Carl's Jr @ 1 Utama Shopping Centre (Old Wing), Petaling Jaya

Stop Press! Calling all burger lovers, there's a new joint in town! Carl's Jr, the franchise from the good old USA has just opened an outlet at 1 Utama Shopping Centre. Serving charbroiled burgers that promises "it's gonna get messy", this is definitely worth a visit especially if you love bovine delights. For those of you who have long memories, you'll remember Carl's Jr previously made it's debut on Malaysian shores under the MBf group of companies. Their most memorable outlet was in the KL Bird Park where you could get a burger together with free refills of soft drinks and a view of the hornbills feeding. Sadly that didn't do too well and they pulled out of the Malaysian scene. Now, Aspac which is part of the Hong Tat group in Singapore that does property development is the franchise holder for Singapore and Malaysia. There's plans to open at least 25 outlets within Singapore and Malaysia. So far, they have opened 4 outlets in Singapore.

Being new to the menu, I had some trouble understanding how things work here especially the signboard plus the combo meals. When you walk into the place, they give you two items - a cute burger cut out which gives you a RM2 discount from your combo meal and the menu without prices on a pamphlet which you can take home. There's 11 types of charbroiled burger - their famous Famous Star and Super Star. Then they have the Portobello Mushroom, Chili Burger, Guacamole Bacon, Western Bacon varieties. Some of the varieties also come with double patties that will definitely fill you up. There's also charbroiled chicken sandwiches, crispy chicken, fish sandwich and fish and chips if you don't take beef. For sides, there's salad, onion rings, fried zucchini and criss cross fries. There's even desserts - cheesecake and choc fudge cake.

I decided to go for their Portobello Mushroom Burger - the medium combo set that was priced at RM24. The burger is definitely bigger than the usual suspects from McDonalds and Burger King. Here instead of a thick meat patty, it's a larger patty but thinner. Topped with a generous amount of chopped portobello mushrooms, a lettuce leaf, tomato, onion, mayonnaise and cheese, it was not bad. I was slightly dissapointed though as I expected more like a fresher burger since they are said to prepare it when you order. This didn't feel like it was grilled when I ordered it since it arrived on my table quite fast so I suspect it could have been pre-cooked, kept warm and then assembled when I ordered.



Splashie Boy had the Western Bacon Cheeseburger - Medium Combo for RM19.50. This came with a piece of chicken bacon, onion rings, meat patty, melted cheese and lots of barbeque sauce for flavour. This was not bad and quite tasty with the sweetish and smoky barbeque sauce although there's not much taste to the chicken bacon. The fries which was served with the combo meal wasn't too fantastic though - we reckon they can't beat McDonalds super crispy french fries. Both the combo meals come with free refills for drinks. Just help yourself from the counter of ice tea, soft drinks and ice lemon tea. There's also hot tea and coffee from their own brand, Channel Islands Roasting Company. For those of you who are on a low or no carb diet - you can rejoice as they offer a low carb option for every burger or sandwich. It looks like this means they will serve you the burger minus the sesame crusted bun.

Tastewise, I was not blown away with the burgers though it offers more exciting options like guacamole and portobello mushrooms with my burger. I thought prices were way too steep though for a fast food joint even though it was bigger portions. Their basic burgers - Famous Star and Super Star were going for RM12 to RM15 for the combos while the burgers with the luxe toppings were around RM20 to RM25 for the combos. There's also no mention about how much the Double varieties cost on their signboard. See what I mean about lack of information? Anyway, do give them a try as tastes may differ. Since it's early days yet, the service and burger quality may change again so another revisit is definitely needed to try their basic specials like the Famous Star and Super Star.

Carl's Jr

Lot 210C, Ground Floor

1 Utama Shopping Centre (Old Wing)

Petaling Jaya

Tel No: 03 - 7729 0718

(Halal. The outlet is located between Chicken Rice Shop and the retail shop, Be Element and is further down from Burger King and TGIF.)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Tagged with: Fast Food + Carl's Jr + 1 Utama