Garlic Onion Prata (Top), Honey Prata (Bottom) And so, the adventure to give various mamak-style establishments a go continues — Master Prata is one of those establishments that had been through some form of re-branding in the past couple of years. Having started from a location within a coffeeshop in Bukit Purmei previously as MasterPrata.com (that location has since been permanently closed), they have since become Master Prata and are situated in two locations around the island. Their very first outlet that had come up after their re-branding is situated within Alexandra Central — the building that has replaced the former Bukit Merah SAFRA Clubhouse located right opposite Alexandra Village or diagonally across from Queensway Shopping Centre; they had then subsequently also expanded, with another outlet in Sembawang Shopping Centre just right beside the outlet of Jew Kit Hainanese Chicken Rice there. Amongst the many other mamak-style establishments out there, Master Prata can be said as one that is the most upscale; its outlets are now exclusively found in shopping malls, and are thus fully air-conditioned. The Sembawang Shopping Centre outlet would be the bigger location; the interior being rather modern as well featuring dining furniture with wooden accents for the most part — dine-in seats comprises of a mix of usual dining tables and stools, booth seating, cushioned seats and even a couch seat, which is rarely heard of in such establishments. Just as per what one would expect, the menu of Master Prata follows that of other mamak-style establishments closely — the menu is split into categories such as Prata, Thosai, Roti John & Special, Soup & Kuah, Chops & Steaks, Master Combo, Goreng Mama, Briyani & Briyani Set, Home Made Chapatti Set, Naan Set and Tom Yum Special. Of particular note, Master Prata does serve up Crispy Prata Sets as well — think a mix of Crispy Prata and Egg Prata that is served with Tandoori Chicken or Butter Chicken Masala for example. The list of beverages served here includes the usual Kopi and Teh options, as well as quite a wide variety of syrup-based drinks as well.
Unlike most other mamak-style establishments out there, Master Prata utilises a buzzer system to inform patrons to collect their orders at the counter when they are ready — this is as opposed to how most mamak-style establishments works, where orders are directly served to the table. In practice though, the Sembawang outlet of Master Prata isn’t consistent in its service; some patrons had their food served to the table, while some were paged to collect their order via the buzzer. Master Prata is probably most noted for their Crispy Prata – this somewhat puts them in the likes of Chindamani Indian Restaurant and Crispy Roti Prata at Blk 350 Ubi Avenue 1. While we did want to go for their plain-Jane Crispy Prata initially, we decided against it since the minimum quantity to order the Crispy Prata at Master Prata is set at two pieces — we went for the Garlic Onion Prata and the Honey Prata instead. The way in which they serve up the sweet and savoury Prata here is pretty thoughtful — the savoury Prata being the one served on the top, with the sweet one coming beneath it; they also provided two plates with our order as well. First digging into the Garlic Onion Prata, we found that their Prata was somewhat of a different sort of crispy as compared to what we have had at Chindamani Indian Restaurant, The Roti Prata House and even Springleaf Prata Place. Their Prata comes lightly crisp on the outside without feeling dense nor crunchy, but does come with a soft, fluffy interior that comes with the usual fragrance of Roti Prata dough. This made their Prata feel particularly close to a croissant in terms of texture; all that whilst encasing minced garlic and chopped onions within — the Garlic Onion Prata no short of being all garlicky with a crunch from the chopped onions that somewhat provided a zing. Our favourite was the Honey Prata though — that same base Prata coming with a deep earthiness from the reduction of the honey that is encased within the Prata; all that whilst not being overly sweet. Guess we found our favourite version of a sweet Prata here.
Master Prata had always been one of those mamak-style establishments that we had wanted to try — whilst most of such establishments do serve up Prata that is pretty run-of-the-mill, Master Prata does take it a notch higher here by serving up the crispy rendition of the Prata; not an entirely new concept, but still a style of Prata that is slightly different than in its usual form at most other establishments. The difference in their Crispy Prata shows as well; that beautifully blistered appearance being a tell-tale sign of a nicely done Crispy Prata — whether this rendition of the Crispy Prata that is being served at Master Prata would work with one’s taste buds would pretty much be on the preference of the individual, however. This is especially so considering how their Crispy Prata is slightly more complex rather than just being simply crispy — something which we enjoyed. The vibes at Master Prata’s outlet at Sembawang Shopping Centre is one that is more plush than that of other air-conditioned mamak-style establishments —there was some emphasis in its interior design than most other places considering how tasteful the interior is, though there are haphazardly-placed furniture such as the couch that blocks off access to the cabinets containing inventory behind it. Cleanliness of the space is largely decent, save for floors being a little greasy when we made our visit towards the end of the day. Tables do take some time to be cleared despite the number of staff they have behind the counter. The iced beverages also suffer from the same issues that most other mamak-style establishments would fall victim to; a half-warm, half-cold concoction, though it is pretty surprising how our Iced Mint Leaf Teh O Lemon comes with the tea unsweetened which is a rarity at such set-ups. With that being said, Master Prata’s Prata offerings don’t come particularly wallet-friendly; their Egg Prata is priced at $2.80, with most of its range of Prata featuring different elements priced between $2.80 to $4.80 per piece — the Iced Mint Leaf Teh O Lemon also comes at $4.90. We would reckon Master Prata is still worth a try for those keen to explore on Crispy Prata; an option that we would probably consider dining at again.
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