Ipoh – the made up town
This conversation started quite some years ago.
My group of makan kaki friends wanted to plan a makan trip (“Eating ” trip) to Ipoh. One of them is Yu Li, a nice wholesome Ipoh Girl, born and bred there and her family still stays there.
So she would know every nook and crevice and every to die for restaurant and small forgotten hole in the wall.
Most of the makan group said yes let’s go. I didn’t want to travel that period and decided to be flippant.
Makan Kakis: So are you on for Ipoh ?
Me : Don’t be silly there’s no such place. Ipoh – ha . All of you just made that up.
They went.
Fast forward a few years later. Another Ipoh trip was planned.
Yu Li : Come with us to Ipoh !
Me : Would love to but I can’t. Heard Ipoh has no running water and you have to dig your own latrines. I’m a creature of comfort I can’t survive.
Yu Li : (Spluttering with indignation)
What ??!! Who told you that ??!!! We have running water ! And modern latrines!!
Me: I don’t believe you. Send pictures.
Yu Li: We have shopping !! And modern hotels !
Me: With Dvd Player ?
Yu Li : What ?? Dvd player ? Maybe not in the hotel.
Me: See I told you I won’t survive.
So this went on. Year after year.
This year I capitulated.
Yu Li promised me the most incredible food.
And she said she might even introduce me to the village virgin.
I might fall in love and not come back.
Lead the simple life with VV (Village Virgin) and dig latrines.
The Hotel Booking
So off we went to this fictitious place called Ipoh.
We arrived at Ipoh after a 7.5 hour jam infested ride from KL.
I was dozing off occasionally during the ride. I suspect we were just going around in circles and we were still in Kuala Lumpur (probably just one lane behind Jalan Imbi).
There is no such place called Ipoh.
We were staying at this nice looking boutique hotel called MU.
Other than being very centrally located and modern, MU boasts a beautiful rooftop bar with nice views.
Reservations comes with free breakfast (try especially the nasi lemak and yellow nasi kunyit). Free airport transfer and free shuttle service is provided by the hotel to specific locations and places of interest.
Amazingly good value.
There was a bit of a hiccup during check in.
The receptionist kept saying she couldn’t find my booking until she tentatively asked ” are you Andrew Virgin?”
Yes I was officially registered as Andrew Virgin in my hotel booking.
Yu Li did the hotel booking.
Haha very funny.
Virgins virgins everywhere
Oh my god it was all worth it!! There are virgins like me spilling out everywhere!!
How do I know they were virgins ? They smiled shyly and had a certain glow.
Just kidding – I think there are more catfish and mantis prawns than virgins here.
Actually I don’t really know.
I thought about putting on my most debonair hunky countenance, leaning over seductively to a nice Ipoh girl and whisper
“Excuse me are you a virgin ? Me too. Should we remove 2 virgins from this world ?”
Then I woke up. Still a virgin.
So you’re expecting now a deep and meaningful expose on the beauty of Ipoh.
I had every good intentions to do so but I’ve put on 17 kg in the last few days just eating and eating and my fingers are too swollen to type.
The List
Yu Li has outdone herself. This is what she had planned for us :
10th August 2019 – Saturday
Drive up from KL after breakfast
Check in to Mu hotel.
Lunch @ Museum Restaurant
Char Siew,Cockles, Patin, Soup, LaLa
Tea time
IPOH KUAY TEOW BEAN SPROUTS CHICKEN
http://www.j2kfm.com/lou-wong-ipoh-tauge-ayam-bean-sprouts-chicken/ opens till late
http://www.j2kfm.com/onn-kee-tauge-ayam-ipoh-famous-bean-sprouts-chicken/ opens till late
ONN Kee – Lou-Wong’s competitor, just situated next to Lou Wong, part of the restaurant is air-conditioned.
Try both if you have time, they are opened till late.
Order a bowl of Kuay teow each, a plate of chicken to share, a plate of beans sprouts and a bowl of pork balls to share.
Next to these two eateries is Ipoh’s famous
Tau-Fu-Fah and soya bean drink – FUNNY MOUNTAIN
https://foodietopography.net/ipoh-funny-mountain-soy-bean/ (normally by 2-3pm they are sold out)
Explore Ipoh New Town – Buy/ order biscuits ( Heong Peng) Ipoh delicacies
Salt Bake Chicken Aun Kheng Lim
http://www.j2kfm.com/aun-kheng-lim-salted-chicken/
Kaya puffs from Sin Eng Heong and traditional Meat floss biscuits from Ching Han Guan.
http://www.j2kfm.com/tag/sin-eng-heong/
http://www.j2kfm.com/ching-han-guan-biscuit-ipoh/
Dinner at Pusing Public Restaurant (830pm)
Pusing Public Restaurant
Recommendation :
• Big Head Prawns – Fried( Kon Cheen –cantonese word) or Steam, need to preorder the bigger prawns, let me know in advance if you need help reserving them
• Soon Hock ( Marble Goby ) – steam
• Pomfret – One side steamed, one side deep fried
• Braised Beef Brisket
• Deep fried Chicken stuffed with Glutinous Rice
Andrew to take Shower
Andrew to take shower.
Scrub behind your ears and don’t touch yourself.
11th August 2019 – Sunday
Breakfast/ Lunch
1. Koh Loh Tall Man ( Hakka Mee)
Retaurant Beauty Batu
Address : 97&101 Jalan Yang Kalsom
Taman Jubilee, 30250 Ipoh
Have this for breakfast, order a noodle each (they are tiny, can also request for half noodles), a bowl of beef soup each, and a bowl of ‘liao’ to share. He makes the liao on his own. Must try the chili sauce and add mince garlic.
2. Pork noodles- CY noodles
26-9, Jalan Theatre, Taman Jubilee, 30300 Ipoh, Negeri Perak, Malaysia
3.Curry Noodles- Next to Main Convent Central Point Foodcourt (Big fan)
4.Kong Heng and Thean Chun
http://www.j2kfm.com/ipoh-kong-heng-restaurant-old-town-hawker-food/
http://eatlah.blogspot.sg/2010/09/kedai-kopi-kong-heng-jalan-bandar-timah.html
Kong Heng is a timeless classic
Food worthy to try
Satay, Chee Cheong Fun,Popiah, Kai Si Hor Fun
Thean Chun (situated beside Kong Heng)
http://www.j2kfm.com/thean-chun-sekeping-kong-heng-ipoh-old-town/
Try the caramel egg custard and the Ipoh Kuay teow ( Kai si hor fun )
Ipoh Old Town.
In between eating from one coffee shop to another, we can explore
1. Plan B and its surrounding areas
http://www.j2kfm.com/plan-b-ipoh-old-town/
Plan B is a restaurant but its surroundings is quite interesting – Eclectic little shops, old barber shop. Various interesting cafes – Buku Tiga Lima, Burps and Giggles etc
2. Concubine Lane – across from Kong Heng
http://alwaystravelicious.com/2016/08/09/concubine-lane-ipoh/
3. Murals by Ernest Zachaveric
4. Visit the Hakka museum –reservation online needed
5. Murals by Eric Lai
http://alwaystravelicious.com/2013/09/20/ipoh-murals/
http://www.ipoh-city.com/attraction/Ipoh_Wall_Art_Mural/
Ice cold beer at Old Tow
Snow Beer at Café Sun Yoon Wah
Opens from 5pm
‘Snowflake Beer” from this little coffee shop is the most refreshing. Order ‘harmai sarng cheong’
http://www.choiyen.com/snow-beer-kafe-sun-yoon-wah-ipoh/
Dinner at Tuck Kee Restaurant, Pasir Pinji 830pm
Tuck Kee
Old school, traditional food
http://www.j2kfm.com/tuck-kee-chinese-restaurant-ipoh-pasir-pinji/
• Suckling pig
• Coconut dessert
• Steam River fish/ Catch of the day
• Traditional Cantonese dishes
12th August- Monday
Breakfast
Sun Seng Fatt
18, Hala Datuk 5, 30000 Ipoh, Negeri Perak, Malaysia
https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/currying-favour
Lam Meen
Dry Curry noodles
Poached chicken, Corn juice
Yee Fatt Curry Noodles
https://sakthi-life.blogspot.com/2017/01/yee-fatt-curry-mee-jalan-kampar-ipoh.html
The Pictures
If you copied the perfect list above prepared by Yu Li, I want royalties.
VV and I are having Ipoh twins and the money will go to their college fund. Batu Pahat University. Then LLM in Oxford.
So these are pictures of what we ate:
Lunch at The Museum Restaurant
This is what I will remember of this trip. Incredible wild Patin Belly.
The taste of this Patin was aromatic and delicious.
This is river wild Patin. In particular, the one we had was a rare kind of sharp nosed Patin hunted by the indigenous people. Special arrangements were made with the restaurant to bring it in.
One of my fave dishes of the day. Crispy mini prawns fritters. It was so good we ordered seconds.
Sticky char siew and amazing shattering siew yoke.
Curried cockles with noodles
Giant blanched cockles
Paku Pakis – wild fiddlehead fern
Assorted pork parts soup
Dinner at Restaurant Tuck Kee
This place was packed to the gills.
Double boiled chicken ginseng soup
Pig stomach with seafood delights
Mantis prawns steamed with egg white, ginger slivers and Chinese cooking wines. The taste was dope.
Steamed catfish in quality soy sauce
Drunken chicken
Egg white steamed in young coconut
Breakfast at Koh Loh Tall Man at Beauty Baru Coffeeshop ( Hakka Mee)
Second breakfast at Central Point Food Court (Next to Main Convent Central Point Foodcourt – Hainan Curry Noodles
These guys are the Daughter and. Son in law of the original Xin Quan Fang (Ma Ta Liu curry mee). They serve more or less the same food as the father’s stall which has horrendous queues involving waiting time of an hour. we waited about 15 mins here.
Third breakfast at Yat Yat Seng Coffee shop (shredded chicken hor fun soup)
Poached chicken
Ipoh beansprouts are plump and crunchy and does not have a raw smell.
Roast pork was soft in the middle yet crunchy skin.
One of the best Kai Xi Hor Fun (shredded chicken kway teow soup) I’ve ever tried. Soup was very tasty and yet light and not cloying. Kway Teow was smooth as silk.
We couldn’t resist ordering this. Nothing special though – just wobbly egg on butter toast.
The cucumber and lemon drinks were thick and delicious. So was the iced coffee.
Pig stomach stuffed with a whole chicken. This was amazing.
Steamed sultan fish. It was once only served to the Sultans and Royals, hence its name.
Wild Sultan fish feed on fruit figs or buah ara in Malay, that drop into the river from nearby trees. It is this process which enhances the fish’s unique sweetness and umami taste.
Four angle bean with squid and Thai chilli and fish sauce
Deep fried crispy fish scales with chilli padi and salt
Pig tendon, sea cucumber, mushrooms and broccoli
The piece de resistance – Seremban style crab. Deep fried and smeared with sticky sweet sauce. Intense and marmite like.
Durians
We feasted on Black Gold durians. This was 10 minutes after swearing on our mothers name that we couldn’t eat anything more.
Dinner at Pusing Public Seafood Restaurant
Steamed river prawns in Hua Tiao wine
Beef Brisket in Clayport
Chin Long Chye
Ping Chye (ice vegetable )
Deep Fried Glutinous Rice Chicken
Yang chow fried rice. I believe that it is the litmus test of every good Chinese restaurant that they will do a good fried rice. This restaurant smashes it – the fried rice was Uber delicious.
Goodbye Ipoh
The food at “Ipoh” has been amazing.
Yes there is running water but that’s because we were in KL all this time.
MU Hotel
18 Jalan Chung On siew
Taman Jubilee 30250 Ipoh
1. The Museum
No. 1 Persiaran Greentown 7 Greentown Business Centre,, Ipoh 30450 Malaysia
2. Restaurant Tuck Kee
1 Persiaran Tokong Pasir Pinji,, Ipoh 31650 Malaysi
3. Beauty Batu Coffeeshop
97&101 Jalan Yang Kalsom
Taman Jubilee, 30250 Ipoh
4. Central Point Food Court
Perak, Ipoh, Jalan Sultan Idris Shah, LOT 8183N邮政编码: 30300
5. Yat Yat Seng Coffeeshop
83, Jalan Dato Lau Pak Kuan,
Taman Canning,
31400 Ipoh,
Perak
7. Pusing Public Seafood Restaurant
57-65, Jalan Veerasamy 30300, Ipoh Perak
THE WOLF AND BULLDOG CHRONICLES 