Food Review: Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul, Sunway Pyramid

Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul (cendol) recently opened an outlet in Sunway Pyramid! They are located at LG2.90, in the Marrakesh alley.

The shop has a limited variety of food, but was enough to satisfy my cravings for good Penang Cendol (with or without durian!) as well as Penang Asam Laksa. They also sell Penang White Curry Mee, Fruit Rojak, White Coffee Cendol, Fried Glutinous Cake (apparently a famous Teochew snack, but unbeknownst to my Foo Chow roots), as well as Cendol, White Coffee, and Ice Kacang ice blends.

So I ordered the Penang Asam Laksa for RM 7.90. Please forgive my non-rotated picture. The taste was really rich and the broth was slightly sweet in taste. There were decent amounts of noodles as well as fish in the dish. However, if you are a big eater, then the portion will be rather small for you. Of course the taste can't be compared with the original Penang Asam Laksa in Penang, but evaluating it on it's own, it was pretty well done considering it's a franchise, and I would actually come back for the laksa again.

As I was craving for durian on that day, I also decided to be adventurous and try the durian cendol. No offense to durian lovers, I do enjoy durian, but I thought the durian cendol was a tad bit expensive at a price of RM7.90 as well.

Left picture before mixing them up and the right picture after mixing them up.

I wasn't disappointed! This was really good, and the durian taste was rather strong, with a hint of gula malacca. I also managed to try the original cendol from my friend, and the gula malacca was stronger for the original one (and sweeter as well). The original one also has kidney beans, unlike the durian cendol. A rather good fix for durian cendol cravings I would say.

For more information on the store, you may visit their official website at: http://www.chendul.my/index.html

Update (August 2014):

I was in Paradigm Mall the other day, and had a craving for Asam Laksa, so I decided to drop by the Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul Outlet at Paradigm Mall. Though I have friends who have been there and gave their share of negative comments, I wanted to know exactly how bad it was, so I decided to give them a shot anyway.

I went there around lunch hour, but was quite happy to find an empty table. Seeing so many customers there actually gave me some "hope" that perhaps the outlet is not "that bad" after all. I have to say that they have really friendly waiters which is something commendable. However, the standard of the food was not anywhere near the one I ate in the Pyramid outlet. It was really bland. I ordered the Asam Laksa and it was really watered down. There was also hardly any visible fish pieces. The Chendul was also not as rich as the one in Pyramid, and the Gula Melaka taste was mild and not as fragrant. I also ordered the Fruit Rojak, and that was the only saving grace. It was good, and the sauce was really thick and tasty.

My bad experience with mydeal.com.my

With the advent of the internet, there has been an upsurge in online shopping, needless to mention sites that may sometimes promise deals that are too good to be true. Examples of the likes are MyDeal.com.my, groupon.my, to state a few. This often leaves you questioning if a product is original or authentic.

I wanna talk particularly about MyDeal, simply because I have previously bought 2 items from them, and I realised later that one of the items that I bought was actually fake. I thought MyDeal is a reputable site, so I'm actually rather disappointed that I have to write this because of how wrong my thought was, and also because of my personal values of integrity that I do not wish to see more people getting cheated by them.

But first and foremost, be forewarned when purchasing items from MyDeal because on both of my experiences, the items I purchased were delivered MANY DAYS after the stated delivery period. In fact, they arrived 2 weeks AFTER the stated 21 working days for restocking should the item run out of stock. Needless to mention, one of the items I purchased as a Christmas present could not be gifted because Christmas was way over by then! Thank you, MyDeal. When I questioned MyDeal about their late delivery, they said they were overwhelmed with purchases, hence the delay. But really? Is that even a good reason? Cause well, to me, it's just an excuse. I do not have images of their reply because I bought the item long ago and have deleted my e-mails with them. Also, because I didn't have a blog back then there was no reason to keep the e-mail since my item has been delivered to me, but you decide for yourself if you want to take this opinion into consideration =).

I digress. Anyway, back to my purchase that was not authentic, sometime ago, I bought a Kipling FairFax (medium) from MyDeal. This is the direct link if you would like to have a look at it. http://www.mydeal.com.my/deals/kuala-lumpur/kipling-fairfax-medium-handbag-shoulder-bag-includes-delivery

I'm not here to blame anyone about my purchase that was not authentic, because I know I am responsible for my own actions, but my purpose of writing this post is to raise awareness to the public. To ensure that we get what we think we are paying for. I am truly aware that the deal did not mention anything about money back guarantee (Rule No.1 when buying branded items) and authenticity (Rule No.2 -- but nowadays, there are still companies that say their items are authentic, but are not. I'm not sure if they genuinely don't know, or they just aim to deceive in the first place). I'm still quite surprised that I was cheated anyway (because I'm quite a skeptical person when it comes to purchases that are too good to be true, but I guess the workload during the end of the year caught up with me). Anyway, how did I know the product was not authentic? Upon receiving the product, I was elated at first at FINALLY getting my product, but more because at surface level, it did look authentic. It came with the Kipling monkey, the Kipling tags and what not. But upon close inspection... I was disappointed.

After further reading from the web, these are some information I manage to gather on how to determine if a Kipling product was authentic or not. References from here: http://www.ehow.com/how_7622538_spot-fake-kipling-bag.html and http://fuldashop.tarad.com/article?id=29654&lang=en

1.  The Kipling logo colour should match the bag's body colour, or at least the colour shade should be close to the bag's body colour, but never entirely different.

2. ALL Kipling bags should come with the Kipling monkey, which has a  Kipling name tab sewn on the left arm. Only products that are small in size like wallets, make-up clutches, and limited-edition bags do not come with the Kipling monkey.

3. Kipling maintains it's quality in ensuring that their stitching is perfect. There should be no run-out threads, or even minute signs that show stitching of poor quality like poor thread tension.

4. The interior of the bag should have a tag stating the colour, product code, and product name. Every Kipling Bag made from the Year 2003 and beyond should have this label.

Nooowwww, on how I know my Kipling bag was not authentic, using the above steps, my Kipling bag did come with a logo colour similar to the bag's body, it did come with the monkey and the tab sewn on the left arm. In fact, it also came with the label in the interior of the bag. BUT, albeit my bag's logo being the same colour as the bag's body, other details didn't quite match up. For example, the Kipling monkey was slightly deformed with glue sticking out here and there, the stitching on my bag was rather poor with skipped stitches commonly observed throughout the bag as well as thread ends that were not trimmed. Though the bag contained the interior label, there was no product colour being stated. I also checked the product code on the official Kipling UK website and the product code was wrong-- it was for another Kipling product, and last but not least, the label also stated... Made in China. Yeap.

I didn't regret though that I bought the bag. Because I used RM189 to be a smarter shopper; a more educated and well-informed buyer. And I'm sorry, MyDeal, but the next time I buy something from you, especially if it's 'branded' goods, I will be extra conscious =).

As most people will conclude (including myself from my bad experience), when the price is too good to be true, then the product is probably not authentic. I'm not saying that one is not able to buy authentic products at a hugely discounted price, but if you really want to be safe and ensure that you are paying for what you think you are paying for, then I would suggest you go to the official retailers instead =).

More references here:
Another blogger's experience on late delivery from MyDeal: http://ummumujahidwrites.blogspot.com/2013/10/mydeal-is-scam.html

I have also read on the Lowyat.NET about people buying the Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette from MyDeal which was also not authentic, so here's doing you guys a favour on how to know if your Naked 2 Palette is authentic:
http://www.caughtinadaze.com/2012/06/real-naked-2-vs-fake-naked-2.html