Ali, Muthu & Ah Hock @ KL East Mall — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

I recently visited Ali, Muthu & Ah Hock at KL East Mall with my parents. Unfortunately, the meal turned out to be quite underwhelming.

First, the ayam goreng was a major disappointment – it arrived cold and lacked any crispiness you'd expect from fried chicken. The batter was far too thick. As for the teh tarik, it was mediocre at best. The teh tarik was overly diluted.

I tried the nasi goreng kampung as well, which tasted average. It felt like it lacked the kick or flavours that typically make this dish a go-to favourite. The Hainanese chicken chop was another dish that fell short. While the taste was passable, the thick batter once again dulled the overall experience. The kuey teow goreng was perhaps the only dish that I could call fine.

What made matters worse was the service – the dishes took far too long to be served. Despite the relatively small selection of food available on the menu, the wait time was unexpectedly long.

The concept of Ali, Muthu & Ah Hock is fantastic – blending Malay, Chinese, and Indian influences in one spot is a great idea. However, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. The limited selection of dishes is already a letdown, but with the quality of food lacking, it feels like a missed...

Food is okay but service is terrible. Honestly don’t understand why they insist on having us scan the QR code to order when the internet line in the restaurant is nonexistent. Took us almost 20 minutes just to order. First they needed to print the QR code and bring it over to us which took some time because they didn’t seem to notice us. Then we couldn’t get to the order page because the line was so bad. Instead of just taking our order, the lady at the counter told us we had to connect to their WiFi and then make our order. After doing all that, there was an issue when checking out our order so we had to redo the whole thing again. Only then did they take our order manually and even so, they left out one of our orders. Although there were plenty of staff hanging about, getting their attention was so difficult because none of them wanted to look our way. On top of that, they played really loud music, though it may only be an issue if you’re sitting inside and not at the open area. Quite taken aback as we haven’t any issues with the...

This is the fourth Ali, Muthu & Ah Hock outlet we have been too, and they have never let us down...So, when we decided to have our lunch here, we basically have pretty good ideas what we were going to eat already.

For me, its mostly the Signature Nasi Lemak, as their Chicken Leg is so crispy and tender, just the way I like it. Normally, I would order a side dish of Sambal Kerang, or Cockles to go with my nasi lemak. But they seemed to not have it at this outlet, unlike at the one in Ara Damansara. Over there, I would tend to order the Roti Jala with Chicken Curry too, as the succulent taste of them together kept me wanting for more...

My wife requested for the Mee Goreng Mamak, as usual. I prompted her that she should call it Mee Goreng Muthu instead, to honor one of the founders of this successful franchise. Etty had the Cantonese Koey Teow, and she was sharing it with Eiden. But Eiden was more interested in playing with his Paw Petrol toy, which he would get everytime he sees Pah Mummy..

Again, as I said earlier, they never...