Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Feasting like a Prince

Short note: I am getting more and more flamer's attack on my recent post of Bravo Italiana. Seriously, these people have nothing better to do and than to read posts written by "BITCH Malaysian" eh?

Ever since the famous Korean drama Coffee Prince aired on our TV, I started noticing new branches of Prince Cafe. Now, I'm sure they have no connection, but somehow Prince cafe will always remind me of the drama. Anyway, there is one such branch in SS2 itself, which is very near to where Saucer stays. We ended up going to this restaurant for a good few times just because Saucer loves it! And we did enjoy some pretty great deals which I'm going to share with you soon. ;) This restaurant is located just next to KFC in SS2, PJ.

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Prince Cafe

First of all, let me make it clear that the food presented in this blog was eaten over a span of several visits! I simply collected all the pictures and showed them all in one posts to avoid redundancy. :) Prince Cafe is actually very similar to Hong Kong cafes (char chan teng) with a twist! What twist, you say? Well, for one, Prince Cafe has a few other cuisines as well, such as Shanghai food, Korean food, Japanese food and so on. In fact, their menu list is so long, it will take you a while before deciding on what to eat. :)

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Hot milk tea

One of the drinks that Saucer loves is this mocktail below called Virgin Colada. It also happened to be one of the most popular drinks in Prince, when we asked the waiter for recommendations. This drink is a concoction of ice-blended vanila ice-cream with sea coconut on top and below. While I love the drink itself, I didn't quite like the sea coconut pieces, because they were simply too sweet. I think the sea coconut pieces were actually marinated in sugar before being served, but it's overdone. I felt like I was biting into sugar cubes while eating them. Probably not a good choice for those with diabetes.

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Virgin colada

Moving on to the set meals. We ordered the famous cheese-baked rice set that came together with borsch soup and a drink. The milk tea here was definitely much nicer than the one in Kim Gary. It was noteiceably thicker, more concentrated and milkier, making the drink so much more enjoyable. These days, I find that the tea in Kim Gary is getting more and more diluted.

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Iced milk tea

Then came the borsh soup. Well, there is nothing too special with this borsh soup. The taste was similar to those in Kim Gary, but the vegetables given were more. You know I always think of borsch soup as the HK version of minestrone soup. Don't you see the resemblance? :)

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Borsh soup

Oh and the star of the night! Cheese-baked rice with chicken chop! I think Prince absolutely SCORED in this dish! Look at the amount of mouth-watering cheese used! It's so thick and chewy and very fragrant! The cheese coverage is so thick that you can't even see the meat underneath. A bit of warning though, if you decide to order this, I suggest you order a second lighter dish (if you come with a friend), because eating a whole lot of cheese will not do your stomach very good. :) That aside, this cheese-baked rice was delicious! The cheese actually melted and blended with the rice, unlike the one in Kim Gary. The amount used was extremely generous and the only minor drawback was that the rice didn't have much sauce, but seriously the cheese!

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Cheese-baked rice

Our second dish was fried rice with salted egg. This plate of rice was certainly very aromatic, because I could smell this before the waiter even placed the plate on the table. Even though the portion was not big, the taste made up for it. Generous amount salted egg pieces were mixed together with the rice, giving it a natural saltiness. The prawns used were smaller than usual and there was probably not much of other seafood or meat used in this dish, however, the rice was fried just right. Each morsel of rice was thoroughly fried and I couldn't find any big lumps of unfried rice in this plate. Maybe if they added more seafood/meat such as calamari rings or chinese sausages, it would make this dish so much better! :)

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Salted egg fried rice

In our second visit, it was during breakfast. Since I was in the mood for toasts, I immediately ordered their signature Prince Sandwich (RM7.90) which was proudly shown with a big picture on the menu. Thankfully, what they served looked exactly like the picture in the menu, so I wasn't disappointed.

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The plate above had 4 sets of sandwiches, whereby each set was a combination of 3 slices of toast with cheese, ham, tomatoes, cucumber, eggs and mayonaisse in between. Gosh, I'm salivating while typing all that out. *LOL* The drawback of this sandwich was that it's too difficult to eat because it's too thick! The toothpick there was really functional to help keep everything in place, otherwise, the fillings would just start slipping out when you're holding the sandwich. A very messy process, but nonetheless an enjoyable one. :)

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Prince Sandwich

Remember that I mentioned I wanted to share with you some great deals at Prince? Well, here is one of them! Breakfast of eggs and toast with milk tea at a mere RM3.90! Is that a steal or is that a steal? :) The best part is that this breakfast set is available every day, even during weekends or public holidays, so you can always eat them while lazing with a newspaper on a Saturday morning. :)

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Pepper and soya sauce


Nothing like a cup of hot milk tea on a cool morning eh? The hot version is even much thicker and creamier than the iced version. However, it's unsweetened, so you'll have to add sugar in it while it's hot if you prefer sweeter tea.

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Prince milk tea

This was the half-boiled eggs that came with the set. They were not overly or under done, just right. Add in some pepper and soya sauce and they're good to go - into your stomach, I mean. :)

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Half-boiled eggs

Of course, nothing like the good old toast as the accompaniment. :) Dip the crispy toasted bread into the half-boiled eggs for a fulfilling breakfast that is healthy and wholesome.

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Two slices of toast

These days especially in KL or Selangor area, it is difficult to get a decent breakfast with good environment at such a reasonable price! OK, I should say cheap price! If I stay in PJ, this would definitely be my weekly routine breakfast. ;)

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RM3.90 set of toast and eggs

Moving on to our third visit, which was for brunch. Here is another great deal that I want to share with you. :) Now during weekdays from 9-12pm, Prince has a special morning set meals that come with a drink, and at a discounted price. For example, this Korean spicy noodle set with beef steak is sold at RM6.90 + RM1 (for drink) = RM7.90, while the ala carte price (without drink) is sold at RM10.90! Not only you pay a cheaper price, you get a drink to boot!

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Korean spicy noodles

The noodles came with a sunny-side-up and lots of corn and beansprouts. Yes, the noodles were instant, but they were definitely Korean-made (think of the big red instant noodles packet with Korean words on it) and not the local Maggi or Cintan, so they were acceptable. In fact, I always buy Korean instant noodles so I could taste the similarity between these two. The portion was big but don't expect anything fancy, because it's exactly like what you would expect if you cooked the instant noodles yourself. :)

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The attraction here, however, was the two big pieces of beef steak that came with the set! The steaks were considerably large in size, and well-marinated. They're also not tough/gamey, albeit slightly oily. The set also came with a side of kimchi. Finishing the whole noodles and 2 slices of beef steak proved to be a challenge for me. I was full to the brim by then!

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Beef steak with kimchi

On the other hand, Saucer's brunch meal was Shanghai noodles with pork slices, at RM4.90, and additional RM1 for a drink, totalling it to RM5.90.

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Chilli and sauce

The noodles used here resembled wantan noodles. The portion, as usual, was huge. The pork slices also came with salted vegetables, giving it a natural salty and sour taste. Very appetizing. Saucer loved this dish a lot, because it was the second time he ordered the same thing. :) Price wise, it was definitely worth every penny! If I'm not mistaken, the ala carte price for the noodles was around RM8+?

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Shanghai noodles with pork slices

Have you got enough of Prince yet? *LOL* I still have one more dish to share, which was Shanghai rice with beef slices and vegetables. The rice was rather dry because there was no sauce given, but the beef slices were delicious and tender with a slightly crispy outer layer. Pretty good!

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Shanghai vegetables rice with beef slices

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Overall, the food at Prince Cafe was above average, and in my opinion very reasonably priced, especially the special breakfast menus. :) The only thing, perhaps, is that they have too much variety in terms of cuisine and they don't have a signature dish to promote, thereby might confuse customers with their extensive menu. However, cheese-baked rice won't fail you! :)

Prince Cafe
No. 58 & 60, Jalan SS2/67,
47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia

Tel no. : +603-7874 3995

Operating Hours:
Sunday to Thursday (10am-1am),
Friday & Saturday (10am-2am)

10 comments:

foongpc said...

I went to Prince Cafe once but I was not impressed with it. Maybe that was a long time ago and they had improved?

Anyway, all the food you highlighted makes me drool! Since they have such an extensive menu, I think I will try those food you recommended!

Eh, Saucer is sweet tooth is it since he likes the Virgin Colada? : )

J2Kfm said...

eh thats rather cheap, in comparison to the other HK cafe in Msia. esp that deadly beef steaks ...

三股东 said...

While its similar concept with either kim gary or wongKok,even the menu too. But recently i found both of them doing not good as usual (*i was sure visit 1 of each every couple weekend in the past 7 months) NOW i won't wondering to...
But for Prince, i never visit b4. Hmm...after read sharings,u jus add++ me some confidence to visit prince.

khengsiong said...

Eh... I also go to Prince Cafe quite often. The set meal is quite worth it ^^

There are some 'fake' HK style cafes here which actually sell Malaysian food.

meifong said...

I love the drama..it was one of the best in 2008

Anonymous said...

Dear Friend Witch!
Greetings from an Old Dragon lazying about in his lair at the foot of an extinct volcano!
First of all, welcome to the Foodbuzz Community!
Plenty of great scrolls and grimoires to read there!
I enjoyed reading your report. I wish more people would write and show pics this way!
Very sensible coverage. You are doing a lot of of good to a lot of people!
Cheers,
Old Dragon (Robert-Gilles in Japan, at the foot of Mount Fuji)

Anonymous said...

hey, i was at this cafe just about a month ago. I had the pork burger while my had the curry cheese baked rice.. not too great IMO. but your photos made them look really good yummm

iamthewitch said...

foongpc: I think you should give it a try again, especially the breakfast set meals from 9-12pm. Very cheap! :) Haha, yea I suppose Saucer loves things sweet! ;)

J2Kfm: Yea, the set meals during 9-12pm are really cheap! Otherwise the ala carte price is actually comparable to that of Kim Gary.

三股东: Thank you for believing in me! You should really go try Prince and compare with the other two HK restaurants. Try the cheese-baked rice (but don't take curry sauce as I didn't hear good feedback on that).

khengsiong: Yea, very worth it! :))

meifong: Really? I only watched a few episodes now and then. But there were definitely some cute guys in there! ;)

shizuokagourmet: Hi you! Thank you so much for visiting! I love taking pics so don't worry about lack of pics in my food posts. :)

vk photography: You know, you're not the first to tell me that you didn't like the curry cheese baked rice. Perhaps you should try the other non-curry sauce? :)) And the breakfast set meals are really a steal!

Anonymous said...

Wow! The food looks delicious.

Your photos are very nice. =)

iamthewitch said...

foodees: Thank you very much! :)