Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

How does “Kon Low Lou Shu Fun” with “Chu Yau Char” sound to you? Utterly sinful and delicious? Or scarily unhealthy and resentful? For me, there’s no denying the allure of “Liew Fun” in Ipoh.

Now I am going to skip all the grandfather’s stories and get straight to the heart of this piece. I have this post in draft since yesterday, yet could not find the time to write one proper sentence. Writer’s block? Or purely basking in every single minute of the weekend? The latter, actually. Guilty as charged.

Now if there’s a NON-halal satay stall worth trying in Ipoh, aside from Kong Heng that opens only during the day, this uncle must be somewhere up there in the ranks.

And why the strange title; amalgamation of three distinct entities (okay, so pork and lard come from the same source, but still …. ) today?

If you love your Ipoh hawker food, don’t miss this place. Seriously. Read on for the insight ….

Juicy cuts of pork (mostly lean cuts) permeated with a distinct marination from turmeric and other spices, lightly charred from the grill using nothing but charcoal for that smoky flavour, and the slurry of spicy peanut sauce to complete the experience. This, is CHINESE Satay at its best.

Now I had absolutely no idea this shop serves anything other than their renowned Buntong beef noodles. And of course, the plethora of deep fried goodness that come along with the simplest of base; noodles of your choice in a savoury clear broth, or tossed lightly in a mix of sweetish and savoury sauce (aka “Kon Low”); plus a very prominent, glistening finish from the lard oil (“Chu Yau”).

Oh, don’t forget the additional bonus; crunchy bite-sized cubes of lard fritters. The “Chu Yau Char” made all the difference, really.

Now, if you have zero idea (blurred as I was) on what they serve (they do NOT have menus, or order chits), don’t be shy. Walk towards the cooking counter and try your best to memorize the pieces that you want? Memorize, but why?!

I’m not ashamed to admit that … this was my first visit. Family not keen on eating beef, since we are Buddhists (or Taoist) and eating beef at home is an absolute NO-NO. But the occasional Big Mac or Cheeseburger, can lah …..

This place was named Kedai Makanan Dan Minuman Sri Maju previously; but probably owing to the conflicting concepts (lawsuits?) of differentiation between two very diverse operations (one being a food stall, the other is of course the bus company owned by Dato’ Michelle Yeoh’s father), they changed to Sri Mahkota.

Or you can also choose to have the Hakka mee with slivers of marinated pork, lard fritters (again), bean sprouts and a generous sprinkle of chopped spring onion.

The chili sauce was good. Packed with a robust kick; hitting the nostrils almost as immediate as one ladles a spoonful upon the various pieces of stuffed fish paste.

The fried pieces of ‘yeong liew’ (or yong tau foo; referring to the pieces of stuffed fish paste in a variety of ingredients) were lip-smacking actually. Or we could have been famished after the almost 25 minutes wait.

We were there at about 6.30pm, and the place was already packed like sardines. YES, crowded through and through. Spare me a few lines to explain the ordering system.

1. You walk in, grab a ticket number from the counter (placed in plastic stands) and then only walk back to your table. Or if you have none, just grab one number and hold until you manage to squeeze into someone’s table.

2. Sit quietly, until they come and take your orders. Meanwhile, go crazy with the satay from the man working himself into an overdrive churning out skewer after skewer of his signature PORK satay.

3. Once they come, you choose your preferred noodles (if you have NO idea on what they have, just point to whatever the next table are having), done in soup, or dry, or Hakka mee. Not sure if they have curry or dry curry, but doubtful from the looks of things.

4. For the sides (the MOST important part of the meal, actually), go for a bowl of the “ngau lam” (or ngau chap); consisting of tender slices of beef, beef balls, beef tendon, beef tripes and soft; almost melt-in-mouth chunks of white radish cooked in a wholesome broth infused with the sweetness of red dates and of course …. every other part of the cow imaginable.

5. Don’t forget their equally good ‘yeong liew’. If unsure, ask for a piece of everything. They have about 15 types in their repertoire.

Although some of the ‘yeong liew’ were not as excellent in comparison to some others (the ‘sar kok liew’ in this case suffered from the wrath of over-frying), while some deep-fried pieces actually were greasy beyond recognition, on the whole, this stall excelled in the complete ensemble of noodles (try the dry version with lard fritters; or request for an additional handful of those crispy decadence!), the hearty bowl of mixed beef offal, and the top-notch chili sauce.

Will I be back again for more of this PORKY/LARDY and BEEFY affair? Definitely. Provided of course …. the crowd is much thinner, and we don’t have to toy with the idea of walloping more of the satay than necessary to keep us satiated.

*Other Buntong beef noodles outlets (not necessarily of the same brand) –
– This stall in Buntong itself, selling from a house on Jalan Guntong.
– A branch in Ipoh Garden South in this restaurant named New Weng Fatt (where Thum’s Western Food is)
– Desa Rishah’s beef noodles; close enough to Buntong but not sure of the exact origin.

**There are TWO more stalls (equally as popular, if not even more) that I wish to cover very soon. One at Tong Sui Kai (the Dessert Street) near to Ipoh Parade and Sam Tet High School, and another in town near to the infamous ‘coffin street’ of Ipoh. Any other?

KEDAI MAKANAN DAN MINUMAN SRI MAHKOTA (non-Halal)
(Buntong Beef Noodles)
73 & 75, Jalan Theatre,
30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Business hours : 7am onwards until lunch, then 6pm onwards until about 11pm
Closed Sunday night.
GPS : 4.594197,101.085846
Google Map to this place.
* Directions – Remember the demolished Pasar Bulat (Round Market, or “Pat Kok Ting”) back in the 80’s? This restaurant is facing the same plot of land now. Within walking distance from the Pekan Baru police station on Hugh Low Street.