C.i Xpress 大家爱@ 1 Utama, Petaling Jaya

As many people aware that 1 Utama is in going into a refurbishment stage, many renovation is going on, many stores closed down and re-launching, many restaurants also closed for renovation, relocation and there are a number of new restaurants opened this past weeks. One of them is C.i Xpress.

Many patrons may not aware that the concept and the theme is almost (not 100%, but 75% at least) copying a well-known chain restaurant in Hong Kong. It is the Café de Coral 大家乐 (Click link here and their website here). Firstly, the décor, they are using orange as their main theme color whereby Café de Coral is yellow theme. Concept wise is almost the same. Customers may find it very comfy and spacey.

Then to the food ordering part, they also copied the way the presentation of their menu. They put on right at the entrance where the customers can view and order at the cashier right beside the menu board. After that, you have to collect your food at another counter.

Since C.i Xpress has copied the concept, they also copied Café de Coral’s signature dish, the Baked Pork Chop Rice. Obviously, the author has very high expectation and expected something great which turns out……... a totally bad experience. The presentation wise is ok, because cover with gravy sauce. Portion is small for the price you are paying. First bite, the gravy doesn’t taste good at all as has little tomato paste in it and used a lot of corn starch to thicker the sauce. It didn’t have that sweetness of the tomato in it, tasted very artificial, and didn’t have enough salt too. And then they give a couple of tomato slices, onions and celery. No green vegetables at all. Luckily the chef fried the rice which is fragrance and the pork chop is pan fried which is tender enough but lack of seasoning. Mix all together, the dish will be oven baked. But the dish came out not hot, that kind of oven baked “hotness”. Suspect they use microwave oven baked or they didn’t baked long enough. Overall the dish is lacking in taste at many level, didn’t blend well with all the ingredients, especially lack of heart to cook this signature dish.

Next the milk tea ice, easily you can find a better milk tea ice at some other restaurants in 1 Utama. The tea is ok, the milk is alright but there is something wrong with the quality of the water supply. Because you can get the tap water after taste, which gives a very bad impression to patrons.

Today is their opening day, that’s why the quality control is not up to the standard yet. But a word of advice, send your chefs to Hong Kong Café de Coral and ask them to try their signature pork chop rice dish. Your chefs will surely know why C.i Xpress pork chop rice is nowhere near that standard. Furthermore, the pricing is bit high for a concept that it’s a self-serve business.

Food Review

Food Type: Chinese (Non-Halal)
Address: Lot G120 & G121, Ground Floor, 1 Utama Shopping Centre, No. 1, Lebuh Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Price: Average: RM17 per pax
Operating Hours: Daily (10am-10pm)

Taste Rating: 3.5/10
Ambiance Rating: 8/10
Service Rating: Not applicable (Self-Serve)
Value Rating: 6/10

Overall Rating: 5.8/10

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