Friday, 3 July 2015

KFC @ Tanjung Malim, Perak

Many may be wondering why I am blogging about KFC when it is such a common fast food chain in Malaysia. Well, to be honest, this is like an experience for me too as I generally patronise KFC like once in three to four years. Moreover, this is just to share my experience in this particular KFC outlet which is attached to the BHP Station in Tanjung Malim.

24 Hour KFC Outlet

Attached To The BHP Station

Modern Design
In Tanjung Malim, there are two KFC outlets. One is in town and that operates during the normal business hours. This particular outlet is located along Jalan Slim Baru which is the new trunk road heading north bound and is attached to a BHP Station. This outlet is unique as it is the only one in town which has a drive through and operates 24 hours daily. If I am not mistaken, this is my third trip here over a span of 6 six years perhaps. Every time I come here, I am surprised to see the crowd as it is simply overwhelming. The place has a very modern design unlike the other one in town and is probably triple in size when compared to the previous.

Staffs Busy

Good That We Could Also View The Items Being Keyed In

Some New Desert Additions

Prices Have Definitely Gone Up
They have been many new additions to the menu since my last trip here. There seem to be some interesting desert items. Prices were a shocker to me as they have gone up tremendously from my last visit. Eating in KFC seems like a luxury these days but hey, no harm going on a splurge once in a while. The staffs in this particular outlet are a little slow. This is not limited to my observation this trip but it has been consistent over the years. It's like they don't multi task. Assuming someone asks for  a particular thing and it is not available, they just wait till that item is ready instead of moving to the next customer and clearing the line in a much more speedy way. There was a point in time that I felt like telling them as it takes them close to 10 to 15 minutes just to clear one set of customers. That makes the waiting time incredibly ridiculous. Movement is also very slow among these staffs. You do not see this kind of slow movements in those KFC's located in Kuala Lumpur. Perhaps, this must be small town attitude but is sometimes unbearable. Hope and I seriously hope that this would soon change. 

Busy Day

Dinner Set @ RM 13.95
After a huge delay (due to some other issue which I would speak of below), we finally got our meal and returned to our table. My brother and I both had the same Dinner Set and this was priced at RM 13.95 per set.

Chili Sauce

Metal Cutlery
The last time I was here, they still had those Sauce bottles stacked on the tables but this time, they have eradicated that concept and strictly moved to the self service style. This is good as it eliminates any kind of wastage and I would fully support this. After all, the Sauces are located not too far from the tables and it is not inconvenient in any way. Another thing that I was very glad here is their cutlery. Finally...an outlet that provides metal cutlery instead of those plastic fork and knives. Those plastic ones are just not practical and doesn't really last. I would probably need a few of them as they just keep snapping away. Glad that real cutlery were provided here.

Pepsi
This came with the set but I was very disappointed with the quality. This was not off the tap but those 1.5L bottled ones. I asked them why they were using these and they mentioned that the new stock had not arrived. Come on guys! When I have carbonated drinks, I do want them to be gassy and not something that's stale like this. Imagine opening the same bottle over and over and just within minutes, it would loose it's taste. For one that operates 24 Hours, this was just not acceptable. 

Dinner Set

Hot & Spicy Variety

Lovely Batter

Drastically Reduced Fat
Although the meat cuts have shrunk in size, I was impressed with the quality. When comparing this to my previous visit, these meat cuts seemed to have much lesser fat content. There was more lean meat and even the skin had minimal fat. I still remember from many years ago, I was able to remove layer after layer of fat and that's completely missing this time. Kudos to KFC for giving us better meat cuts. The flavours were still intact and the batter was nicely coated. Still as good as it was!

Coleslaw
This was my greatest frustration this visit. One of the items that I have always loved in KFC is their Mashed Potatoes and they ran out of stock this time. In fact, my last visit here was also the same and instead, they gave me two Coleslaws which I don't quite fancy. I had asked the girl numerous times if I could have something potato instead and the answer was a simple NO. Either I take this or leave it. Do I have a choice? Well, it's quite simple guy's. Aren't you'll even managing your inventory properly. This is a simple study and after all, you have been open for many years now to know the trend and manage the buffer. And it is not even the first time that this had happened. Utter disappointment!

Coleslaw
Having been served two portions of Coleslaws which I don't quite fancy, I had to force myself to finish them. I do hope that this does not go on and someone would perhaps do something to correct these unacceptable errors.

Buns
The buns were just okay. Honestly, they were not as good as they were those days and instead of serving them hot, they were cold and coarse. 

Cheezy Wedges @ RM 5.20

Cheezy Wedges @ RM 5.20
This has been one of my favourites here and the quality has been consistent over the years. The only setback would be the rising cost. A small serving of this costs more than a Kilo of Potatoes. That's funny to think about it.

My Brother Having His Dinner
Overall, this was an okay dinner. Things that this outlet seriously would need to improve on would be the service quality, speedy work ethics, stock buffer management and better customer service. Otherwise, it was a decent dining experience for us. 

Address: Stesen BHP, Jalan Slim Baru, 35900 Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: 24 Hours Daily

2 comments:

  1. I like your blog for your visits to indian restaurants which give great reviews for authentic indian food. Please don't do the major fast food chain as everyone have eaten there and have their own views. Your review will not add anything new.

    My only gripe of indian restaurant esp banana leaf rice is inconsistency. Sometimes I feel so disappointed especially if the food was great on the first visti..
    On a recent visit to M in BC, we were served fish curry with last nights fried fish in it.
    And you can see there were less crowd too.

    Anyway keep up the good work. Looking forward to reading any undiscovered indian restaurant in the Klang Valley.
    Foodfan


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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for the honest feedback. Yes, I would agree with you that it does not make any difference blogging about these fast food joints. I guess, I was only venting my frustrations.

      Yes, tell me about it. I recently visited a place and went for their Chicken Sambal. Guess what....it's the same story. Yesterday's Fried Chicken became today's Chicken Sambal. I guess consistency is something that's scarce in most Indian restaurants. Still on the look out for more gems.

      Have been doing more entries on Tanjung Malim these days but would be back to KL soon to give you some good places to try. Thank you again for the feedback. I do appreciate two way communication like this.

      Best Regards,
      Venoth

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