Miam Miam, 1 Utama Shopping Mall

If there is one thing common about Malaysia and Singapore, it our love of good food. It is not surprising that many Malaysian eateries have spread it wings to her Southern neighbour. To name a few, Paparich, Madam Kwan, Old Town White Coffee had made their presence felt in Singapore. The latest to join the list is Miam Miam, a cafe who prides itself as a "casual Artisanal French cafe-restaurant that brings together a mixture of French Artisanal Cuisine and techniques with influences derived from traditional Japanese preparation and cooking art".

I have passed by the Bugis Junction outlet a few times but did not have the opportunity to pop in. However, I managed to pay a visit to its 1 Utama Outlet in Malaysia last weekend. We reach there around 12.30pm, and boy, the queue was long. I waited for roughly 20 minutes for a table of 4, and that is with 2 parties before me giving up.

The choices on offer are not many. Basically what's on offer are broken down into soups, appetisers, bread and sandwich, pancakes, pasta, baked rice and souffle. Drink wise we have the various iterations of coffee, tea, smoothies, juices and soda.

We decided to start of with their signature pasta dish aptly named Miam Miam Spaghetti. When I was ordering, the maitre'd did emphasize that what is shown in menu will not be what I will be getting. The picture shows bacon but the 1 Utama outlet does not serve pork unlike their main branch in Gurney Plaza, Penang. What we get are turkey ham, chicken sausages, mushrooms, some tomatoes, veg, tossed in their secret sauce (sesame based) topped of with a soft boiled egg and some roasted sesame. Unlike purely western style pasta, the sauce is far more lighter and in my opinion suits the taste buds of Asians better. The balance of meat and veg makes this dish less jelat. The addition of the soft boiled egg enhances the smoothness of the dish. 

Miam Miam Spaghetti Before Tossing

Miam Miam Spaghetti after Tossing

Next up is Miam Maim's version of carbonara. The usual cabonara that we often see is quite heavy on cheese and cream. The Japanese influenced version have a far more lighter sauce only thicken by the soft boiled egg. The pasta comes with quite a generous amount of chicken sausages.

Spaghetti Carbonara

For the  rice dish, we decided on the Riz Au Curry.This basically rice with a chicken frank, some beef, an egg, some broccoli baked in thick Japanese curry sauce and beef stock. It being a Japanese curry dish, the spiciness is practically non existence for South East Asian taste buds but it is quite fragrant. The beef stock adds that tinge of extra dimension to the dish.   

Riz Au Curry

For pudding we ordered what this place is famous for - the French Toast. The menu states that this is the best in town and urged its patrons to "don't ask, just order". Quite a claim and I was not disappointed. One problem with French toast is that some cafes tend to overdo with the dressing and syrup. Besides that, some tend to overdo the batter and over fry. If I want Roti John, I will get Roti John. No such problems here. The bread is just battered lightly. It comes with a scope of fresh cream on top and the syrup was served separately. The bread is soft and warm. I was able to cut just using a fork.  

The coffee here is not cheap at RM8.80 for a small cup. The difference compared to other cafes is that their coffee is hand dripped. No espresso machines here. The coffee did not disappoint. Compared to Espressos, this hand dripped coffee carries a lighter after taste and is perfect having it just with milk. 

Agnes ordered a peanut butter and banana milk shake. Nothing light about this shake. It sounded as if one can have this as a meal alone. The consistency was indeed quite thick. I stole a sip of it and it really did taste good. Something different you can't get else where, I think.

Peanut Butter Banana Milk Shake

Overall, the food here is quite good, albeit at the salty side for the rice and pasta. Servings are quite large whereby 4 adults can actually share 3 mains and a pudding (though I don't think the French Toast was meant as a pudding). One thing about this place is that if you are really hungry, you are better off going somewhere. Inevitably you would have to wait for a table. After getting a table, the kitchen will take another 20-30 minutes to prepare your order. I think it is because they really make it from scratch (as they proudly put it in neon sign) and not cook the food in large batches.

Prices are typical of cafes in Klang Valley. Meal for 4 pax comes to about RM130 with taxes.