THE BIG MOUTH 24-1,
19 Jalan USJ 9/5N,
Subang Jaya, 47620 Selangor.
Business hours: (Mon-Sat): 11.00am to 11.00pm
(Sunday) 3.00pm to 11.00pm
Tel: 03-8024 9095
www.thebigmouth.com.my
HAVING a big mouth either means you are a person who likes to tell tales or is a big eater, but to Andy Low, the two words best describe his restaurant as a whole.
“We did not want a name that is too generic, we wanted something related to food.
“To us, big mouth is someone who likes to eat all kinds of food whether it is Asian or Western because that is what we serve, a menu that is always evolving every three months,” said the former lecturer who came into the food industry by chance.
The 37-year-old said he had no prior expertise in the business until a friend decided to pass him kitchen appliances including tables and chairs from their food business which was not doing too well.
“At that time I did not know what to do with it, however I was brave enough to come up with the idea of starting a food outlet myself,” said Low.
“The first outlet in Malacca which is also his hometown, carries a kopitiam-style ambience serving simple food with coffee and tea as I had no idea what to do in the beginning. So, kopitiam was the safest choice,” added Low.
He then roped in his childhood friend John Teh who has some 17 years experience in the hotel industry to give the restaurant a facelift.
Unique dish:Buttered rice paired with tandoori chicken is what the outlet refers to as the tandoor.Teh who masters in both the Western cuisine line and pastries, brought a new list of dishes to the restaurant from pastas, steaks, sandwiches to Asian favourites like nasi lemak, Singapore mee hoon, hokkien mee and fried rice.
“The concept here at the Subang outlet is casual. However, we also offer space for fine dining quality food at a reasonable price,” said Teh who heads the kitchen. He also observed that patrons preferred Western food for dinner and Asian food for lunch.
With that in mind, the duo gradually introduced more Asian dishes to cater to the daily lunch crowd who are mostly working around the USJ 9 and Taipan area.
However, there were other obstacles that they had to go through before the restaurant finally picked up its business this year.
Tasty treat:Pasta lovers cantry the outlet’s seafood spaghetti aglio olio which has mussels, squid and prawns in it.“Initially patrons thought we sold light bulbs,” said Low, pointing at the many light bulbs hung from the ceiling of the outlet.
He said others were hesitant to step foot into the outlet thinking it might be expensive given the ambience of the shop.
During the review, we tried Teh’s signature dish of black cod ratatouille, a dish inspired by Disney’s movie, Ratatouille itself.
Besides using minimal vegetables where only zucchini, capsicum and tomatoes were used as a layer filling the fish, the dish was also topped with cheese and has a small serving of pasta too.
Another favourite of the outlet is the lamb shank. Teh made his own tikka masala sauce consisting of leek, carrot, onion and tomato puree before leaving the lamb to be stewed in it.
For those opting for a healthy meal, one can try their array of sandwiches as well as fruit juices such as “cholesterol-buster” which is made of apple, cucumber, celery and lemon or the antioxidant drink made from mango, pear, carrot and apple.
The restaurant has lunch sets for both Western and Asian dishes with prices starting from RM5.90 to RM18.90. Each set is accompanied with either tea or coffee.
This is the writer’s personal observation and not an endorsement by StarMetro.
