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Food
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Ambience
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Service
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Value
Summary
Mr Prata on Evans Road is quite an establishment after being in business for so many years. I wonder how many pratas (Indian pancake) they have churned out since opening their doors for business! The place is a basic….. no-nonsense kinda place. Functional tables matched perfectly with…. functional chairs! But it does have a large air-conditioned area which sits at least 50 pax.
No one comes to Mr Prata for the decor or for the refined service, but hoards and hoards do descend in the wee hours for the late night supper of prata, murtaba and mee goreng (fried noodles) washed down with teh halia or milo dinosaur!
The food menu is like a compilation of all the food you can ever think of. For supper or breakfast, they have 40 varieties of prata, 9 varieties of murtaba, 7 varieties of roti john and 19 varieties of thosai (South Indian pancake). If you are here for lunch or dinner, there are endless selection of curries (butter chicken, rogan ghosh, chicken tikka, etc), naan breads and noodles. Last but not least there is also a large selection of Western food like Cajun Spicy Grill Chicken Salad, Chicken Cordon Bleu…..the list goes on and on.
Let’s talk more about some of the food….Chicken Cheese Roti John (S$4.50). The bread was lightly toasted giving it a very nice crisp. The chicken was a little too dry for my liking, but it does come with ample amount of chilli sauce and mayo to juice it up. But the killer was the sheer amount of bread compared to the filling. I wasn’t a happy camper after this one.
Next up is the Egg Masala Thosai (S$3.50). I have recently grown very fond of Thosai. I find that it offers me more crispiness on the edges, more doughiness in the middle..compared to your average prata. Mr Prata makes a wicked Thosai. It came with 3 type of sauces/dips or chutney as it is called in India. The fillings or masala has perfectly boiled potato, dhaal and some green vegetables with cumin seeds peppered all over it. Top notch!
I also had the Mutton Murtaba (S$6.00). Doughy and chewy. Good portion size but the onion was too raw for my liking. They make a very respectable Teh Halia (S$1.40). There is a good dose of ginger giving it the kick after the sweetness and fragrances of the tea.
Sadly, I can’t help feeling that Mr Prata has lost its mojo. There isn’t a single friendly waiter around. Nope…nada! It should be a neighbourhood joint frequented by locals. You should be warmly greeted on arrival. There should be regular friendly banters with waiters, laughter should be a constant in the background. It should be the “Cheers” in Bukit Timah (noted that those under the age of 30 probably won’t know what I am referring to), a place where everybody knows your name. Unfortunately, it is a far far cry from it.
Having said that, you should check this place out if you haven’t been before as the food is decent. As for me, I would only go back if I am in the vicinity and need a quick fix after a long night with the beer towers!
This place is children & kids friendly.