Coffee Shop Wars Ara Damasara, PJ: New Beginnings

 

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?

 Tien Tien Lai, Ara Permata, 33, Jalan PJU 1a/42, Ara Damansara, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

  Cha Can Ting, Ara Permata, 1 & 3, Jalan PJU 1a/42, Ara Damansara, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Dudu Yummy, Ara Permata, 22A, Jalan PJU 1a/42, Ara Damansara, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor