Food Review - Top1 Western Foods Cafe, Seri Kembangan

Last night we went to the opening of Top1 Western Foods Cafe, which was co-owned by one of Babai's biker friend, Thomas. I'm gonna make a quick review, and for those of you who are in the vicinity, you might want to check this outlet someday..

Top1 Western Foods Cafe is located at the newly completed shophouses opposite Plaza Bazaar Rakyat in Bandar Putra Permai (or better known as Taman Equine). From the traffic light leading to Cyberjaya, you'll be able to see a Servitekar shop, and Top1 Western Foods is just next to it.

Top1 Cafe (I'll use this shotform) is the original idea of Thomas, who have about 20 years experience as a Chef in New Zealand and specialized in western food. I was informed that he choosed not to serve pork and alcohol in the menu because originally he had wanted the cafe to become a meeting place for his biker's friends, and he wanted to cater for the Muslims too.

I don't know why they choose Top1 Western Food Cafe name simply because there is another food outlet which is called Station1 Cafe, and their concept is also has not much different. Ok, to me, Station1 food sucks, but that's another story. What puzzled me also is that, the menu are not 100% Western, as they still provide Asian food, which comprises to almost 50% of their menu!



The second page of the menu was Abalone/Scallop cooking, and they cost maximum RM188 per serving. But, don't fret, the rest of the menu are reasonably priced.


This is my choice of drink, Strawberry Milkshake (est RM6-7). It's yummy, but I don't think there's any strawberry in it, it's just flavored. Ice-blended was their specialty, but none of us tried it. One of our friend ordered Cappucino, but he commented that it tasted like instant cappucino. I'm not sure about that, we'll find out someday.


After more than 45 minutes waiting, our first order came. Since Babai is using his Chicken & Chip free voucher, I ordered non-Western and chose Char Kuey Teow. Chicken fillet was used generously, but it was no replacement for pork bits found on the original Kuey Teow. The chicken also slightly on the salty side, but overall I like this Kuey Teow.


We ordered Chicken Wing (6pcs for RM8.00), which is reasonable, and fried nicely. The coating is a bit too sweet compared to Chillies Buffallo Chicken Wing, but by able to even associate them to Chillies is good enough for me.

Ngieng ordered fish fillet for her daughter and chicken chop for himself, which tasted acceptable, although I found that the mushroom sauce is also sweet, but the sauce thickness was right.

Babai's Chicken & Chip came with special chilli sauce, and again it was a bit too sweet. The Chicken fillet tasted like, I don't know why but it reminds me of cardboard! It was breaded and fried just nicely, only that I don't find it so special.

After we had finished our meal, only then the last dish for our friend Cham, came. If for any other shop, we would have stormed out and never came to the shop anymore due to slow service, and we saw a lot of sour faces around us who kept looking at the kitchen direction hoping that the next meal served is theirs. But since it's the first day of operation and they were still trying to find their tempo, we kept our impatience at bay.

Here's Cham special order, Sizzling Chicken Chop. The wait was worth it, because I believe it was the best order that night. Again, the mushroom sauce is a bit sweet, but it was creamy, thick and one can really tasted the mushroom flavor in it. The chicken was tender and tasted right, albeit the slightly sweet sauce.


Ngieng and her baby daugther.



Overall, my personal and humble opinions are:
1. The foods are acceptable, so much better than Station1 cafe of course.
2. The ambience was nice and very cosy, although I could foresee that they can do much better if there is free Wifi in place.
3. The service was good, lots of smiling waiters hovering around trying very hard to please everyone, but they should improve by using English language more, and better organized by everyone not running around at the same time because it looks chaotic.
4. Top1 also should improved on food serving time, the drink station should work faster, to provide coaster and enough tissue for customers.
5. I don't like it when the kitchen skip orders. It's not amusing when you are hungry and watch other table who came later than you having been served food first.
6. Audio-visual was fine, but can be improved further by providing the correct background music.
7. Price is ok, comparable to other similar outlets.
8. Cleanliness is observed and all staffs wore proper attire and head covering.
9. Too bad the airconditioned area was a little bit too small compared to the non-airconditioned area. I think they also have an open air area on the first floor, but last night it was raining so we didn't bother to check upstairs.
10. Food presentation was overall ok, but I just wish that all the menu have photos because visual effect is more effective than trying to imagine how certain menu might look like.
10. VIP cards are given to bikers, and they can enjoy 15% discount of the menu.

And that's about it. I don't mind to come again in the future, but I do expect some further improvement from them. Good luck and best wishes to Thomas and Top1 Western Foods Cafe!