Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Crusty bits and the Papa

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When we saw Worldwindows blog Papa John's a few weeks ago, we got pretty excited!
This was Cumi's all time favourite student's pizza take away/delivery (CUMI: There were Little Caesars too!!! Pizza! Pizza!) whilst studying in the states and he was really eager to see it if was still as good as he remembered. Me, I just wanted Pizza. Fullstop.

The red herring was Cumi kept looking at Tropicana City for the outlet to open because of the advertisements. However, it was Berjaya Time square that opened the 1st Papa John's outlet.

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We heard the little girl exclaim to the waiter "But it's nothing like the one BACK HOME" (huge sad blues eyes)... and Cumi's expectations fell.. but the girl was so sad, so forlorn so cute.. I just wanted to hug her!

Me, I had no expectations. I only needed lardy cheezy pizza.. and oh yea, some of those famous side dips that they keep talking about.

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The breadsticks were fair. Apparently more chewy and 'gooey' in the states. These were a little hard.

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The pizza sets are good. They come with 2 cokes (we had light coke instead!) and the breadsticks, so this is the one to pick if you are trying to impress your date (.. with pizza..Oh, you big spender you.. lol)
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Well, the highlight for me was the GARLIC BUTTER dip. Way back then, Papa John's came up with this great money saver.. an idea to reduce wastage of pizza crust and encourage people to clean up leftovers, by creating dips for just that purpose.

My, my .. little did I know how effective. I am one of those vain carbo watching chicks who doesn't like to waste time with crust and only wants the goop (the meat, the good stuff)... but by the end of the night, Cumi was swatting my hands away from his crusty BITS.. (ooo .. so selfish la this boy)


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Verdict? I liked the fact that the tomato base has a raw, rough unprocessed taste and that they are generous with it. I didn't care much for the breadsticks but with that garlic butter, I'd dip and eat anything they serve up here :P

The differences? In the States, Papa John's represents a cheap, tasty, fuss-free student meal but here in Malaysia, it's priced and marketed as mid-range ... cosy enough for families, upbeat enough for groupies, and cool enough even for the executives to eat at (Oooo.. the glamorous.. the flossy flossy)
Though the ingredients in the States are far superior (chewier dough, stringier cheese, heavier/chunkier tomato base), Papa John's in Malaysia would now have to rank as my favourite pizza place, oh yeah.. For sure.

CUMI: "For me, they weren't that generous with the pizza sauce... I'm too used to the dripping thick sauce & cheese plus stacked toppings in America. The crust was too salty - must have localized the recipe. The breadsticks give your jaw a good workout! They charge for extra dipping sauce! ... you might getaway with a little extra if you are nice to your server, but generally first refills are free, however subsequent refills are chargeable !"

Others who have blogged this:
Mimi's dining room
Worldwindows
Masak Masak
Thenomadgourmand

Pizza: 7/10
Breadsticks:5/10
Garlic Butter Dip:10/10 !!! (Ooo, the hips baby.. the hips..)





23 comments:

choi yen said...

I had been invited to their family lunch treat before they open~~ (my sis work under this company)& I blogged abt it also :)

Ciki said...

mimi:
sorry sweetie! google is weird.. but I have add u immediately, of course! :D

jasmine said...

just saw it in shenzhen a couple of days ago... but didn't get to try it... :P

maybe i should pop by this one instead. :)

Big Boys Oven said...

Looks awesome delicious!

sc said...

gosh...must have those delicious looking garlic butter!

Julian Si said...

The GOOP looks real good, must try :-)

Shall be diving all next week, Lembeh aka Manado beckons, so keep the blogging torch burning whilst I am away!!

Cheers :-)

Jason said...

Whoa... seems like not bad.

Anonymous said...

hmmm, i very rarely can get myself to eat pizzas in restaurants these days. so, good ah?

Allie said...

How I wish they'll open one outlet in penang. :(

Rebecca Saw said...

nice..their sauce base is just so-so fresh!

J2Kfm said...

yeah the garlic butter is to die for!!!! sooooo tempting.

and the cheese sticks beat Pizza Hut's hands down, with REAL melted cheese.

the pickled jalapeno is a novelty though. cant match the pizza, nor the pasta.

Ciki said...

hi guys!
no time so reply all - Yes, it's really good and yes, you can invite me anytime to makan with you at Papa John's ... haha

thule a.k.a leo said...

there will always be slight variations on the quality... things will always taste better at their home place.
It's so funny yet romantic when two lovebirds fighting for the leftover crusts...

Anonymous said...

awww so sad..but any pizza is better than pizza hut :p

Rebecca Saw said...

wowow.. so many post of Papa Johns suddenly.. and all has comments on hw bad Pizza hut is! LOL. one must inform their PR dept real real soon!

Rebecca Saw said...

eh.. thks so much for putting me link there! was wondering hw come so many visitors to my blog suddenly *flush* ;)

backStreetGluttons said...

The papa John's hard stick does look pretty impressive even we will be proud of !

We are honored to present to CumiCiki the much coveted
BSG 2009 Spring Award for

"Most Exuberant Food Blogger Kuala Lumpur"

Congrtaulations !
(Price will be announced before summer 2009 )TQ

Anonymous said...

"if you are trying to impress your date (.. with pizza..Oh, you big spender you..)"

Guffaws! So true lah... but back when we were younger and in high school, this did do the trick... Teens these days have it so much better... :P

Hazza said...

We have papa johns here, but only takeaways, not restaurants. I think the pizza in Malaysia also suffers from not having pork in it, especially my favourite topping, peperoni. On the other hand, it is dirt cheap compared to the UK!

choi yen said...

Haha, no need to say sorry, anyways thanks for the link :)

HairyBerry said...

at first, i thought it was a bread papa rip off...din know it was a pizza joint, lol!

garlic butter dip...garlic butter dip...garlic butter dip...am just thinking if i can make that at home...argggh, might as well check out da papa, right? yumzzzz

Ciki said...

jasmine, BBO, sc, Jason:
yea, go give it a try!

jules:
happy diving.. and hurry back with photos!

fbb:
of course cannot make homemade sort, but not bad for fastfood la

allie:
soon!

Ciki said...

TNG, J2kfm:
yeap , i sure love the dipping sauces too

thule:
romantic.. and nicer if you WIN! Mwhahahaha!

KBCG:
it's GOOD actually

BSG:
changkew, changkew! thx guys!

LFB:
hehe.. i know .. us too!

Hazza,
but now should be cheaper right.. what with the tumbling exchange rate..