Motormouth From Ipoh – Malaysian Food & Travel Blog

If you think that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, think again.

For 15 years, Regalodge Hotel has been enduring the many stalwarts of hoteliers with impressive tenacity; albeit the emergence of one VERY strong contender by the name of Tower Regency situated at … erm, almost next door.

Then, sometime last year, the 3-star hotel underwent a major refurbishment ordeal; painted with a fresh coat of beige and purple paint and the addition of a foot reflexology centre. But what’s most enticing is this 4 months-old fine dining restaurant named The Limestone’s.

Seafood Paella (RM68.50 for a portion to be shared; Dinner Menu, or RM28.50 for an individual portion; Lunch Menu)

I admit that I was well surprised by the choice of location; a fine dining restaurant not within its own compound or in a refurbished mansion, or even nestled within some glittering high class resorts by the hills or in the midst of any of the business centres.

Here’s a story on the latest fine dining establishment in town; helmed by Chef Erwin from Europe with an interesting penchant for firing up a culinary storm not only in Malaysia; but in Ipoh of all the other towns …..  CONTINUE READING THE REST OF THIS ENTRY »

Always a pleasure to be dining with your loved ones, ain’t it? The Year of the Dragon comes a-beckoning, promising another 12 months of potential growth, hardships, tribulations, happiness and everything in between. Whichever year that you were born in, I am sure you would have an inkling of what’s possibly crossing your path this year, from the various almanacs, feng shui masters’ predictions, etc.

This is the fourth Chinese New Year greetings from Motormouth From Ipoh; and if you’re already going “Wah!!! So ancient already ah this blog?!!” Yeah …. did not see this coming myself, for at best I thought this passion would fizzle out by the 2nd or 3rd year.

Surprise, surprise. CONTINUE READING THE REST OF THIS ENTRY »

Waraku; one of the most tenacious Japanese restaurants in Ipoh so far.

Since eating at Chinese restaurants might entail the gory need to mortgage an arm or a leg this season, we thought why not go Japanese for a change. After all, the subsequent days would be filled with Yee Sang, pork, chicken, prawns, fish, mushrooms etc …. to a point when you’d wish that Reunion feasts can include burgers for a change.

Waraku is one of those restaurants that you usually fail to notice its existence, tenacity and dare I say … brilliance. Drowned by the (over) hyped Japanese diners around the vicinity (try scanning through THIS LIST and you’ll see why), Waraku is that humbler cousin of the larger-than-life restaurants with sushi bars, private rooms and blares of insincere “irrashaimase” through the halls …..

CONTINUE READING THE REST OF THIS ENTRY »

Look at those stacked up slices of pre-smoked dried meat @ Seong Kee in Simee, Ipoh; a very RED (‘ong’) sign of things to come this Dragon Year?!

Yay! Live updates streaming on a day to day basis (I hope). Motormouth reached home extremely early this morning (almost uncharacteristically me, some may say), and thankful for that as I was informed that the traffic jam this afternoon on the North-South expressway was REALLY bad … about 20-30km/hour at best. So, if you’re one who’s sunbathing (terribly scorching today!) out there, drive safe. You know you do not want to miss the onslaught of mega-lip-smacking stories throughout the week …..

Imagine having to smoke every single piece manually, at a rate of thousands of pieces everyday! I would have thrown in the towel LONG before the tenth basket!

An air of festivity is definitely in the air, was grinning from ear to ear catching a glimpse of MH Tower (next to the drive-thru McDonald’s near to Jusco/Tesco in Medan Ipoh Bistari. Then the spanking new row of shops fronting Ipoh Hometown Restaurant that looked promising, yet I wonder what else can they open (new coffee shops, Japanese restaurant, fast food chain again?) that’s a cut above the rest.

Now, read on for the impromptu food run @ Simee in Ipoh …… CONTINUE READING THE REST OF THIS ENTRY »

If only life is all “rojak-ed up”, yet every event/happening complemented each other so well like the ingredients that go into the making of this plate of Malaysian salad (with a scarily tar-like black coloured gravy made of shrimp paste!), then I certainly don’t mind the cascade of trials.

A colleague of mine broke down earlier this morning. Tears of sadness flowed down her face; the relentless sobs piercing our hearts. Her beloved grandmother of 90 years old had passed away suddenly, after an accidental fall. Life is fragile, yet gracious in another sense; granted her with a magnificent NINE decades of hardships, tribulations, life, joy and cheers.

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonades?

So, when life gives you soy bean, do you make ‘tau fu fah’, soy bean milk, AND glutinous rice balls loaded with black sesame paste?! Sounds yum, huh? This combination named 3-in-1 is available at this stall in Stadium Ipoh food court, that I have written before.

And dear food fanatics, here’s the last piece of story from Motormouth …….. CONTINUE READING THE REST OF THIS ENTRY »

“Lau Sar Bao” (Flowing Golden Custard Bun) – Rich, golden hue infused with goodness (or sin, depending on how you look at it) of salted egg yolk; encased in a pillowy soft bun. The runny fillings would need some tight maneuvering in case you’re sharing a piece with another.

Now, I have never been really engrossed/enamoured by dim sum in KL. No, I don’t mean that the dim sum in restaurants parked in 5 star hotels; charging upwards of RM10+ per basket are not up to par (in fact, I rarely go to these places for dim sum anyway). And no, in case you think that I’m a biased supporter of Foh San @ Ipoh, you’re wrong too.

Aside from one dim sum unknown (to the younger generations anyway) in SS2 named Loong Seng, which was reasonably memorable, the other experiences were either horrible, or best forgotten. And let’s forget about Hong Kee ……

But then came the Jin Xuan experience. I was fairly skeptical. Dim sum restaurants charging slight premium for the environment, churning out basket after basket, plates after plates of generic dim sum from the kitchen? Been there, done that.

Tray load of dim sum for choosing; still a good option to be able to see what you’re ordering, in my opinion.

But colleagues (who are locals) kept showering praises on Jin Xuan; one outlet in Damansara Jaya, and another in Uptown (Damansara Utama). There are two more that I have heard of; one in Puchong while another’s in Kuchai Lama. And then we tried that other one in PJ Old Town once. Not sure if there are more. And we were supposed to arrive before 9am on a Saturday morning to grab a table! WHAT?!

Read on to see if I am a convert. Or vice versa. CONTINUE READING THE REST OF THIS ENTRY »

A rather alarming trend with eateries in Ipoh is this prominent surge in the number of new ones opening; from cafes, fast food chains, bubble milk tea specialists (do you even need any more hints?), restaurants to the bistros, commercialized hawker stalls (imagine one notoriously famous 45 minutes Buntong Wat Tan Hor suddenly going upmarket and …. lost the charm) and whatever in-betweens.

Wishing you “Lin Lin Yau Yue” (An auspicious wish in Chinese for “Have Abundance Every Year” … but phonetically, sounds like “Every Year Got Fish”!) – Steamed Tilapia in Soy Sauce

But more tragically, the survival rate of the newbies in the Ipoh food scene is relatively low. Unless you’re one indomitable chain like McDonald’s, Old Town White Coffee, or even Starbucks, the rest just can’t come close. Just look at De Garden two years ago and now. I daresay, almost half of the original occupants have wrapped up and moved on to greener pastures, or maybe fed up with the picky eaters.

Yes, we Ipohans believe in quality food at reasonable prices, rather than unrealistic/over-promising diners charging triple for the same cup of coffee you can get at the neighbourhood kopitiam for mere RM1.20 or so.

 Before this restaurant calls it a day (unlikely though, given the warm support from the crowd on certain evenings, and the soon-to-be very strategic location), let’s see what Ipoh Hometown Restaurant has to offer …… CONTINUE READING THE REST OF THIS ENTRY »