Rich papa, poor papa – a tale of two outlets

Having had quite a good experience with Papparich at Westgate (see earlier post), we decided, when we were at Buona Vista the other day, to have lunch at their outlet at Star Vista. We were quite surprised by the differences at this outlet. Why did we feel as if PappaRich Star Vista is a poorer cousin of Papparich Westgate?

In place of the neat classy appearance of Papparich at Westgate, Papparich Star Vista was very basic, almost canteen-like. The level of maintenance also seemed different. Here, our table was not properly cleaned and menus were strewn untidily across the tables.  The attitude of the staff here was also quite different.  The insistence that patrons use the call bell to place their orders when they could easily make direct contact with the staff even for basic orders meant that the jarring door bell chime kept going off (set at quite a high volume). They also have this call button at Westgate but it is seldom heard and waiters are happy to interact by good old-fashioned eye contact.

We had the Pappa Curry Laksa ($10.90) and the Sang Har Mee ($19.90). The laksa did not taste like laksa.  Instead whatever laksa elements were probably drowned out by the thick curry taste. Also, yellow noodles were used instead of the usual rice noodles for laksa.  It was in effect a serving of noodles with curry chicken.  The taste was not bad, its just that we were expecting laksa, not curry noodles. The Sang Har Mee was crispy noodles in a thick egg gravy with a very large king prawn.  This was probably one of the most expensive item on the menu. The taste was good and the prawn was really good and fresh.

Ratings:
Food : 3
Service : 2
Value : 3
Atmosphere : 2
Overall Rating: 2 TOPs

PappaRich @ Star Vista
#01-43, The Star Vista
1 Vista Exchange Green
Singapore 138617

www.papparich.com.sg