Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

This article was first published in The Malay Mail.

This carrot and onion fritter is one of Merindy Restaurant’s signature item; the other being the Ipoh famous sar kok liew.

The beauty of waking up on a beautiful Saturday morning in Ipoh is the thought of a thousand and one breakfast options (figuratively speaking, but who’s counting?), all lined up for you to choose from. Nestled deep within the neighbourhood of Taman Mirindy, in a relatively more serene part of the Kampung Simee suburb in Ipoh, is this undiscovered (at least that would be my assumption for most visitors and a large majority of the locals) gem of a coffee shop aptly named Merindy Restaurant. At the other end of the same row of shophouses is Moon De Moon Restaurant, housing an immensely popular curry noodles and kai see hor fun (Ipoh style chicken kuey teow soup) stall. The wait for a bowl of noodles at Moon De Moon can be an excruciating 30 minutes on average, sometimes even up to an hour!  Read the rest of this entry »

This article was first published in the Malay Mail Online.

Time to wake up dear Malaysians, and smell the flowers?

Lately social media users in Malaysia (and possibly beyond) have been assaulted by the barrage of ridiculous and extremely frustrating headlines dominating the news feed. Short of throwing tantrums and taking a defensive stance, sometimes I wish things would just get better; rather than focus on politics, we should come together as Malaysians to stand strong against the weakening economy, and brush aside the notion of a nation divided by skin colour. So when the going gets tough, it pays to seek solace in a quiet corner of a café and let slow jazz tunes, indie pop or ambient music soothe the troubled soul.

Cuteness personified at Petit Mary Patisserie – Mont Blanc Tart, fresh pastries, and creamy concoction of coffee served in their signature mugs

One place to do just that is this baby blue café near AEON Kinta City named Petit Mary Patisserie; a double-storey unit fronting the main road of Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah. The décor may seem a little bit overdone; some may even dub this as another one of those places capitalising on the “cuteness factor” to attract teenagers and the ladies. However, a closer look reveals a menu with a fair bit of substance; especially their array of freshly baked breads and pastries. Read the rest of this entry »

This article was first published in The Malay Mail Online.

Lou Shu Fun served with a scoop of dry curry paste; and succulent cuts of caramelized BBQ pork on top

There are some breakfast places in Ipoh that have remained evergreen; a hit with the loyal early risers in the quiet neighbourhoods of Ipoh, yet inconspicuous enough to stay out of the (tourist) spotlight. If you ask me, one of the last things that I wish upon waking up on a relaxing Sunday morning is to fight for a seat with the boisterous, ravenous crowd or scramble for that last basket of steaming hot dumplings from the kitchen. I don’t need to name the establishments here, but safe to say if you are wise enough to avoid the white coffee outlets in Ipoh Old Town and the dim sum madhouses in town, then you deserve a pat on the back. But of course, some of you might get a kick out of the long, snaking queue, rowdy environment and lengthy waiting time plus lacklustre service despite the service charges imposed. With booming tourism, and a higher influx of day-trippers to Ipoh, the situation progresses to a more dire one come extended weekends or public holidays. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s better than a platter of crunchy, greasy, deep fried goodness fresh and piping hot from the wok? Pictured above are what we called “Lor Bak” or Ngoh Hiang (5 spices), the spiced pork rolls wrapped in beancurd sheets, but the term has been used to cover the entire range of fritters served with two sauces; one being a garlicky chili sauce and another being a starchy ‘lor’ or dark soy sauce with egg white ribbons.

I felt apologetic and compelled to write a note in between the days where Motormouth has seemingly vanished into thin air. Without a warning (although you might take this as a prelude to the Houdini act), a new blog post, or even a proper farewell (no, contrary to what some might speculate, I am NOT closing this site down), the hiatus seemed unforgivable to an extent where even I started to be drenched in guilt and pushed myself to write at least a paragraph or two.

But to no avail. The incredible (mis)adventures for the past few weeks rendered me helpless.

Since the last post on Beach Road’s Scissor cut Curry Rice in Singapore, I have traveled to Hong Kong twice; caught in a typhoon warning level T8 (where everyone went into hibernation mode and malls closed down) and got my flight rescheduled to the next day, Singapore for almost a week (until yesterday) and the rest of the time spent in a somewhat dormant mode in Kuala Lumpur. Oh and along the way, my trusty Nikon D7000 went into a tantrum (‘merajuk known…‘) with the focusing issue, everyone celebrated Raya (I deserve to be shot for missing the formality of an annual Selamat Hari Raya greeting to all Muslim readers), and well, the Malaysian political headlines getting jammed with conspiracy theories.

Due to a delay in working visa approval, I was floating around like a nomad, well, the optimistic side of me sees this as a chance to recuperate from the successive job environment changes since my government days in 2010 (read this overly-emotional post on Stripped down Monday), where I barely had any breaks in between.

Today, this super-charged Friday where I am still in Kuala Lumpur (surprise, surprise) until the final move this Sunday to Hong Kong, let me share some older photographs I stashed away in my archive; of my beloved Ipoh – the Old Town Walk.  Read the rest of this entry »

This article was first published in the Malay Mail Online.

Patisserie BoutiQue @ Ipoh old town – Come here for a revitalizing, Paris-inspired cafe experience during the mid day blues 

With dozens of new cafes popping up all over Ipoh in the last couple of years, one might feel slightly overwhelmed when making a choice for a Saturday afternoon tea break session. Now that I am based miles away from home, the routine homecoming trips to Ipoh have been nothing short of exhilarating (and to some extent, exhausting).

Almost every single trip home I would be greeted by new establishments out to make a name in the competitive cafe scene, despite the relatively lower crowd volume on weekdays compared to say, in the Klang Valley with its perpetual supply of teenagers and youngsters looking for the equivalent of a “library” or an Instagram-worthy spot after class.

But this does not seem to impede the young entrepreneurs from their start-ups in Ipoh, some even making a detour from bigger cities like Kuala Lumpur to explore the untapped (note that I use this word loosely though) opportunities in Ipoh; possibly capitalizing on the locals’ inherent fondness for coffee.

Soufflé pancake may not be an everyday item at Pâtisserie BoutiQue (you will need to check with them or look out for this at the display counter), but should you see this, don’t give it a miss 

One cafe that has bowled me over sits at the corner of the row of refurbished old shophouses in Old Town: Pâtisserie BoutiQue. At the other end of the row is Burps & Giggles; possibly the pioneer of this modern batch of vintage looking cafes.

Unlike a few unfortunately flagging ventures in town, Pâtisserie BoutiQue has amassed quite an unwavering support from the locals despite their slightly inconvenient 10.30am to 6pm opening hours.  Read the rest of this entry »

This article was first published on the Malay Mail Online. Click HERE to read it.

Nothing beats the hands-on experience of devouring a crab; licking the shell clean then proceeding with the sweet flesh within

It may not seem fair to compare the number (and corresponding quality) of the seafood restaurants in Ipoh to those in surrounding towns with fishery activities such as Sitiawan, Pantai Remis and Lumut, or even Sauk, Lenggong or Tapah for freshwater catches from the rivers of Perak.

However, looking for a decent place for seafood in Ipoh is surprisingly not as tough as finding a needle in a haystack.

For the benefit of casual visitors to Ipoh, I would skip mentioning the more elaborate and well-known Chinese restaurants such as Pusing Public (or Mun Choong), Kok Thai, East Ocean or even the classic Tuck Kee. Instead, let’s shift our focus towards the street food style or chu char places that need no reservations, no minimum spending or number of diners (you can even go by yourself and have a blast feasting on prawns, crabs and shellfish!). Most importantly they serve utterly scrumptious food!

Back in the 90s, there was this incredibly popular food stall at the side of Nam Kew Coffee Shop (but now the shop has changed name to Yee Lock) located along Jalan Raja Musa Aziz in the heart of Ipoh town dishing up various seafood dishes including crabs and shellfish cooked in a dazzling array of methods from spicy kam heong style to steamed with shredded ginger. There were also fried rice/noodle dishes such as fried thick yellow noodles aka Hokkien noodles (usually called dai look meen instead) or wat tan hor.

The stall has since moved to a corner shop right behind the original premises; it is now named Yin Fai Kee but somehow the quality of their cooking has not been consistent — at least from our previous visit a few years back.

Maybe it’s the feng shui of the stall location (which is parked at the back of the shop; and also occupying almost half of the narrow sidewalk on the side with plastic tables and stools for a classic alfresco experience) but the new stall in Yee Lock is doing brisk business every single night; the patrons gladly queue for a vacant table on weekend evenings, then patiently wait for their orders of seafood cooked with high flames by the team of culinary wonders in an open kitchen setting.

You can arrive earlier, say about 6pm or so, to avoid the wait. The establishment can seat quite a large crowd but the tables are not designed for large groups of 10 or so, thus you may need to combine tables if you come in a large group. There were only four of us but we found it difficult placing all the dishes within the space of the standard-sized table. Bear in mind that during the day, this IS a coffee shop after all with stalls selling curry noodles (which is quite famous, the Ma Jie brand) and so forth.  Read the rest of this entry »

Just look at the deep, mahogany red-hued, concentrated stock made up of chicken and shrimp essences, accentuated by the flavours of fried shallots, chopped fresh spring onion and slices of firm, clean bites of poached chicken and boiled shrimps.

If you are one die-hard fan of ‘kai see hor fun’ (or chicken kuey teow soup), you would have had your cravings fixed at Thean Chun in old town or its ‘friendly’ competitor Kong Heng next door, or the now closed down Macy Café in Ipoh Garden East, or braced the wait for a taste of Moon De Moon’s version in Simee. I could have missed some of the others (such as Loke Wooi Kee‘s) but that could also be due to personal preference.

But then, just when I was ravenously gorging down my curry mee at Tim Shun Loong recently, the affable man who is the owner of the coffee shop (and also a distant relative of ours) came seated and shared a few top notch picks with us; in particular, this stall in Pasir Puteh near to Peng Tau Restaurant (oh well, just one of the best ‘chu char’ restaurants in Ipoh!) that sells incredibly famous ‘kai see hor fun’ in the mornings. You would need to be there as early as possible (try before 9am on a weekend if you can withstand the grogginess after a week’s full of work), else you could be putting your attempt at risk and ending up with a gloomy scene of observing barren, chicken carcasses, empty bowls and satisfied customers walking away patting their stomachs while sniggering at your misadventure. Read the rest of this entry »