m experiencing some sort of Malaysian franchise epiphany that’s slathered in copious amounts of chilli sambal. PappaRich was still a mixed bag — it was noisy, my cutlery was oily (presumably due to inadequate soap in the dishwasher) and there was some sort of green vegetable smeared on the above mentioned green call button (at least it was colour coordinated) which left a poor first impression. But these facts were all eclipsed by the deliciously spicy, almost-​damn-​perfect food that hit the table with efficient, polite service. I was seriously surprised. My dining partners also similarly sported glowing sauce-​smeared smiles.
We finished the meal with ‘Kopi-​O’ a drink that I assumed (from the menu image) was black coffee. Adversely, it a thick, sweet coffee beverage with a layer of melting sugar at the bottom. Quite delicious, albeit sweet… nothing like a short macchiato. My husband very much enjoyed his sago pudding which was creamy and sweet from a layer of palm sugar at the bottom.
All in all, our experience at PappaRich was hugely positive, despite some minor details being overlooked. Call me a pleb, but Malaysian food and beverages seem skewed to the sweet side of things… is it acceptable to write ‘less sugar’ on the chit?!
I’d go back, hells yes. Give me ALL OF THE ROTI (after a few more visits to Mr Wong’s hole-​in-​the-​wall, of course).

One of waitress’s impolite attitude, deducted one star for her.
I ordered CHILLI PAN MEE, doesn’t like picture at all. Very disappointed with the meal, deducted one star for the meal

Very disappointing. Food came out almost as soon as our order was placed which indicated to me that it was pre cooked and just put together. The fried chicken skin was stone cold, noodles were bland, drinks were very average despite the huge selection. Don’t normally give a bad review but I do hope they up their game

If there were zero stars, I would have given them that. One of the waitresses was so rude and the food was rubbish. We sat in the mall area and had to order and pay inside prior. Food came out almost the same time as we sat down after ordering. So obviously everything was precooked. Food was cold. Will never go back again. Crazy expensive for a poor excuse of Malaysian food.

Papparich is a popular Malaysian restaurant. The one at Carousel is slightly less busy than the one in Northbridge.
The roti is quite good, flaky and crunchy. You can choose roti with a serving of curry chicken ($ 12.90) if you want some protein. My favourite is the Pappa special biryani rice with sambal eggplant, fried chicken, sambal prawns ($ 15.90). Fragrant biryani rice, a fried chicken leg, sambal eggplant and prawns, and a pappadum to top it all off.
Service is always prompt and attentive, with food and tap water arriving in minutes. A tasty and filling meal costs $ 15-​$ 20pp depending on your appetite and order. This place is my mum’s favourite because of the wide range of Malaysian dishes, most of which are quite tasty and cheap.

The queue to get a table was long so I expected the food would be worth the wait, unfortunately that was not the case. It was pleasant enough however it would have been better if my food wasn’t served to me cold. I’ll come back another time I just hope I don’t have to ask for my food to be reheated again.

Papparich Carousel has a nice ambience, if you’re sitting outside you have more room, especially if you bring a pram like me. Food is good but not fantastic considering the average of above $ 10/​main meal. On my third visit, I ordered hainan curry chicken chop, and fried mee.
Staff are helpful and friendly, and the service bell available on each table made it easy for me to call for service.

Choose from the menu write down– press the button and ur order is taken to the kitchen! Friendly service

Second visit here and enjoyed it as much as the first time .
We arrived earlier for lunch and managed to walk right in without queuing, bonus– this place gets extremely busy and has regular queues.
Ordered laksa and friend ordered crispy noodles (like a San mee) both huge servings and delicious !
Huge range on the menu makes it hard to decide on a dish, many visits are needed!
Excellent value for money and prompt friendly service you can’t go wrong, no wonder this place is popular !!

Second branch opened in WA based within the Westfield carousel shopping centre, closer towards the Macca’s side.
Same menu as Pappa rich in Northbridge but with plenty of free car parking, however we couldn’t avoid the dreaded queue… But at least it was only a 15 minute wait (better if you have a good friend to talk to while you wait)
Yummy Malaysian cuisine for just approximately $ 13.90 per dish! Can’t complain.