Food Review: Papa John's Pizza-Berjaya Times Square-Kuala Lumpur

With the tagline "Better Ingredients-Better Pizza" this American pizza chain came to our shore with its first restaurant in Berjaya Times Square.Todate i believe ive sampled all kinds of pizzas from all the pizza chains available in Malaysia from Pizza Hut to Dominos, Canadian 2-in-1 and Shakey's..just to name few familiar names. I haven't had the chance to try Yellow Cab pizza though. So, out of curiosity I decided to give Papa John's pizza a try last weekend.

the menu

 

here you may opt for original crust or thin crust.further pizzas here are eaten with special dipping sauces of tomato and garlic butter.sounds weird? i was quite skeptical at first but after tasting the sauces, especially the garlic butter sauce i can say that these sauces are one of the winning factor for this restaurant.

choices of pizzas

 

 

choices of appetizers..........

 

soups............

drinks, desserts and set meals menu...........

 

 

now the real deal. I ordered Vanilla Float for drink, baked meat balls and two types of pizzas i.e Super Papa's and Fisherman's Catch.

Vanilla Float......thick and smooth Vanilla ice cream melting into ice-cold Coke...a refreshing drink to start of the meal........

 

then came the piping hot Baked Meat Balls. I really love the generous portion of melted cheese on top which nicely complemented the sourish tomato sauce base.The meat balls were nicely baked resulting in nice texture which were not rock- hard

our Super Papa's served afterwards......the topping was a combination of pepperoni, italian sausage, chicken roll, mushroom, onions, green and black peppers spread on top of the dough with generous amount of mozzarella accompanying it...........i also love the original crust which was not too thick nor thin wherein you can still taste the crispiness of the baked dough and the moist texture of the dough in the inner layer of the base of the toppings...........

 

our Fisherman's catch........this was my favourite of that day... they were not stingy on the cheese here as you can see the topping was literally coated under the mount of cheese.........the topping consisted of shrimps, crab meat, tuna, green peppers and onions.

 

ambiance of the restaurant...........

overall i was satisfied with the taste of the pizzas and appetizer served here. You can simply tell the different with the taste and texture of the other pizza chains. I'm eager to sample more choices of pizzas and foods served in Papa John's. It will be more convenient to all those wanted to try something new with the opening of new branches around KL and latest that i heard they have started operating in Alpha Angle Shopping Complex, Wangsa Maju-.Kay 2011-

Travel Trekk-Ho Chi Minh City-Vietnam-Part 1

This is the 4th capital city in ASEAN that ive visited to date after Singapore, Bangkok & Jakarta. Not much right...however i have visited other cities in ASEAN such as Bali, Phuket, Bandung and almost all of the towns at the outskirts of Bangkok, not that those are capital city of the country though. Correct me if im wrong but i do regard Ho Chi Minh as the capital of south Vietnam, knowing that there's Hanoi on the north.

Our flight with Malaysia Airlines took about 1.45 hours and we landed at Tan Son Nhat International Airport around 4pm local time.It's a quiet airport with separate terminal for international and domestic flights. There's no immigration form to be submitted upon arrival which i believe is really a convenient for tourist visiting Vietnam.

the airport........

in our taxi-van..enroute to the city.the journey took around 35 minutes.notice the abundance of motorcycles here.

we stayed in Saigon Mini Hotel 2..a budget hotel but the room was comfortable and adequately furnished...my room was equipped with 2 queen sized bed which was quite a surprise considering the size of the room........

our first day was spent walking around the city centre area...it was fun walking around Ho Chi Minh at night especially at its parks as the locals loved to hang-out with friends/families/loved ones in these areas making the night alive with sport activities/games or just sitting on their bikes looking at the passing traffics........there are also bars by the roadsides, coffee joints and night markets lighting up the city's night life......

 

 

the next day we took a one day tour along the Mekong River. This tour was booked via the hotel and cost us around USD 11 only, inclusive of lunch. We started our journey in a mini bus for an hour-long ride to the boat pier located outside of Ho Chi Minh.

motorbikes everywhere..........

entering the freeway.....note that this looks newly constructed..the infrastructure in and around the city are still at its infancy........

sugar cane plantation seen along the way........

bridge across the Mekong River..................

and the great river itself......

finally we arrived at the boat pier........

for a joyride along the Mekong in this traditional wooden boat......

on this boat trip, we were taken on a visit of traditional Vietnamese villages, each with distinct local industry and produce such as rice paper making, coconut candy factory, honey, handicrafts and traditional medicines.....

fisheries...........

our first stop..rice paper making centre.......here we were demonstrated with the techniques of making rice paper and sample were distributed for us to taste...it doesn't have any distinct taste as it acts as a wrap to other ingredients especially when used in making spring roll......

cooking process........

layering process..............

the finished product..ready for sale........

souvenir stall...selling mostly products made of snake skin...they really love their snakes here........

we stopped for a short but elaborate lunch..with spring roll of fresh river fish as its main highlight.......

the fish.........

pieces of fish and some rice are placed on rice paper

then wrapped..and ready to be dipped in the specially made sauce........yummy.....

other dishes served on the table..some were non-halal though.....

 

continuing our boat trip..and we came across this floating rest-house..specially created for honey-mooners...

 

our next stop is the honey producing centre...wherein you will find not only honey on sale...but also this.....

needless to note that im not a fan of reptiles....it's really a task for me to upload the above pic.......

in this honey producing centre..we were served with hot chinese tea mixed with honey...the honey here has a distinct taste of Longan as they fed on the nectar of Longan flower, whereby the same fruit is being planted in large quantity here.........

hot tea being poured into small cups.....

the bees on display to the tourist....

honey based products and royal jelly,,,which cost a bomb but said to be beneficial to one's beauty.

next...donkey ride...yes...we were taken on a donkey cart ride across the Vietnamese village to our next stop...really exciting and thrilling ride i must say...

our next stop is to sample local fruits produced and be entertained by local folks song by local singers...count the "local" term being repeated here :)

yummy and ripe fruit....

not so yummy singing..hehe

we were then taken to another mode of transportation...sampan. This sampan ride was to take us through the narrow canals back to our boat and then to our last stop of the day, coconut candy factory...

the coconut factory...here spinning machine in full swing to mix the ingredients for the candy.........

cutting and packing process and the final product...........

we left the Mekong around 6pm and arrived at the city just right for dinner. Next up is our half-day tour around the city if Ho Chi Minh in Part 2-Kay2011