Sunday 27 January 2013

Doli Kuey Teow Goreng @ TTDI, Kuala Lumpur

I have read a lot of online reviews about this Restoran Doli Kuey Teow Goreng and today decided to visit this place myself. Just to give you a brief background, this restaurant made its name in Taiping, Perak where they have been operating for the past 30+ years.I was told that their Kuey Teow Goreng is so famous that on weekends, one has to wait for almost an hour. For your information, that scenario happens in Taiping. Of late, the son had opened a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur selling the same offerings as the one in Taiping, Perak.  The restaurant is located in Taman Tun Dr Ismail near TTDI Plaza. I was not sure on the exact location and hence decided to give them a call to get some directions. After my second ring, someone answered the phone and he was quite patient and helpful in giving the directions.

Restoran Doli Kuey Teow Goreng in TTDI, Kuala Lumpur
Later in the evening, I head out to TTDI to try the Kuey Teow Goreng. Another fact that I would like to add here is that it is said that the Kuey Teow is fried using a charcoal stove and not the gas stove. That should surely add taste to the food I felt. However, let me try it myself to judge. I arrived at the restaurant as per the directions and it is pretty easy to find. It is directly opposite Hero Supermarket in TTDI Plaza and the same row as Brunsfield. Parking is also not a hassle in the evenings.

Interior of the Restaurant
As this is a Halal restaurant, most of the patrons here were Malays. I could not see a Chinese or an Indian in this shop for the hour or so that I was here, except for myself.

Endorsement By The Jalan Jalan Cari Makan Team
Full Page Write Up on the Restaurant
Looking at all these endorsements, made me even more eager to try the food. Now let me narrate my experience at this restaurant. I took my place at the restaurant which was reasonably full. Then came the waiter bringing the menu card. The offering was quite simple. They had the famous Kuey Teow Goreng, Kuey Teow Goreng Special, Sup Ayam, Nasi Ayam and Mee Rebus. I asked the waiter the difference between the Kuey Teow Goreng and the Special version and he mentioned that the special was a larger portion with extra prawns. I just peeped the next table and saw them having the special, it was just two extra prawns and that was RM 10.00 whereas the normal version was RM 5.00 . I just ordered the normal version plus a Sup Ayam and a Milo Tabur which is quite similar to the Milo Dinosaur. All the waiters seemed like they were not so concerned about customer experience and just wanted to do their part for the sake of attending to the customers. This is a negative point. He then left and within a short while, came with the food and drinks.

Milo Tabur @ RM 2.00
This drink was pretty good. It is Iced Milo with a huge scoop of Milo on the top. Pretty refreshing to eat the scoop and wash it down with the iced Milo.

Kuey Teow Goreng @ RM 5.00
The next one to try was the Kuey Teow Goreng. Okay,judging from the first look, it was extremely oily. There was nothing more in this dish then just three piece of cockles and a little bit of bean sprouts added to the Kuey Teow. Taste wise, it was surely not up to the mark. It tasted very flat. At RM 5.00 for this dish, there was no eggs at all. It was not even spicy. On the whole, it surely does not deserve all the hype and write ups that has been built surrounding this restaurant. I just ate it because I was hungry and had been starving the whole day. I would only rate this dish 4/10 .

Sup Ayam @ RM 8.00
This dish was another disaster. I was hoping that at least this would be better. The chicken was actually the same one they used for the Nasi Ayam. It was fried and then put into this soup. The base of the soup was just pepper and onions. It was also quite flat in taste and I feel that you get better Chicken Soup in some of the road side Tom Yam stalls. Even an average Nasi Ayam stall serves better soup than this. I would rate this 3/10 .

Being dissatisfied with this restaurant both in customer service and food quality, I decided to head back. Now, for the bill you would have to go to the counter. That is acceptable except that there is no one manning the cashier. There is a bell that you would need to press and in 5 minutes someone would come out of the kitchen to attend to you. That in itself was testing my patience and then came this guy who then looked at my order chit and was calculating the bill for almost 10 minutes. Come on guys, it is just three items and you can do that mentally. After failing to calculate even after attempting to use his fingers, he then resorted to a calculator and told me the bill due was RM 15.00 .  What an embarrassment. If you are running a restaurant that is this famous supposedly, at least have someone who can do basic arithmetics at the cashier.

On the whole, this restaurant is just a washout. They do not deserve any of the commendations that they have received. They would definitely need to step up the bar and I wonder if the restaurant in Taiping had the same food quality level. However, my personal 2 cents is that it must be good there in Taiping but just this outlet in Kuala Lumpur is bad. If ever you would want to try the food here, you can find the contact details below.

Kuala Lumpur Outlet:

Address: No. 16, Jalan Wan Kadir 4,
              60000 Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: +603 7722 5351 

Opening Hours: 1200 - 0000 Closed on Fridays


Taiping Outlet:

Address: No. 5, Regat Tupai,
              34000 Taiping, Perak.

Opening Hours: 1200 - 2300 Closed on Fridays

2 comments:

  1. I've been to Doli in taiping twice. The kuay teow special was really good. It had loads of shrimps so the RM8 price was justified. Never tried the TTDI one though

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    1. Oh yes, I've heard about the 'original' one in Taiping and I've been told that it's really good. Some of my friends have tried both places and find the one in TTDI really bad compared to the one in Taiping which is still good. I do hope that someday I would be able to try the one in Taiping too!

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