04 July 2012

What's not great at Old Town White Coffee

An Ipoh-grown brand name, Old Town White Coffee is one of the success stories of Ipoh.


A fine example of a family business taken ahead by the younger generation into the larger arena of business and brand recognition. While the founding generation would balk at the increased risks of enlarging the business or going public, the younger generation realise that sometimes, big is beautiful.

Not unlike the "heong peng" (fragrant baked biscuit stuffed with caramel) success story of Yee Hup.

But my post today is to remind myself not to eat a certain something in OTWC - and that is their curry puff basket.

Why?

Because it is almost all pastry skin (which is actually quite soft and buttery) with sooo little filling, that I was genuinely shocked at the price! It was to the tune of RM4 (thereabouts) for a "basket" of two curry puffs. It certainly does not come close to any of the 60 sen or RM1 or RM1.50 curry puffs that you can buy from the market or street-side Aunty, Mak Cik or Pak Cik.

Sure, one will say that the price reflects the atmosphere, chairs and tables, as well as the air-con and wi-fi one enjoys in the OTWC cafes. But to charge about RM2 for one curry puff, you have to give me something a little more substantial to eat! The puff was flat....and does not quite look like the ones in the picture above (courtesy of jessiefoodtrip.blogspot.com)

Well, I might go back to an OTWC branch but not for the curry puff. For your information.......



4 comments:

  1. I beg to defer. Oldtown curry puffs' one of my mom's most favourite item there.

    True, its slightly pricey (stress only slightly), dont forget you are paying for aircon, nice chairs n tables, clean place, safe environment and super high speed wifi.... hey, with all these, surely OTWC has to charge slightly higher than the hawkers which have almost nil operating costs right?

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  2. Hi Irene!

    Hmmm, then perhaps there is an inconsistency problem among the OTWC branches. The one I went to really had disappointing curry puffs. Which branch does your Mom like to go to for her curry puffs?

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  3. Cafe owners like OTWC does not have to charge higher price for their food even with better eating environment. They just want to make more profit out from you. The cost of producing the curry puff for OTWC is much more lower than street hawker as they are using machine to mass produce it. In fact they should sell it at lower price than the hawker because hawkers spend time using their own hand to make the puff.

    Maybe Irene can bring her mom to try the curry puff at Ikea food court. Only selling for one ringgit with air con environment.

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  4. Hi icoffee club! Maybe I will go try the curry puff at Ikea the next time I am there.

    Ya, I still do think that the food at OTWC is over-priced and lacks quality...

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