Motormouth From Ipoh – A Malaysian Food Blog

Beef Stroganoff (RM17/USD5.20) – A sumptuous dish of Russian origin, barely available anymore in the menus nowadays.

For all it’s worth, I could not help but write another silly post today. Blame it on the unwelcoming thoughts of starting a full 5 days working week. Or the shot of caffeine earlier this morning (Thank you old town for the perpetually interesting selections of coffee. You’re intoxicating me). But since the previous post was on coffee and toast from a random back alley stall in Penang, let’s move slightly southward to a classic coffee house/steak house in Taiping.

Backed by an astonishing experience of 20 years in business, Nagaria Steak House on Jalan Pasar serves Western cuisine like how the past generations loved them. Of course, Nagaria also serves the occasional Asian fares like fried rice, noodles, and such, much like how Scotch Pub includes their legendary fried beehoon, fried gizzards and inchi kabin chicken into their dominatingly Western menu. Read on to find out just how ‘cheap’ the food at Nagaria is …. CONTINUE READING THE REST OF THIS ENTRY »

An old favourite of many in Taiping, and from places beyond …. Bismillah Restoran on Main Road (Jalan Taming Sari) should be enlisted as a UNESCO World Heritage Building!

Midweek Blues anyone? Or plain reeling from the late night footie matches on the telly, or down at your favourite watering hole? Here’s something to sober you up …..

A perfectly simple, MALAYSIAN breakfast at one of the coolest town (in every sense of the word) in Malaysia; Taiping.

Daging Itam (a type of dark, fiery and robust spiced Beef dish) RM2.50/USD0.70 per portion.

Bismillah Restoran in Taiping is a century’s old establishment, and has been around at this same building for close to 80 years now. Yes, count them, EIGHT DECADES of legacy.

Famous for their Roti Canai, and also serving Roti Telur, Thosai, Nasi Briyani, and the usual ‘mamak’ (Indian-Muslim) fares, this charming eatery should not be mistaken for that famous Bismillah Cendol on Jalan Barrack, although they are sharing the same name … CONTINUE READING THE REST OF THIS ENTRY »

Hainanese Chicken Chop (RM6.50/USD2.00) – Gravy-licious serving of a tender chicken chop battered, fried and topped lavishly with the brown sauce with onions, carrots and peas.

I wrote about Yut Sun Restaurant in Taiping before, a famous kopitiam that serves a wide array of Hainanese dishes, including the perennial favourite of many; Hainanese Chicken Chop, as well as the not-so-common Roti Sayur, and they even have an ‘Egg Steak‘ to pique your interest. Best of all, Yut Sun’s PORK-FREE, hence you’ll see people from all races dining together in harmony …..

Corny but true.

However, this time around, I was aiming for Wan Li Restaurant on Jalan Kota instead. Situated on the same side as Kok Beng Hainan Chicken Rice (amongst the TOP 10 Chicken Rice in Malaysia!!) and opposite of Kum Loong Dim Sum, most people would pass by this place without even batting an eyelid; judging from the disdain and rather rundown outlook of the premise. But DON’T come to conclusion just yet. For more often that not, it’s places like this that holds promise, and dishes out foods that arrest your attention; ensuring perpetual revisits …….   CONTINUE READING THE REST OF THIS ENTRY »

Since I haven’t been writing much about outstation travels around Perak, allow me to get back into the groove, and share a simple post about this restaurant (or rather, coffee shop?) that serves Taiping’s version of chicken noodle soup for breakfast. The name of the shop? Restoran Kakak.

One glance and you’d be forgiven for thinking this is another bowl of “Kai See Hor Fun” from Ipoh, or even a toned down version of Penang’s Koay Teow Th’ng.

The name of the shop is actually “Jia Jia” (literally translated to Every Family), but when converted to Malay (or English), it becomes Kakak.

A little misleading, for a traditional Chinese coffee shop to be named as such?

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Taiping is a town in the northern part of Perak, famous for its generally cooler climate, hogging the limelight for being Peninsular Malaysia’s absolute wettest town, with average annual rainfall doubling the average of other towns. While usually we relate cloudy weather to forlorn frowns and depressive states, but in Taiping, the unusually heavy rains have led to the fertile growth of flora, especially the century-old, breath-taking rain trees lining the perimeter of Lake Gardens.

Aside from its rich heritage, spanning a historic momentum since the 1844, when Taiping was the first town to initiate tin mining activity in the peninsula, the town is equally famous for the resplendent array of street food. From Chinese style of hawker fares to Malay-Indian (mamak) eateries, with the exceptionally famous Bismillah Cendol serving possibly thousands or millions of bowls of the delectable Cendol since the olden days, the town is developing rapidly as of late, with the opening of several departmental stores and chain eateries such as Noodle Station and Sushi King, fast food outlets, as well as cafes and bistros.

But the real charm lies in the most ancient of places. One brilliant example being Peace Hotel and Coffee Shop (Kedai Kopi dan Rumah Tumpangan Peace) on Jalan Panggung Wayang in town centre. A colonial corner shoplot with a dodgy guesthouse on the first floor, with the ground floor being a coffee shop populated with several stalls selling Chinese hawker food. The interior of the coffee shop plain screams nostalgia, with the same mosaic tiles on the floor since the pre-independence era, and the ceramic tiles lining the walls with colourful designs of swallows.

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Hainanese Chicken Chop (RM8.00/USD2.30) – A most classic Hainanese specialty @ Yut Sun, Taiping

Previous post on Pengkalan Hulu’s Gong An Hainanese Food reminded me of this rather famous pork-free Hainanese restaurant in Taiping, named Yut Sun which I visited last month. For what was supposed to be THE last trip to Taiping for this year. And if you somehow realize, I’ve been writing on Hainanese food as of late. A sign of me returning to my roots? (I am a Hainanese, but speak not a word of the language!) Or a surge in my cravings for some good old, authentic Hainanese fare?

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