Rail Canteen @ Dataran Sunway - Like PappaRich & Old Town WC, but even better! (Halal)

Was in Dataran Sunway today, decided to try something new here for lunch. As I was driving around, I noticed a couple of restaurants tucked in the corner along Sunway Nexis. For those of you who are not familiar with this part of the city, Dataran Sunway is home to Sunway Giza and Encorp’s The Strand Mall. These establishments have been around for more than half a decade. Nexis though, is the new kid on the block, only about 2 years old.

Many of the shop lots inside it are still vacant. However, at certain corners, especially the corner facing the main road, shop lots and banks, there seem to be a group of restaurants that have open doors. One notable cafe/restaurant would be Rimba & Rusa, which belongs to the Wondermilk clan – the rest are relatively new, unheard of and individual cafes. One of them is Rail Canteen. The reason I chose this cafe today was because I heard that some of the folks behind the Kluang Station franchise were the ones responsible for this venture. I guess I was just curious to see how different could this be from Kluang Station. Another reason was because at first glance, it was almost full house, so it has to be good, right? It also presented this chill vibe, a place you can wind down and relax, talk and have good food. So yea, naturally this is where I ended up.

As you can see, the atmosphere here is very different from that you get from Kluang Station and other franchises like Old Town White Coffee, PappaRich. Gone are the mechanistic workings and the same dull colors and dim atmosphere. So, I guess they were successful in making Rail Canteen a ‘stand out’.

They have a selection of dishes branching from two main cuisines – asian and western. For today though, I opted for the Asian selection.

Mee Siam Local Set, RM 15.90

So, from 12 pm to 2.30 pm, every Mondays to Fridays, they have a Local or Western Set deal that allows you to order noodles or rice + chicken + gravy + drinks for RM 15.90 / chicken chop + drinks for RM 19.90. I was a little tight on $$$, so naturally opting for the set option would be wise on my part . Mee Siam/Mee Hoon +Ayam Berempah + Sotong Sambal + Teh O Ais Limau.

Oooh! but first, let me explain why my title suggest this restaurant’s similarities with Old Town White Coffee and PappaRich. Old Town and PappaRich . If you have noticed, these kopitiiams usually offer pre-prepared meals – mee hoon, mee goreng, nasi lemak , the kind of meals that are cooked in large bunches in the morning and then distributed to various shops, which naturally enables them to serve their dishes out fast. This is as opposed to the usual cook-on-the-spot dishes you usually get from restaurants and cafes. So yea, that is where they are similar.

The Mee Siam was served within 5 minutes and looked like it was right off the the stove – how awesome is that? It was hot and aromatic. First taste of it was YUMMMMM! I dont usually finish up a plate of noodles because i rarely come across any that is good, so i usually leave some behind – why gobble up all those unwanted calories when it is not even delicious to begin with, right? This noodle however – was delicious! The problem with some of these pre-cooked meals are that because they are usually cooked in the morning, by noon/evening, it is usually dry, does not taste fresh or even lively, but that is not the issue here. It was as delicious as a fried noodle can be. They then topped it off with the Ayam Berempah. This comprised of a thick piece of fried chicken breast that was dipped in chilly spices. While it tasted good on its own, to combine it with the noodle was va va voom, finger licking good. The sotong sambal had small bits of calamari in it, the gravy was sweet and spicy. This dish as a whole kind of gave me the feeling of the kind of dishes you get in the outskirts – taste authentic, delicious and served abundantly. Does that makes sense? Anyways, long story short – its delicious, so do give it a go yourself.

Nasi Lemak Local Set , Rm 15.90

I cant say much about this dish besides the fact that it was delicious. It embodied all the characteristics of a nasi lemak – the pandan flavored rice, sambal, half boil egg, peanuts, anchovies, cucumber. Everything was well cooked and flavored. This time we had sambal ikan bilis for the sambal option and ayam rendang for the chicken option. The ikin bilis sambal was just an addition to the already existing ikin bilis sambal that was part of the nasi lemak dish. The sambal was decent, right amount of spice, chilly and anchovies. The chicken was delicious. It was sooo tender, with skin just crispy enough to make the whole thing succulent. The rendang sauce was sweetish, mix this flavor with the ikan bilis sambal and the nasi lemak – the combination was the bomb.