Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

Fluttering butterflies, a rocking pony, stimulating colours and in the spotlight was this Tittle Tattle Houzz Café @ Ipoh

Cliché as this might sound, time really flies. This blog has been around for 7 years now, growing from my first trial with a blog post back in 2008 while I was still on the Blogger platform, to better pictures taken with Lumix LX3 from 2009 to 2011, then surviving with my current Nikon D7000 for a good 4 years now. And sometime in 2009 I migrated to a hosted website (what you are browsing through now), and never looked back since.

I still don’t have amazing/professional photography gears. Or even superb photo-editing software or skills. (p/s: I still use free photo editing software which explains the poor image quality, sorry just too much effort in shooting, eating and writing combined ….)

Soldiering on to my 8th year on the blogosphere, the prospects of writing a blogpost during these times seems farther and farther away from what the social media ‘groupies’ love; fuss-free news feeds with minimal words and more pictures (the Instragram generation would be paralyzed after the first paragraph above).

At this point of time, without an Instragram account (yes, I sure feel outdated and more irrelevant) nor seeing a need to reduce the words in my posts, Motormouth can’t help but felt really old. Which by the way, was not a fear unfounded, since I have surprised quite a many readers upon meeting them in person and appearing a decade or so younger than my online persona’s age.

I sounded like an old gramps sometimes, I was told.

So, before jumping to more rants ahead and a paragraph (non-coma inducing, hopefully) on another café in Ipoh, if this is your first time here, these were some of the milestones you have missed for the past 7 years –

3 March 2008 –  Jack’s Place @ Sunway Pyramid
3 March 2009 – The Hanoi Saga
3 March 2010 – Old Town White Coffee
3 March 2011 – Sun Kam Wan Soy Sauce Chicken Rice
3 March 2012 – Or Tor Kor Market, Bangkok
3 March 2013 – Bricks & Barrels
3 March 2014 – Bits & Bobs @ Ipoh old town
3 March 2015 – The seven-year itch?

Read the rest of this entry »

This article was originally published in the Malay Mail Online. Click HERE to read the article.

Breakfast of Teh Tarik with cucur bawang and roti canai at Restoran Sabar Menanti next to the public swimming pool in Ipoh

The restaurant is called Restoran Sabar Menanti which literally means “waiting patiently” in Malay. You can imagine the gleeful reactions to the somewhat weird choice of restaurant name, right? Well, this place focuses on the concept of “slow food”; every single dish and every piece of roti (Indian flatbread) is cooked on the spot upon every order. Be prepared for a long meal as the food comes (slowly) to your table piping hot and bursting with fresh flavours. But of course, they do serve an admirable spread of ready-cooked dishes for breakfast and lunch as well, in the tradition of nasi campur but this is a minor extension of their kitchen’s strength. The restaurant also has a battalion of staff hurriedly taking your orders and serving platefuls of delectable Malay food. Sabar Menanti can easily pass off as just another Malay eatery within the serene Ipoh city; nestled away from clear view within an oasis-like garden environment next to the public swimming pool. Read the rest of this entry »

French Duck Confit (MYR 28) @ STG Boutique Café, Ipoh Old Town

It stemmed from utter devastation and desperation no thanks to the closure of most Chinese hawker stalls in old town during the recent Chinese New Year season, that led us to STG Boutique Café. Crude as this might have sounded, this was not initially on my radar of “to-try places” despite the almost too strategic location on the outskirts of Ipoh old town. I should have known better, as this was a stone’s throw away from our old office (we could have literally rolled to the entrance of STG from our old office) in Ipoh old town, near to the Maybank building.

The interior of STG reeks of opulence and an almost too idyllic setting for a casual lunch (the business lunch crowd can be overwhelming with all the banks, lawyer firms and all), but STG manages to tone down the exclusivity with large glass panels letting the natural rays of sun in, and the diners not oblivious to the passing traffic and vice versa. 

If the name sounded familiar to you, then you are right. STG Tea House Café started sometime in 2013 (read my review) within the serene neighbourhood of Chateau Garden and has since taken off well with an all-day dining concept amidst the mansion setting with a large compound to boot. STG Boutique Café meanwhile is the group’s second venture in Ipoh (and a third to come in northern Perak really soon) catering to mostly the working crowd of old town because let’s admit this …. if you are not working around here, or coming to do your banking, why on earth would you get yourself stuck in jam and going around in circles trying to find a parking space?

But, and that’s a big BUT …. since STG opens until 11 pm daily, this may seem like a good choice for dinner or supper as well, especially when you have run out of idea on where to dine with ample parking spaces (come sun down, the area is deserted).

And so, what attracted me to a second visit within a few days apart? Read the rest of this entry »

Read the original article published in The Malay Mail Online HERE.

Still the same Hoong Tho that we grew up with in the 80’s …

There are but a few eateries left in Ipoh that I personally feel are still able to evoke a strong sense of nostalgia upon setting foot into their premises and tasting the same old flavours from yesteryear. I highlighted a sterling example last week on Wong Koh Kee restaurant situated along Concubine Lane in Old Town with more than eight decades of legacy. That was a really classic example of “lau zhi hau” (literally translated to old trademark brand) — signature dishes unchanged since decades back, maintaining the no-menu policy, ageing staff staying with the establishment through thick and thin and a no-frills, subdued set up featuring round marble top tables, rickety wooden chairs, steel stools and mosaic-tiled flooring.

Now, Koh Kee is not the only restaurant in Old Town with such a rich history and fan base spanning a few generations. Hoong Tho, located along the same road of Jalan Bandar Timah (Leech Street) but on the other side (note that coming from Hugh Low Street, the junction branches to opposite ways of Jalan Bandar Timah; the right side leads to Wong Koh Kee, Kong Heng kopitiam and Nam Chau curry noodles, while the left turn will take you to the stretch of white coffee stalwarts; Sin Yoon Loong and Nam Heong, as well as Hoong Tho which is located a few doors away from Nam Heong.)

This plate of intense wok-hei laden fried rice was utterly delicious and whipped up with such flair by the cooks at Hoong Tho in old town

I remember eating at Hoong Tho with my late grandfather and a bunch of older relatives, whereby this was also one of the famous places in Ipoh back in those days for wedding banquets. The menu has stayed relatively flat throughout the years, which may not be a bad thing at all. You see, most of these popular establishments are known for their trademark items — dishes that they do particularly well and embedded in the minds of followers who come back repeatedly for the same, comforting familiar taste. Read the rest of this entry »

This article was first published on The Malay Mail Online HERE.

A hearty lunch at Wong Koh Kee at Concubine Lane, Ipoh old town will surely bring back memories from the yesteryears

The Old Town is well known for its diverse range of hawker eats and fair share of vintage cafes; the latter which have gradually been injecting life back to the otherwise sleepy side of town past noon. The sudden rise of coffee culture in Ipoh, coupled with murals painted on walls within the Old Town enclave and the opening of the Sekeping Kong Heng retreat above the legendary kopitiam of the same name have drawn visitors from near and far.

Lou Wong Ipoh Bean Sprouts Chicken opened a second outlet in old town; same row as Thean Chun and Kong Heng

I still remember that during my childhood having breakfast in Old Town meant having to wake up really early, struggling to find a parking space and sharing a table with strangers at the stretch of white coffee specialists (e.g.. Sin Yoon Loong and the likes). Needless to say, the memories were not pleasant especially when we were not really die hard fans of white coffee in the first place. Aside from breakfast options (and trust me, there are MANY; from Ipoh style dry curry mee to soupy pork noodles cooked individually, caramel egg custard to a bowl of chicken kuey teow soup laden with umami goodness from the stock infused with essence from the prawns), nestled hidden from clear view is this more than eight decades old Chinese eatery named Wong Koh Kee on Concubine Lane. Read the rest of this entry »

Salted Fish Pork Belly (MYR12.90) – Sliced thinly and stir fried with salted fish and dried chillies, this dish is usually served in a claypot in most restaurants, but at O Café, the traditional way of plating the dish together with many others brought back memories of grandma’s cooking.

Sadly there are not many places in Ipoh where you can find traditional Hakka delights such as abacus seeds, Hakka ‘zhar yoke’ (braised pre-fried pork belly with ‘fu yee’ or fermented beancurd paste and wood ear fungus), or ‘kau yoke’ – braised pork with either ‘mui choy’ or preserved mustard greens, or at other times served intermittent with slices of soft yam.

Occasionally you can find certain Hakka-inspired dishes being served here and there; usually at ‘dai chow’ places where the stewed yam with pork belly is more common than ever, or even by economy rice sellers incorporating ‘zhar yoke’ or vinegar pork trotters into their repertoire of crowd pleasers. And not forgetting the Hakka lui cha (thunder tea, or rather pounded tea) rice stalls all claiming to be from Jeram near Kampar; where the wet market still sells the BEST that I have eaten thus far.

Certainly, locating these gems in Ipoh when the craving comes can be a toughie, especially when we don’t have the luxury of true blue Hakka restaurants unlike Klang Valley or even this one in Melaka. But now, amidst the slurry of new boutique cafes and what-nots, came O Café; a very misleading name and even more confusing façade and interior design. But … was the Hakka experience worth the adventure? Read on to find out more. Read the rest of this entry »

This article was originally published in the Malay Mail Online HERE.

Despite the scarily hefty portion of mayonnaise splattered on each plate of deep fried goodness, at Hong Kong Dim Sum BFB (or “Bat Fun Bun” aka 8 1/2) their crispy dim sum were quite delicious

Talk about dim sum in this city well-loved by many as one of the food capitals in Malaysia, and most would point you to either Foh San, Ming Court or even Yoke Fook Moon; all three within a stone’s throw from one another. The hype surrounding the likes of Foh San has been circulating since decades back, when they served the early risers at their old outlet at the corner of Osborne Street. Those were the decent souls making a living working through the graveyard shift, or taxi drivers stationed nearby (and they still are) looking for a hearty start to fuel the day’s worth of labour.

Now they have shifted to Leong Sin Nam road directly across Ming Court Dim Sum, which is also backed by a respectable number of years in business and personally, I think they serve higher quality dim sum compared to the new Foh San outlet. Many a time, the locals would shy away from the frenzied crowd at the dim sum giants, where the unreasonable congestion is caused by traffic, inconsiderate double-parkers and touts looking to earn a quick buck through “extortion” via the classic “jaga kereta” guys of Ipoh. It never fails to make me wonder when the local authorities will finally act on their “master plan” to capture these thugs smearing the good name of Ipoh.

Anyway, the multiple factors around an already tough decision to select ONE dim sum place (if you only can afford one) can be killing. Especially if you are not familiar with dim sum restaurants situated outside of the city centre. But fret not, here’s where I think I might come in and help. Read the rest of this entry »