Motormouth Eats Thai Food Again @ Nakhon Pathom Special (NEW Location)
November 1, 2010 | 12,654 viewsUPDATED January 2011 !!! – More Dishes from Nakhon Pathom Special ……
A bowl of less spicy white Tom Yum Seafood Soup; to cater to the tamer palates ….
Kerabu Mango Salad – Minus the punchy ‘cili padi’ (bird’s eye chillies) but still an appetizing and tangy creation that begs to be devoured. Crispy pieces of pungent cuttlefish in abundance; with roasted cashew nuts.
The Thai Style Pork Knuckle braised until a tender finish; served with chopped ‘Ham Choy’ (salted vegetables)
The Thai Style Fried Chicken with an unbelievably juicy centre; almost like baked chicken with a crispy skin.
Read on for the ORIGINAL post with more signature dishes (including a special Seafood Souffle, the perennial favourite Tom Yum Seafood in its most fiery self, and Pandan Chicken) ……
Remember that recent Return of Thai Wong – Nakhon Pathom Special post? Yup, surprise, surprise. After merely weeks, he and his Thai wife had to relocate to Restoran Soon Hoong once again (this was where they moved to from KK way back in 2008), about half a kilometre’s away from Restoran Sun Hui Seng where they relaunched the Nakhon Pathom Thai cuisine brand on 10.10.10.
Thai-style Otak-Otak (RM16/USD5.20 for a small portion) – A creamy/eggy souffle loaded with seafood ingredients. Prawns, squids, clams and even flower crabs.
Officially, that brief stint in Sun Hui Seng ended after a somewhat bitter event (not going into details here). And thankfully (graciously?) the management of Soon Hoong Restaurant welcomed Ah Wong and wife with open arms. Smart choice, I’d reckon. Given the fact that her cooking draws the crowd like no other, and the place is definitely more spacious than Sun Hui Seng Restaurant.
Look for that banner. If you’re coming from Laluan Perajurit 1, after passing by the flats on your right, go straight and you’ll reach a T-intersection. You won’t miss this restaurant facing the field.
And aside from our usual orders of Seafood Tom Yum and Thai fried chicken, they do serve a myriad of authentic and a handful of modernized Thai dishes.
Rojak Tauhu (RM5/USD1.60 for small portion) – A surprisingly good deal, with lots of velvety smooth beancurd deep-fried to a crispy finish, then topped with lots of chopped peanuts and a sweetish gravy.
This time around, we let Ah Wong himself threw recommendations. Instead of going for the same old favourites of ours, his wife whipped up a fantastic feast comprising of new dishes on the menu. The dishes were not overwhelmingly spicy (maybe because Grandma tagged along?), yet retaining that piquant charm and robust kick we have grown to love since their KK days, roughly half a decade ago.
Thai Fish Cakes (RM5/USD1.60 for small portion) – Also known as ‘Tod Man Pla’, the patties of fish with chopped crunchy French beans and coriander was a crowd-pleaser.
Green Curry Chicken (RM8/USD2.60 for a small portion) – A bowl of creamy concoction laden with flavours from the basil leaves and various herbs, crunchy long beans and strips of deboned chicken fillets. We ended up getting small bowls and slurped on the gravy.
Spicy Stir-fried Fish Fillets with Basil Leaves (RM8/USD2.60 for small portion) – They use fresh Thai basil leaves for the cooking, that you either love them or hate them, due to the distinctive taste of basil. The sweet-spicy gravy coating the fillets of fish was the perfect foil to the pungent and sharp flavour of the fresh herbs though.
The most un-Thai dish of the night? Mixed Vegetables with Prawns (RM7/USD2.30 for a small portion) completed the ensemble, supplementing the meal with some fibres.
Succulent pieces of Pandan Chicken (RM1.30/USD0.40 per piece) deserve an order, unless you’re a die hard fan of their Thai fried chicken. But even then, just go for a piece or two of this. No condiments necessary, the juicy pieces of deboned chicken tasted wonderfully fragrant.
And the piece de resistance of the evening; Thai-style Otak Otak (also known as Spicy Seafood Souffle in some menu). Only available on weekends though.
The ‘Otak-otak’ looked mighty harmless and passable, BUT a forkful or two of the creamy mash of coconut cream, fish paste and lots of herbs revealed embedded treasure trove of seafood within. Prawns, squids, clams, and even flower crabs provided the bites, while the addition of basil leaves perfumed the whole glob of delectable creation baked in an aluminium foil. Don’t miss this if you’re there on a weekend.
The other dishes were all crowd-pleasers, and understandably so since Ah Wong himself set the combination of dishes for us. Notice that we skipped the Tom Yum this time around? Not sorely missed, since the green curry provided much oomph on itself. Tasted somewhat like a creamier and palatable version of Hakka Lui Cha soup.
The restaurant was already attracting a sizeable crowd that evening, since news travel extremely fast especially in a food-loving community like Ipoh. We had to endure a 30 minutes wait for the food, but we were not complaining since we knew that the wife still does all the cooking by herself. No hiring of sous chef or assistants to take over the wok, though Ah Wong does help with the serving, garnishing, cutting and such.
Nakhon Pathom Special @ Restoran Soon Hoong
60, Lebuh Bercham Selatan,
Desa Bercham,
31400 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Telephone : 017-507 3009 (Thai Wong)
Business hours : About 6.00pm onwards.
GPS Coordinates : E101 7? 26.1? N4 37? 25.7?
Updated Google Map to Nakhon Pathom Special
** Don’t miss the FIRST part of the review, with even MORE dishes @ Thai Wong Back in Action!

Wah the Thai Food price in Ipoh are really cheap. KL can’t get that kind of price.
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wow looks delicious!!!
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The Green curry looks good. Ah. i have craving now
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Didn’t know that otak-otak can be cooked this way. 😀
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great food. had the tom yam and the prawns were fresh. It could be the ‘spiciness’ of this dish as all of us had stomach ‘discomfort’ the day after. The omelet was nice and overall dinner was reasonably priced. will go for the otak otak next time but would need to bring a group again to savor the different dishes.
part of the crowd is probably from the readers of this blog! we waited for well over half an hour as well.
there was this guy who took pictures of every dish that night with a black camera with almost all the dishes above…ha! that must be you James!
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J2Kfm Reply:
November 6th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Hahaha ….
Which table were you at?
SOrry this reply comes late.
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Wow!!! I am still looking for Thai food that can be deemed as authentic here in Klang Valley,,, LOL! I wasn’t that adventurous enough I guess…
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J2Kfm Reply:
November 6th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Surely there are good Thai restaurants in Klang Valley. Let me join you in the search …. 🙂
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I’m going to taste the REAL Thai food soon on this coming Thursday, sawadekap!!!
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I hope the do very well in their location. I know that they will still have the same great taste. I love all of their food choices therefore, I do not have a favorite. I have tried to make the same recipes at home but I can not. I will have to continue visiting their restaurant for the rest of my life. I hope they stay in business that long.
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The price is reasonable and the food looks very tasty too 🙂 I always say that Ipoh is full of nice restaurants and shops~ The otak-otak making me drool.. argh…
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OMG… you found the place!!!
have been wondering where they went after they shifted… =)
at the mean time, i found a good thai food restaurant in gunung rapat too… its a cornershop by the mean road.. I forgotten the shop’s name..
looks like its time to head back to ipoh!.. =)
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J2Kfm Reply:
November 6th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Hi wilson, thanks. Gunung Rapat by the main road ah? Hmm …. not so sure. Near to the wet market?
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I stumbled across your blog through New York Times ! 🙂 Great blog !! Keep up the good work.
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J2Kfm Reply:
November 6th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Thanks Jamie. And also thanks for the heads-up. I did not notice about the article prior to this.
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Hi there motormouth, is the place pork free ? would love to get some creamy otak-otak.
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J2Kfm Reply:
November 6th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
hello, nabelon.
Sorry this stall serves pork lah.
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which table? the one outside (almost open air)
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just had dinner here and the tomyam and salt fish kailan very nice.
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Hi :
Need your help to descripbe a little how to get to this place cause still not sure after studying the google map..Maybe can start from something like….
[Coming in from Jalan Bercham (the main road) from Tesco Extra’s direction…]
Thanks a lot and sorry for the trouble…
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J2Kfm Reply:
January 2nd, 2011 at 10:30 pm
Hi Soo, you can turn RIGHT as soon as you can from Tesco Extra. There is one traffic lights that allow you to, right after the petrol stations.
Then go straight and turn LEFT passing by the row of houses.
Then you can see a field on your LEFT. Turn left and go along the route. You will see Soon Hoong facing the field.
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[…] Soo: Hi : Need your help to descripbe a little how to get to this place cause… […]
[…] fact, if compared to my personal favourite Thai food stall in Ipoh, this one fell short off the mark. To an even greater extent. Or maybe we did not order the right […]
Thanks for recommending this place. We had oh chien, green curry. and long beans with minced meat for our dinner tonight. Very cheap and food is super good. Will definitely go there again in the near future.
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