Gepuklah. Worth the Queue?

Last Saturday I had to work. Then I had an idea.

Why not I go to Gepuklah early (just before 10:00am) and get in the queue. There might be, what, maybe 20 people ahead of me?

Or I could show up 9:00am (bonkers) and be first in line but that would be incredibly ridiculous.

Well, this was the queue when I got there. It might look benign in the photo but there were more than 20 people ahead of me.

Ten minutes to ten. The restaurant opens 11:00am. 

I was standing right outside Jujube Vegetarian Restaurant.

Then I saw a group of scouts. When I was in school, I hated extracurricular activities. So I never joined any.

At 10:15 am the roller shutter opened and at 10:30am a young man with a hand held device came to the queue to take orders. 

When it came to my turn, he asked for my name and how many in my party. Then he printed a chit with my name and queue number with a QR code to place my order.

Once you have secured a number, you can leave the queue but do stick around to ensure that you don't miss your turn when you are called.

Hmm...not bad I thought. At 11:00am the doors opened and the young man called out names and customers were led inside to their tables. The first batch of people got in and they were served promptly (thanks to the pre-orders while queueing).

I waited and waited while the queue kept growing longer and longer. Since I had nothing to do, I observed the diners.

In such a situation where there is a long wait, I would appreciate if diners could eat at a comfortable pace and yet be aware that there are others waiting, and it would be a considerate thing to vacate your table as soon as you are done. This is not the time to linger.

There was a lone diner who was taking his own sweet time, chatting on the phone the whole time and not focused on his food. In fact he was still there when I left.

How fast you get in depends on the availability of tables appropriate for the number of people in your party.

Finally at 12:00 pm my name was called.

I was placed at a two seater facing the glass window (right across from the guy who was taking his own sweet time).

It is quite unnerving being seated facing a horde of hungry crowd outside LOL!

On the table was a bottle of sweet soy sauce (kicap manis).

And two paddles, one f0r requesting for extra sambal gajus (cashew nut and chili paste).

And another for extra rice.

There is also a card with instructions on how to eat Gepuk.

My order.

Look. This was what I queued up for (2 hours - one hour before the restaurant opened and another hour to be seated).

So ordinary and plain looking.

Anti-climax a little bit.

Deep fried chicken, sunny side up egg, nasi lemak, a piece of tofu, chili & cashew nut sambal, deep fried bayam (spinach) and a few slices of cucumbers.

It does not look as sexy as the one on Instagram hah...hah...

I love kicap manis, so I squeezed some on my food.

I was in a way eating under duress.

With people outside it was very distracting. 

I requested for extra sambal. The portion was generous. It was spicy and creamy. If I did not know that the sambal was made with cashew nuts, I would not be able to tell.

The rice was good (portion is small and you can ask for more), although it was nasi lemak, it wasn't too lemak, it was more like plain rice, each grain easily separated. I like it.

The chicken was also commendable, crispy on the outside and juicy inside though I was not able to appreciate the seasoning.

As for the crispy bayam it was nice but there was just too little of it.

The deep fried oyster mushrooms were very crispy. Very nice as a snack.

The star of the show for me was the Ham Leng Chat. It was very refreshing, a good balance of sweet, sour and slightly salty. I love this drink!

So what is my conclusion? Well, if you die die must try Gepuklah, then by all means, join the queue if you have the time and inclination.

Otherwise, just wait for the hype to die down or at least for the line to get shorter. It may take a while but this shop is not going anywhere anytime soon.

You (and me) would enjoy the ayam gepuk a lot more without the crowd (and the long wait).

This was when I left, the line snaked far back until almost to the end of the shop lot.

From my experience, yes, I would say that the ayam gepuk was good, I was not disappointed. The queue was well managed as it was smooth and not chaotic as one might expect.

Lets see how long this hype will last and when it does, I will come back for another round of ayam gepuk and ham leng chat!

Side story :

This photo was taken yesterday morning (Monday, their day off) and I saw contractors doing some remedial works. Maybe Gepuklah is preparing for the whole of Selangor to show up today (public holiday) hah..hah..hah...

Last Saturday evening my partner and I passed by (he wanted to pick up something from Kian Huat, the shop next to Gepuklah) around 6:30pm. There was a long queue which blocked Kian Huat's shopfront.

Guess what? Gepuklah's boss was at Kian Huat chatting with the shopkeeper and my partner joined in the short conversation.

"You should have come up to the shop with me!" my partner remarked as soon as he came back to the car. He told me that the young boss shared that Gepuklah was 2 years in the making. 

Well, who knows if they can sustain their popularity, there might be more Gepuklah outlets just like Nasi Lemak Shop.

Watch : Here