Recently in Franchise Category

Ah Cheng Laksa is one of those "hawker fare inside a mall with WiFi and air conditioned comfort" franchises, which shows no sign of slowing down. I think a lot of it has to do with their pricing and convenience. Personally, I went just coz I love the tagline, a parody of Phua Chu Kang with their version being "Best in Subang Jaya & Sunway & some even said in PJ!!"

I think the grammatically incorrect tagline adds to the good ol' hawker stall appeal. :)



I went to the one at the Curve since they had a promotional deal worked out with Cineleisure where you get a 10% discount off your food with a movie ticket. It's only valid for a la carte items though, and not the Combo Set Promotions, which we went for. I like the seating arrangements at the outlet over here - the seats are absurdly low but a pit of sorts where you can put your feet in compensates for the height problem. Nifty.



Ah Cheng Laksa also serves the increasingly popular Cham (RM 2.50). Cham is a Hokkien word meaning "mix". It's a half and half mixture of coffee and tea and I'm starting to like the medley of tastes and the reduced caffeine content - very useful for combating stress in KL traffic. ;)



Combo Set 1, which is recommended for 2-3 people, is priced at RM 13.90 and comes with JR Asam Laksa, JR Curry Laksa and your choice of a regular (JR stands for junior, I presume) Asam Laksa, Curry Laksa, Kueh Tiaw Soup, or Nasi Lemak Ayam/Daging Rendang. I went for the Nasi Lemak Daging Rendang option. You can also choose the type of noodles you want in your laksa - it's customizable.



Verdict:
Asam Laksa: Delicious! It's very appetizing.
Curry Laksa: I didn't think much of it. I prefer asam laksa to curry based laksa.
Nasi Lemak Daging Rendang: It's okay, but not great. The pakcik that parks his van outside my condo weekday mornings sells much better nasi lemak from the back of his mobile stall.

Laksa Shack is a franchise operating along the trend of establishing hawker food fare in the air conditioned comfort of malls. It has outlets throughout Malaysia and specializes in laksa, as the name implies.



Laksa is a noodle soup dish originating from Malaysia and has two major variants - curry laksa and asam laksa. The first one is santan (coconut milk) based while the latter is a medley of sour and tangy notes from tamarind. Sarawak laksa is an offshoot of curry laksa but I tend to prefer the asam laksa more.



Asam laksa has no coconut milk and is based on a fish paste broth with tamarind, which gives it the distinctive sour taste. I find that very appetizing, and it's served with translucent thick rice vermicelli instead of the thinner version.



Laska Shack is a quick service operation and offers Asam Laksa, Johor Laksa, Curry Laksa, Laksam Kelantan, Tom Yam Laksa, Laksa Nyonya Melaka, Sarawak Laksa and Laksa Lemak Singapore. The soup base is all pre-cooked and kept in heated receptacles at the counter so they just need to pour the right gravy on the right kind of noodles.



I went with my girlfriend to the outlet at MidValley Megamall and we shared a Laksa Set (RM 14.90) which comes with the laksa of your choice, 2 pieces of otak-otak and Sirap Bandung Cincau. The drink (left) is a rose syrup drink with milk and cincau (black jelly). I ordered another drink (right) for RM 5.50 - Ipoh White Coffee Cincau.



This is what the Laksa Set looks like. The laksa ordered separately costs RM 9.90 each and the drinks will set you back RM 5-6 so it's usually more cost effective to order the popular laksa set. The two pieces of otak-otak came really fast - the operation at Laksa Shack is all very streamlined.



Otak-otak (literally brains-brains) is a fish paste snack wrapped in banana leaves. Laksa Shack offers the steamed version and the otak-otak is (very) highly processed, leaving very little taste, as is oft the case in mass produced bulk food.



The Asam Laksa at Laksa Shack is surprisingly good for a quick service restaurant. The soup base is tantalizingly sour and comes with pieces of fish. I find tamarind based broth to be very appetizing and drank all the soup in the dish.



I didn't quite like the fish pieces though - it seems to be sardine to my untrained palate and sardine is one of the few aquatic lifeforms I do not like to eat (due to taste rather than any sentimental PETA/Greenpeace ideology).



You can probably get better laksa for a lower price at regular hawker stalls but Laksa Shack offers the experience (and convenience) of eating hawker food in air conditioned comfort inside a mall. I have seen this trend take off and I suspect the end is nigh for the novelty value of hawker-food-given-premium-treatment concept eating establishments.

It's going to jump the sardine soon, mark my words. ;)

The Coffee Bean just came out with a new promotional drink (I should know, I've been going there every day for the Wi-Fi) called Hazelnut.

Hazelnut comes in two forms - ice blended and latte, the classic hot and cold beverage options.

This is what the ice blended hazelnut (RM 12) looks like.

This is the hazelnut latte (RM 11).

It is basically coffee with hazelnut overtones. It's nice for a change, coz I just usually go for The Ultimate EXTREME.

Starbucks Coffee has been my main hangout with Rene in Genting Highlands. It has free Wi-Fi so I can update my blog from here.

Starbucks Coffee makes City Mugs (RM 35), a huge ceramic collectable 20 oz mug from 20 different cities in the world.

This is the Kuala Lumpur one. I got one as a souvenir and another as a birthday present for Cherie.

I noticed that Starbucks makes After Coffee Chewing Gum (RM 9.50) as well. The Starbucks chewing gum comes in peppermint flavor and has the Starbucks logo on it.

Rene got one of those and it tastes great. It's a great marketing strategy for "coffee breath".

This is Trick or Treat (RM 17.50) which is a Halloween menu special.

Rene fed me while I was updating the blog so I can eat and update at the same time.

Thanks Rene!

Arabian Delight is the new offering by Rasa Ayamas and it retails at RM 7.50 for a meal consisting of 2 pieces of Arabian Delight and crinkle fries.

Here's what it looks like. It's actually something like a KFC Twister being cut in two so it's really one piece instead of two. Arabian Delight is also served with secret Dakkous Sauce, whatever that is.

Here's a closer look at Arabian Delight. The meat is nestled underneath so you can't actually see it. The wrap is warm while the filling is cold. It didn't taste all that good to me.

This is the last KL post, I had this at KL Sentral before flying back to Kuching. I've cleared all the backlogs. Posting will go back to real time as of now. ;)