BP Street Café

BP Street Café                                                                                          UPDATED REVIEW

1845 East Broadway Road, Suite 127
Tempe, AZ 85282

Our party of 17 arrived for dinner promptly at 6:00. As I had called in advance, they had tables ready for us immediately. A few of our guests had some minor problems with their chairs in that they had points on the metal which snagged some of the ladies tops. A quick exchange of most of the chairs solved the problem.

There are apparently 2 sets of menu’s – the one which is on line and the one which was handed to us. The difference is that not all of the dishes are listed on the menu that is handed to you at the table. A number of us with smart phones went to their internet site and ordered from that.

Drinks were ordered around, and the consensus was that they were all very good. I had the Barley drink which is a bit unusual but with a wonderful flavor, and companion ordered the Thai Tea which was excellent.

Next were appetizers. The Roti Canai were flakey and tissue paper thin. They were served with a dipping sauce that had a piece of chicken and a potato in it. It was ever so lightly spicy, hitting the back of the palate a few minutes after eating it. We also ordered the BP Platter which consists of two of each of the appetizers with a chili dipping sauce. It consisted of chicken wraps (wrapped in aluminum foil with seasonings), spring rolls (delightfully crispy with good flavor), skewers of fish balls (unusually light), and two of the best chicken wings I personally have ever eaten. Had the wings been in buffalo sauce I would have thought them the best in the nation!

My first main course was the Sambal Fried Rice. It consisted of fairly ordinary fried rice with lots of egg in it and 4 small shrimp with the tail on. Flavor was a little smoky, but was definitely not on point. I also ordered the Mee Siam which is a chicken cutlet that is fried very crispy, and served with a small mountain of very thin rice noodles, several slices of cucumber, and a hard-boiled egg. This dish too was a big disappointment. The chicken was very overcooked, the noodles were so dry as to be inedible, and one would never get a hard-boiled egg in Malaysia, instead it would be a fried egg on top. No sauce was offered with the dish.

Companion ordered the BP Seafood over Rice. A large portion of white rice swimming in a sea of what looked like egg drop soup with 5 small shrimp in it and some artificial seafood. Companion complained that it was swimming in egg drop soup and it should have been thickened a whole lot. Companion also did not care for the dish itself, stating that the flavor was lacking.

Because of the experience of myself and companion, I polled the others at the table to get an idea of what they thought of the food.

Comments were: Chicken Curry and Rice – would have been good if the tofu had been left out

Seafood Noodle Soup – very good

Chicken Chop Noodle Soup – good

Combo Fried Rice – fair – needed more flavor

Hainan Chicken Rice – very good

BP Ginger Chicken Rice – good

Pork Chop Rice – great (Note: In Malaysia you would never get a pork chop as it is a Muslim country and pork is forbidden)

Nasi Lemak – missing flavor and heat (this dish was evaluated by our person who has lived in Malaysia)

Sweet and Sour Chicken – very dry and over cooked

Summation: There is no décor to speak of, though the place appears clean and well taken care of. One expects a bit of confusion with a party of this size, but this went far beyond what would or could be expected.

While some enjoyed their meal, the consensus was that the food was lacking in traditional Malaysian flavors and heat. I will go back again, to order a pile of the Roti and some more of the Barley drink.

I cannot in my conscience give the kinds of stars that others seem to be giving. Perhaps in the future, but not at this juncture. 3 stars for effort, cleanliness, and good portion size.

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This is a communication I received from the owner and in fairness to the review I felt it needed to be included.-------------------------


Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country; the main three ethnic groups are Malays (Muslim), Chinese (Buddhism/Christian) and Indians (Hinduism). We are serving Malaysian foods from these three ethnic groups. Therefore pork chop is on our menu since Malays is the only group do not eat pork but the other two do.