What's the fuss about RotiBoy

[Surfcrest]

If you've walked down Silom, you'll notice the constant long line ups to a place called RotiBoy.

Roti or Roti Canai is a well known bread that is commonly enjoyed in Malaysia and Malaysian restaurants. The small bites of bread are dipped in a curry sauce as a side dish for meals.

I have joined the line up a few times to see what the fuss is all about, but have had to exit due to the heat and excess melting (me). I see people going in and taking away bags of bags of the stuff. The line ups range from a dozen or so customers soon after they open and shortly before they close and upwards to fifty or more during the day with line ups that never seem to move very fast.

If you know what the fuss is about and have sampled the stuff here or know how the Thais eat it, compared to the Malaysians I'd be interested to know.

Thanks,

Surfcrest

http://upload3.postimage.org/215071/RotiBoy.jpg (http://upload3.postimage.org/215071/photo_hosting.html)

It's not that kind of roti.

It's a sweet, bread-like bun with a slight coffee flavor.

Nothing special; it's just a fad. I'm convinced the shop owner pays people to stay in line and make a fuss.

[Surfcrest]

It's like there is rarely even a breeze down Silom.

Thanks for saving me any additional suffering or the risk of passing out right there on the sidewalk. The music (noise) from in front of Central Plaza wouldn't keep me down long though, that racket scares the rats away.

Surfcrest

I also wondered why there were always queues at the shop and now am glad I never joined one. I think there are probably a lot of people who did and turned out sadly dissapointed by the experience.

I wouldn't queue for any kind of sweet or other pastry in Thailand, even savoury pastries taste too sweet for me. However, if it was the roti bread and gorgeous vegetable cury sauce I tasted in Malaysia (from Indian descent I believe) I would definitely queue up like some kind of possessed Homer Simpson, it was delicious for brekkie and any time of day mmmmm Malaysian veg curry sauce & Roti ... drooool!

Nothing special; it's just a fad. I'm convinced the shop owner pays people to stay in line and make a fuss.

Like the story...Urban Legend?...that J&B Scotch was 'dying on the vine' until a salesman paid New York B-girls to order the blessed stuff and created a (fad) market.

[CHAOTOU]

Rotiboy is very popular for sure. They had a hugh article in the Bangkok Post on them a few weeks ago. Rotiboy is opening stores in Bangkok as fast as they can. I think they are up to six now. Check out www.rotiboy.com (http://www.rotiboy.com) if insterested. There tend to be long lines. Also, people have been buying them and selling them to potential customers so they don't have to stand in line.

I was curious from all the talk. So, I headed out to the Siam Square location to check it out. As I got close to the shop, I started seeing people trying to tell the buns to people headed to Rotiboy. This is how I knew I was getting close. When I got there, the line was maybe four people. So, rather than buy from the resellers, I stood in line. The wait was maybe one minute. If the lines are diminishing I am sure the resellers will be out of business soon. Maybe it was just a slow time, I don't know.

I am not sure how to describe the bun now that I have tasted it. It's just a roundish bun. They put what appears to be some kind of maple icing on top before they bake it. So, it forms a crust when it comes from the oven. It's kind of airy, but like I said very greasy. I was unimpressed and would never buy another one.

I showed up at my hotel with two bags full. I saved one for me to try and passed out the rest to the hotel staff. It was my last day there and I wanted to give them a thank you. They were all very excited to get the Rotiboys. I am not sure if they were excited because they had never tried them, but had heard the hype and wanted to try, or because they had tried them and liked them.

Could it be they just happened on a name that has magical powers over the public?
It seems nearly everyone wants to stand on line to eat a big greasy boy named after an Indian flatbread full of hot cream, and with a coffee chaser. ROTIBOY!
Before you poo poo my theory, imagine if this over hyped pastry was called something different, like
FISHANDCHIPSGIRL, etc.

...imagine if this over hyped pastry was called something different, like
FISHANDCHIPSGIRL, etc.

Imagine if they called them BoysBuns.

Actually, they sound like a thing we can buy at any Chinese Bakery (In Chinatown).
They also have buns topped with custard...BoysHotBuns?