After my cousin Kevin told me that someone was selling PORK burgers in Tropicana City, I knew I just HAD to go and try them out myself. So I went to Tropicana City, then I found the shop Ninja Joe in a corner at the basement level. Shop looked nice with it's bright red deco and stuff, saw a giant Gundam sticker plastered over the wall and silently wondered to myself if they got the rights to do so. All in all, shop looks like your typical home made startup.
So I walk up to the counter and the cashier greets me and asked me what I'd like to order, I look at the menu and noticed that there was only one main item on offer. A pork burger, but it comes in various flavours. They were also small in size, so I'd need to get more than one. And that's when the first shock hits me, it costs RM5.95 for ONE burger, with the price dropping when you buy more. I looked at the picture and picked off the ingredients... bun.. lettuce.. tomato.. patty.. rent. It's ok, I guess I'll just give it a try and ordered 2, an original and a teriyaki one.
I also decided to try their Shurikens, which were described as mash potatoes with meat. The cashier than asked if I'd like to have add on a drink + fries to my order, sure I guess since fried food + burger = thirst inducing. So I asked her what do they have, she glanced to the side and mention 2 drinks which I can't remember right now. I turn to look at what she looked at and got the 2nd shock. The drink dispenser where my drink would have come from was about 1/4 full, was switched off, and basically the contents didn't give me a very high drink me sense.
For the first time in my life I ordered food without any sort of fluids to go with it.
As I was paying the cashier I got yet another shock cause as I was PAYING the cashier, they've already fully completed my order, 2 burgers, and a box of Shurikens. This was a shock because it means the food were already ready in some form and then packaged. So it wasn't really freshly made like most other local food startups.
I sat down and unwrapped the original and dug in... not too bad, it is PORK anyway. Not really thrilled that the burger was just slightly toasty but at least it wasn't cold. I don't think it's worth the price I paid. But, it's a shop inside a shopping mall so I'll give them that. After a few bits I bit into a shuriken.
The taste of COLD FRIED BATTER assaulted my toungue. Followed by cold, tasteless mash potatoes. I stuffed the remainder into my mouth and as I forced myself to eat it I tried looking for the pork that was supposed to be in it. Eventually I found it... it's either they mixed minced meat with the mash potatoes before stuffing it into a pocket for frying, or they fill the pocket with mash potatoes then stuff a dollop of minced meat into it. In any case while this could have tasted great hot, this was COLD!!! Have you eaten fries that have been left out in the air cond for too long? That cold tasteless feeling? That was what I ate.. and it was HORRIBLE!
After I finished my original burger, and nearly throwing up on the shurikens (I couldn't finish them) I unwrapped my teriyaki burger and dug in.... hmmm... tastes just like the original... but I smell the teriyaki sauce few more bites later I was about to cry foul when I tasted some sauce in my mouth. Then I knew what was going on. The different flavours are prepared by using different kind of sauces on the patty, but since they didn't apply it even enough or even cook it with the sauce, the overall application of the additional flavouring feels worse than eating a flavoured Taiwanese Sausage.
As I finished up my meal, I asked myself the question of will I come back here to eat again? YES, BUT... I'll never ever go out of my way to eat here. Because once the novelty of a pork burger wore off, Ninja Joes is just serving... a canteen prepared burger.
My wife who couldn't care less about what meat was on the burger gave the most appropriate comment after I bought her some take away another day. A Ramly burger is much better and cost effective than this.