Motormouth From Ipoh – Malaysian Food & Travel Blog

Famous Claypot Crab Tang Hoon (Glass vermicelli noodles/Bean thread noodles) – This pot is supposedly for TWO pax. But definitely more than enough, since the five of us were struggling to finish the two pots.

Rasa Lain Restaurant is definitely one of the most famous Chinese seafood restaurants in Ipoh; renowned for their crabs in claypot (served with either rice or ‘tang hoon‘), claypot cheese prawns (sinful enough?) and homemade fish balls the size of a golf ball.

Then Same Taste came along not long ago, and the storyline got convoluted somehow. Which one was the original “Tung Fun Hai” in Bercham?

And now ….. for the past year or so, Different Taste Restaurant arrived at the scene. A single shoplot located inconspicuously within some residential area a short distance away from the famous Shine Noodles (Bercham famous wan tan mee with prawn dumplings), the owner is the elder brother of Rasa Lain’s owner. And this man’s wife was previously at Same Taste.

Confused and tearing your hair out? Don’t be. For this, my dear readers ….. may just be the BEST among the three. Read on for the full review ….

Absolutely sumptuous; with a distinctive umami taste (without the incessant desire to gulp water like camels after the meal), the Claypot Crab Tang Hoon at Different Taste mimicked the other two outlets’. Just that this was much cheaper.

We had two pots to be shared. One pot with a ‘normal’ crab (meat crab, or ‘yuk hai’) for RM33/USD11 and another premium pot with a so-called ‘Planta Crab’ (look at the sweet golden roes in the picture above) for RM47/USD15.

The difference was indeed obvious, even from the aesthetics alone. The one with the prized crab had a huge, meatier crustacean with very sweet flesh, and absolutely scrumptious creamy, golden roe. Pity the amount was not plentiful, yet the glaring difference between this pot with the other ‘milder’ version with the usual crab was of paramount prominence. Even the gravy was tainted with a golden hue, thanks to the leeching of cholesterol-laden roes into the flavourful broth. I certainly don’t mind paying a little extras for this, but take note that they only serve a few crabs per day. On that evening, they had only TWO.

Thai style Chicken Feet salad (Glass Chicken Feet), Steamed La-La Clams, and stir fried Nai Bak with fried minced garlic.

“Pak Cheok Har” aka Boiled Prawns in a soy sauce-based gravy (RM16/USD5.30)

The uncle was certainly of great assistance. To the extent of standing real close to us while we were tucking in, and explaining about the crabs and then some. He told us about his younger brother in Rasa Lain, and that Different Taste does NOT serve claypot crabs with rice, or the Rasa Lain’s fusion of a Claypot Cheese Prawns.

And he was indeed pushy when it came to his highly recommended “Pak Cheok Har”, a lightly boiled (or blanched?) prawns served in a very simple manner. Meant to be dipped into their signature chili sauce with a garlic nuance, the medium-sized fresh and succulent sea prawns actually needed no dipping sauces nor condiments to begin with.

Yes, we were glad that we succumbed to his relentless tirades. For the prawns scored on all grounds, definitely on par with some of the pricier, restaurant-classed seafood.

The feast came to RM26/USD8.70 per person, a reasonable sum considering the amount of food ordered and the quality of the cooking. Recommended.

A Gargantuan-sized claw fit for a King.

Pardon the shorter than usual post. This is being typed while there are so many other stuff left undone. Yes, this is officially my LAST POST created while Motormouth is still in Ipoh. By the time you’re reading this, I would have relocated down south somewhere in the Klang Valley, possibly opening up infinite options in terms of expanding this little space of mine on the blogosphere ….

DIFFERENT TASTE RESTAURANT
No 72, Persiaran Bercham Selatan 2,
Desa Kencana, Bercham,
31400 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Telephone : 6012-502 1132/6016-558 6499 (Arun Tan), 6016-791 4711 (Elven Lok)
Business hours : 11.30am – 9.30pm daily. Closed on Fridays.
GPS Coordinates : E101 7′ 40.3″ N4 37′ 58.4″
Google Map to Different Taste Restaurant