Malaysia’s PappaRoti in Dubai

I love rotiboy. the super soft caramel-coated buns, fresh and hot from the oven. I’d never buy less than 5, and the best time to eat rotiboy is straight in the car while driving back from OU or KLCC where I bought them coz then it would be fresh, hot and soft! hihi. my khairul can finish one in just a few bites. naturally, my boys love ‘em too.

rotiboy is established in 1998, and started in penang. in its website, the word ‘original’ is capitalized, stressing that they’re the pioneers of these famous buns.

 

babaruti? heheh.

 

however, there’s another malaysian brand selling a similar bun. calling itself, ‘the father of all buns’, papparoti describes this heavenly bread as ‘coffee-coated bread’ with ‘authentic and memorable taste’.

established in 2003, papparoti now has branches all over including dubai, saudi arabia, kuwait, china, vietnam, UK and australia. kat bangladesh pun ade!

 

 

this was the first time that I tried the bun at papparoti after being a faithful fan of rotiboy.

we went to the papparoti branch in sunset mall, jumeirah – the lonesome-looking little mall with more empty lots than occupied ones! definitely papparoti is the one café that’s keeping the mall alive! it’s at the corner of the ground floor, visible from the main road.

 

 

basically papparoti only has TWO items on its menu : DRINKS, and the BUN. that’s it. now which drink? that’s when it gets tricky. haha.

 

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from caramel macchiato to mochaccino, cappuccino, to hot choc and café late – they got it. even fresh milk or raspberry tea!

ok, I do not like ANY type of coffee, but I am always interested in words and their meaning, and I can’t help trying to figure out what’s the difference between these many types of ‘coffee’ :

• first and foremost, u need to know that ESPRESSO is the basis of all these variations of coffee. to me, espresso is simply COFFEE given a fancy name! haha. something in the way it’s brewed that makes it different than the kopi we make at home kot!
• macchiato means ‘marked’ or ‘stained’ – so it simply means espresso ‘stained’ with milk.
• cappucino means espresso at the bottom, hot milk in the middle and topped with steamed-milk foam
• latte means espresso with steamed milk
• mocha is like latte – but with added chocolate, usually cocoa powder, chocolate syrup or chocolate milk
• americano is made when hot water is added to espresso (what?!)

oh man! thank goodness I only like one type of hot drink and one only – hot chocolate! plain and simple! hihi. if you wanna know more to peningkan kepala, click this link and scroll down to learn more about other types of espresso mix.

 

malaysia : RM2.50. dubai : AED11!

 

I wrote at the beginning of this post, how I always buy at least 5 buns at once, and how it takes only a few bites to finish one before we can reach for another, and another…well, CAN’T do it here!

while the ROTI in malaysia cost only about RM2.50 each, here it’s AED11 each! that escalates pretty damn quickly!

also, in malaysia it’s just a humble café and the buns are served in paperbags where malaysians can just eat with our hands kan?

here, the bun is served on a nice wooden ‘bread cutting-board’, with knife and fork! wah, makan rotiboy fine dining, eh? haha. mr. khairul was like, “pak-pak arab makan rotiboy dengan sudu garpu ke?” huhu.

 

 

teringin punya pasal – bedal je sekali-skala!

to me, the buns taste the same, rotiboy or papparoti, in malaysia or in dubai,, cheaper or not – the same crispy sweet coat on the outside, and soft fluffy bread on the inside. yum!

we actually reminded the boys to eat as slowly as they can, and really savour the aed11 buns!

 

 

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don’t like anything with coffee or espresso, so I ordered iced-chocolate which is just yummy. how can iced-chocolate NOT be yummy, kan? mr. khairul got himself the caramel macchiato.

 

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will we come again? if the craving gets worse! haha. the service is top notch, and the bun is as delicious as it could ever be. however, I’d rather wait till we get back to malaysia and go buy 10 buns or more! lepas geram!

 

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the boys having fun at the empty sunset mall in jumeirah : the only MALL I can let my sons go wild without me worrying about them being lost in the crowd. coz there is no crowd!