Restaurant review: Food Republic @ Pavilion

Restaurant: Food Republic @ Pavilion
Cuisine: Mixed, it's actually Pavilion's food court
Address: 1st Floor, Pavilion Shopping Centre, 168, Jln Bkt Bintang, 55100 KL
Verdict: My current fav place for lunch cos it has a vast selection to choose from and prices, although on the steeper side, are still affordable.

It is rare to want to do a review on food courts but I really do enjoy trying out the various stalls. Thumbs up also for the decor - simple, modern, pretty good space planning. Ambience is well... it's a food court.. so expect lots of people, kids running around and lots of noise, naturally.

Food Republic is actually a Singaporean chain which is why you'll notice that the names of the stalls dont sound quite Malaysian. There's also the typical "Singaporean" favourites like Hainanese chicken rice, hor fun, 'o' chien etc..

Here's what I think of some of the stalls there:
1) The You Tiao stall - "you tiao" is more commonly known as "yau char kuai" in KL so again, the obvious Singaporean connection here. It's been a while since I had good "you tiao" cos its so difficult to find nowadays. Most of the time its too soggy or chewy - my last experience was from the Old Klang Road market. Horrendous. Anyway, back to this stall, I think their stuff is nice, they also have a butterfly "you tiao" which is savoury and has sesame seeds on it.. They also have set meals - I took the set with 1 "you tiao", a bowl of porridge and a cup of soya bean milk. Cost me abt RM6 so that's pretty decent for a lunch in the middle of the city.

2) The Vietnamese stall - I tried the "Pho Bo" (beef noodles) once. It costs RM11+ but they give you good pieces of beef. Taste-wise, it can almost compare to the Pho 2000 shop in Ho Chi Minh city where Bill Clinton himself once ate at. Not as good of course, but almost. For me, it's good enough to get my Pho Bo fix esp since the closure of Du Viet in Bangsar Village.

3) The Korean stall - I tried the bulgogi beef set for lunch today. Not bad, cost me RM15+ and reminds me of the Korean set lunches I used to have in London's Arirang or the restaurant near the corner of Tottenham Ct Rd and Oxford St (sorry I cant remember the name of that place). My colleague Ellie previously tried the dolsot bibimbab which looked alright too, albeit a little too dry for my liking. And I also prefer my beef in the bibimbab to be raw so that the hot stone bowl cooks the beef as you mix it all up.

4) The 'O' Chien stall - I dont think this is the correct name for this stall but I've never tried it so I cant remember. All I remember is my colleague Gerald saying how he likes their 'O' chien and that there is always a long queue. And I certainly remember the long queue in front of this stall so maybe it really is that good.

5) The Pan Mee stall - Today, Kingston ordered the pan mee while Geraldine got the assam laksa. Feedback was that the pan mee was so-so only and the assam laksa was not nice at all. Lest to say, I'm not trying this stall anytime soon.

6) The Taiwanese stall - I had the fried chicken with rice last week which was not too bad. Aunty Lena had the claypot lou hsu fun today which she said was good too..

7) The Juice stall - I like the papaya and milk drink.. had that today and also last week.. It's fresh juices so they cant really go wrong with that.. Just remember to tell them to put in less sugar!

8) The Indian stall - Sunaina had the masala tosai which she said was alright. We've had better obviously but then not many places serve tosai for lunch so I'm happy to go back.

Of course there are more stalls to choose from and I have yet to explore or get others to try and tell me about it. I guess I'll have another review for the other stalls soon...