Motormouth From Ipoh – A Malaysian Food Blog

What makes a good slab of roast pork? Is it the crunchy skin, the perfectly tender and moist marinated meat? The layer of gelatinous fat underneath that crackly skin? Or even the accompanying piquant, and garlicky chili sauce?

Truth be told, back when I was a small kid, roast pork was never a favourite of mine. Nor even something that I would gladly choose when it  came to take away lunch at the chicken rice stall. I’d pick the Char Siew (BBQ marinated pork), the Siew Cheong (Pork/Offals Sausages), and even the roast chicken/duck, in that particular order. Probably more of an adult’s piece of meat, Siew Yoke (that’s roast pork in Cantonese) caters to the matured and possibly, jaded tastebuds more often than not.

On a whole different level, if you will.

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If you’re down to Ipoh for a daytrip, overnight sensation excursion, or even if you’re a permanent resident (like yours truly) here in this exceptional, one-of-a-kind quaint town with those killer limestone caves, fat bean sprouts and (as they say …) pretty girls – you’d be scratching your head wondering where to go for breakfast.

Truth is, after the umpteenth dim sum feast in Ipoh, deep down inside, you’d be wishing for something much simpler, as tasty, but not the average wantan noodles or fish ball noodles you can get in the other states.

40 Years+ of Legacy speaks volume of its tenacious following ….

I was poisoned by a few posts before, on Ngan Woh Coffee Shop. (Click HERE, HERE or HERE for the doses of poisons). Surprisingly, throughout my stay in Ipoh, and very near to Bercham for that matter, I have never tasted, nor even heard about this shop on the main road of Bercham with an outstanding 40 years plus of history.

Goes to show that I am NOT a bulldozer who had demolished every single eatery in Ipoh. Really.

For really good, homemade Sar Kok Liew (crispy stuffed yambean/’sengkuang’), try Ngan Woh.

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A short one for the weekend :

Lunas of Kedah has never been on my map for food-hunting sessions. Nor it’s even in my map, for that matter. Certainly a route less travelled, Lunas is a small town near to Kulim of Kedah, on the eastern side of the state, bordering with Penang. Lunas is  rather famous for the many restaurants/shops/stalls serving roast duck, in a variety of ways.

Truth is, the roasted duck at Tan Kee Restaurant (The signboard reads Kedai Kopi dan Makanan …. but ironically, the shop only sells instant 3-in-1 Old Town white coffee. Go figure) was never the mind-blowing affair one might associate with Beijing crispy duck,  comparatively. But after a few mouthfuls, you’d come to the realization that Tan Kee’s version has to be one of the better version around. And darn cheap at that. Can you imagine a whole duck for only RM24/USD6.80 while half a duck at merely half the price. Pupils gone all dilated, salivary gland into overdrive? Why am I NOT surprised.

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It was ironic that I went to Penang twice last week, almost back to back. Within the span of a week, in fact. Whereas the short excursion to the mainland of Penang (Seberang Jaya/Butterworth, to be exact) saw us scavengers ravaging through the myriad of stalls selling delicious hawker food at the newly-discovered (at least to this most innocent-cum-naive Ipoh guy here) “Wai Sek Kai” of Chai Leng Park in Butterworth.

But as destiny would have things her way (overly-dramatic?), I was back to Penang a few days later for a short getaway. In case it’s your first time here, or amnesia struck again, I absolutely fell in love with Penang food, especially food from the streets. In fact, time and again I’ve stressed that I developed my inquisitive, epicurious and gastronomic taste bud NOT in Ipoh, but when I spent my 4 years in USM of Penang. Yeah ….. those dastardly-memorable years saw me ballooning from a frail weakling to a mass of gigantic blob, to an almost ogre-like creature now.

Regrets? Nah …. FAR from it.

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A reader recently lamented about the lack of Ipoh food reviews, in spite of the more than obvious name of my blog. If you’re still scratching your head, please …. scroll to the top of the page, okay? And if you’re diligent enough, or cared enough to read what the others wrote (brickbats thrown straight at Motormouth’s face etc etc …) then you would have no problem locating that particular comment. But of course, the recent spate of Krabi-Phuket posts, almost immediately after the Bali saga might have gotten to one’s nerves, for reading a Malaysian Food Blog yapping about Babi Guling and Krabi street foods sounds somewhat out of place.

Somewhat, okay? For this blog is STILL my personal journal of sorts, hence the rather detailed travelogues.

I don’t wanna be pinching myself in my golden years, desperately trying to recollect those memories of my glitzy/glamorous days of excessive travelling, and food-hunting.

But of course, I’m a pleaser. At least, that’s what I’d like to think. Hehe, okay okay ….  I saw someone puking back there. What?! Can’t I have MY moment for once?! Huh ……

Here’s a fuss-free, satisfying, yet won’t break a hole in your pocket type of eatery, situated in Taman Rasi of Menglembu, the town famous for groundnuts in Ipoh.

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