In the
Beginning….
In the beginning, before there was Covid19 and the Lockdown, there was Tien Tien Lai, a coffeeshop stalwart of the breezy, Ara Damansara neighbourhood. Tien Tien Lai was a no-frills corner coffee shop in a block of light industry and motor workshops.
Abandoned cars and desultory debris littered the parking areas, shoplots were shuttered and sometimes vandalized; an air of abandonment hung over the place, yet in the middle of this was this coffee shop with outstanding food. There was ample parking, and a tree lined street – a bright spot in an otherwise blighted neighbourhood.
One of my favourites there was the Penang Assam Laksa/Koay Teow Theng stall, an unusual
combination to be sure, but both the assam laksa and koay teow theng, which
could be ordered with coagulated pig’s blood, were outstanding.
The chicken
rice/charsiew stall was also a crowd puller: people would wait in line for the
roast pork, crackling hot, around 11am in the morning. The charsiew, sweet,
sticky and meltingly smooth, and the chicken were notches above your usual
coffee shop charsiew-chicken rice.
Customers came from far and wide.
Besides
these, the other stalls were standouts in their own right - the curry laksa,
with its thick, rich curry and cascade of ingredients - chicken, roast pork,
cockles, charsiew. The wantan mee stall
was pretty decent too, and the charkoay teow stall had its own fan club.
A stall
sold yam rice, while in the next stall, the uncle single-handedly took orders,
served and painstaking made yong tau foo on the spot as you ordered it, cutting
the vegetables, stuffing them with meat and frying them, so yes, it took more
than a while to be served, but the yong tau foo was so fresh, the uncle so
often bewildered looking, that you took it in your stride.
That was
Tien Tien Lai in the old days, your regular hangout joint, easy parking,
breezy, good for a languorous breakfast or lunch with plenty of food options.
Then
something changed, as the Great Lockdown of Covid19 came to an end: a new kid
arrived on the block and set up shop across from the parking lot. It took over a corner lot that had been a car
workshop, spruced up the lot and announced itself with a turquoise sign: Cha
Can Ting.
New Kid
on the Block
Cha Can
Ting was a traditional Malaysian kopitam 2.0, introducing radical new changes:
it was (gasp) pet-friendly, encouraging customers to bring their fur kids, and
even selling specialty doggy treats and ices while mommy and daddy tucked into
their favourite stall food.
The coffee
shop was tiled and stylish: modern, bright, clean toilets with fancy taps, and
a centralized kitchen so that stall owners no longer had to wipe down tables
and keep their own bowls and plates, thanks to an efficient kitchen staff.
Ordering
drinks was a matter of scanning the table QR code. Drinks and coffee shop
offerings were constantly refreshed and updated with new and interesting
options from the wide selection available.
Then there
were the individual stalls, selling a good assortment, from Ipoh koay teow, pan
mee, charsiew fan, dai chou, nasi lemak, etc… in the beginning, to be honest,
stall food at Tien Tien Lai won, hands down. It wasn’t even a close fight.
But the
combination of choice, being able to bring one’s fur babies along, the shady,
tree-lined open dining area, the constant tweaks and improvements, began to
chip away, bit by bit, at Tien Tien Lai’s food superiority. Atmosphere wise,
Cha Can Ting, was bright, breezy, modern, making Tien Tien Lai look downright
dowdy by comparison.
Cha Can
Ting surged forward, attracting more and more customers. Abandoned cars that
had lain in the common parking lot since the beginning of time were hauled
away; the area was spruced up and no longer resembled a nuclear wasteland of
failed workshops.
Cha Can
Ting introduced piped music, Nyonya kueh and other specialty treats, expanded
the number of stalls and opened pet-free Zone B next door, raising the ante
further, because Zone B was air-conditioned. Coffee shop food at coffee shop
prices, now in a tiled, airconditioned setting.
The man
behind Cha Can Ting, Joshi Josh, who ran a catering business nearby, was a
foodie who understood modern marketing and what the crowd wanted.
Roti canai
and Bak kut teh added to the number of options, over a dozen different stalls
at Cha Can Ting. The tide had turned – traditional, once-beloved Tien Tien Lai
was no longer the crowd darling. The writing was on the wall.
The Beginning
of the End
In early 2023,
the Assam laksa/koay teow theng stall at Tien Tien Lai ceased operations, the
stallholder pleading poor health. He was the first to go, but not the last, for
in the following months, the curry laksa also left (eventually to open a
dedicated shop in SS2, “Ini Kari La”), and the char siew/chicken rice stall,
long a stalwart of Tien Tien Lai, also packed up and left, basically
eviscerating the core offerings of Tien Tien Lai which had made it a
neighbourhood favourite.
Newer
Kid on the Block
In August 2023, Dudu Yummy opened up just down the same road as Tien Tien Lai. It occupied a corner lot with some trees outside. Like Cha Can Ting, it had an air-conditioned seating section. Stalls occupied the shop interior while seating, other than the airconditioned area, was outdoors in the open area – just like Cha Can Ting, minus the overhead canopy (said to be coming soon).
While it
was new, Dudu Yummy wasn’t so new, for the headline attraction was the charsiew
fan/chicken rice stall from Tien Tien Lai, rather cheekily called “Tian Tian
Roasted Chicken Rice”. Another headline
stall was the Assam laksa/koay teow Theng from Tien Tien Lai, returned after a
brief hiatus to the apparent recuperation of the stallholder’s health.
The Yong
Tau foo with the befuddled uncle from Tien Tien Lai had also moved it, as well
as new stalls for wantan mee (only average), ipoh hor fun (very good), charkoay
teow, bittergourd noodles, cakoi, and a few others.
Dudu Yummy
combined features of Cha Can Ting – its format, ordering service, seating
arrangements, with the best of Tien Tien Lai – its signature
crowd-pullers. It was like Tien Tien
Lai, remade with modern touches from Cha Can Ting and started to draw the crowds
in as customers gravitated to their favourite stalls.
As at
September, 2023, the situation is thus:
Dudu Yummy has the best stall food and a convenient, pleasant setting. Cha
Can Ting still sets the standard in innovation, with music, an outdoor weekend
bazaar and new stalls, but its food overall comes in behind Dudu Yummy.
That leaves
the original Tien Tien Lai, an almost empty shell, outdated and outgunned,
looking very much out of date. It still
has its excellent char koay teow, Koay teow theng (which opened up in 2023
after the original Assam Laksa/Koay Teow Theng stall closed and later decamped
to Dudu Yummy), a dai chou and a stall selling pork noodles. Cow Brothers
opened briefly there but closed soon afterwards.
But I also
noticed a small sign in Tien Tien Lai, defiantly proclaiming “NEW Tien Tien Lai”…..signs
of things to come?
Dudu Yummy, Ara Permata, 22A, Jalan PJU 1a/42, Ara Damansara, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
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