Famous “Golden Char Kuey Teow” of Old Town, Ipoh
December 1, 2010 | 17,921 views
Why oh why, was this named “Kam Chau Fun” aka Golden Char Kuey Teow?
Maybe because of the gorgeously wet and creamy egg oozing juices seated on top of the pile of fried noodles? OR the fact that a serving of a minimal handful of noodles with two shrimps cost RM3.50/USD1.20 per plate?
Hard to say, but ask anyone about this famous ‘kam chau fun’ of old town in Ipoh, and chances are people would be torn in between. One might sing praises for the skilfully fried combination of kuey teow (flat rice noodles) and yellow mee, slightly charred from the intense frying process (it’s a skill shared by the presumably-father and son duo) then topped with the signature egg omelette with a brilliant, golden hue.
While the other person might scorn for the pathetic serving of a Char Kuey Teow (CKT) cost that much for two mouthfuls. Read on to find out more ……
Very robust, aromatic and rich white coffee from Sin Lean Lee; a superstar overshadowed by the many white coffee specialists in old town.
Throughout the three years in service, this coffee shop named Sin Lean Lee owned the crown for being the most visited joint for breakfast in old town. At least once or twice a week, or sometimes more depending on the mood for coffee. Yeah, a hearty, aromatic and frothy brew resembling Chang Jiang’s white coffee more than the other milder/milkier white coffee favourites (Sin Yoon Loong, Nam Heong). Sin Lean Lee’s white coffee possesses that intense bitterness masked by the balanced proportion of condensed milk to caffeine. An underdog indeed, at least to the out-of-towners. But come weekends, public holidays or school holidays, you’ll bear witness to possibly the most crowded coffee shop in the whole of old town.
Since this shop seats more customers in comparison to the others on the other end of Jalan Bandar Timah, the turnover is rapid too. And since you can’t really find something worthy to eat at Sin Yoon Loong, one tends to settle for the toast and white coffee only when eating there.
Rivalling Nam Chau‘s egg toast (“dan ji”); the half-boiled eggs on toasted bread slathered with margarine provides enough fuel to set you off on a protein high early in the morning.
But at Sin Lean Lee, you can actually find an impressive array of Ipoh hawker foods. Though I can’t attest to the quality of each and every one of the hawker fare, the ‘liew fun’ (fish ball noodle) stall and Char Kuey Teow stalls are good bets. Judging from the crowd on a daily basis, these should be your priorities when you’re stumped on what to order.
The Ipoh style of Chee Cheong Fun with Mushroom Gravy
The Chee Cheong Fun stall sells a variety of lighter bites. From savoury glutinous rice with dried shrimps (not as good as All Inn Cafe‘s situated opposite of this shop) and pulut with kaya (not bad, still a notch below Keng Nam‘s on Cowan Street), to the normal Chee Cheong Fun (steamed rice noodles served with various condiments) and even the stuffed CCF with crunchy turnip.
Go for the dry lou shu fun, or any dry noodles served with their tasty minced meat topping. Then pick the bouncy beef balls (not in the picture), beef tendon balls, or even a whole bowl of fresh beef slices/tripes.
Lots of bean sprouts, Chinese chives (kuchai) and a wet omelette coating the strands of noodles; making this version of Char Kuey Teow very different from Penang’s version. You can opt for cockles or shrimps, or both, or none at all.
Then there are the other stalls. One selling curry mee and laksa, while another sells prawn mee. Personally I have not tried any of these (yeah, 3 whole years and I am such a sucker for the same old … same old offerings), but sometime ago I read a review on the very reddish curry mee, that was supposedly good enough to warrant for your attention.
Who knows, maybe the other (ex)colleagues can continue this pursuit? 🙂
The shop is opened from the front, and from the sides. Stretching until the back, the very spacious premise can seat a sizeable crowd, hence you can be assured of a vacant table. Unless it’s one of those occasions when people come back to Ipoh in droves.
Wait, 3 whole years and this is the FIRST review? Not really. Back then, I wrote a short piece on the CKT. But until now, I am not much of a fan. Let alone going all out to proclaim this as the BEST in Ipoh. Maybe I don’t like my CKT to be wet and all moist/soggy, but give me a plate of Penang style Char Kuey Teow anyday and see me smiling from cheek to cheek!
*By the way, in Ipoh Garden South, at the coffee shop named Chor Kee (I think, it’s the corner coffee shop a few doors away from the famous Mi Cong Yin selling pork noodles), you can find a delicious and worthy Penang style CKT, sold by a couple previously from the Hor Le Wood coffee shop behind Pizza Hut in Ipoh Garden South too.
Yes. I had my last breakfast in my current office here today. Hence, it’s proper to give this place a proper review, and a salutation or two. Don’t snigger, for we have been such constant customers that the aunties (and leng lui’s …?) running the beverage stall have become somewhat friends to us.
“So, Thank You Ladies for the Great Coffee that has time and again; lifted our spirits and pumped us up with caffeine to energize our weary souls !!!”
RESTORAN SIN LEAN LEE
Corner of Jalan Bandar Timah-Jalan Panglima
30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Business hours : From morning until late afternoon. Closed on Tuesdays.
GPS Coordinates : E101 4′ 41.4″ N4 35′ 48.4″
Google Map to Sin Lean Lee
Gosh, the egg toast tempts me much!!
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actually the mix beef noodles and the sar kok is also one of the best around. They have been around since god knows when, You cant find their style of beef noodles and sar kok in KL.
the brothers CKT has always been known as expensive… their chilly paste goes very well with their CKT.
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J2Kfm Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 5:56 pm
I wouldn’t say that the liew fun is not good, but the size of the liew there is really small. The bowl of fresh beef slices in soup is good, at times better than Yik Sun Hakka Beef Noodles opposite this place.
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my mum used to tapao the glutinous rice and CCF for me. it’s nice. but i don’t think the CKT worth the money paid. it’s overpriced. we can get nicer CKT at other place around Ipoh.
so today is your last day? all the best ya. take care.
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J2Kfm Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Yeah, yesterday was my last day at work. Hence the final squeeze to fit in one last post of old town food; a coffee shop that has been our constant haunt since day one.
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Thumbs down for the CKT. I doubt they used a whole egg.
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Golden CKT indeed! It’s name came from the latter – overly expensive, like eating gold!!! These days Golden CKT has lost it. The noodles are pre-fried & set a side in 2 big metal basins. The guy would re-fry (or re-heat rather) for you when you order. And he would re-heat a few portions in one wok. I think it’s a big no-no for CKT. Every plate of CKT has to be properly & individually fried.
The egg toast is good. Sin Lean Lee makes the best soft-boiled eggs!
The Chee Cheong Fun stall also sells home-made sri kaya which was really fantastic. My KL friends come here to buy. But the last I bought (last week in fact) was not that good – it lacked the aroma of coconut milk and it was not as thick as before.
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J2Kfm Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:02 pm
The CCF stall’s kaya lor mai fan (glutinous rice) is very good, and rather cheap too. About RM1.50 per serving, if I’m not mistaken. Just that sometimes (rarely though) the pulut can be slightly undercooked.
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This post brings to my mind a rather unique Ipoh Old Town CKT near to Kong Heng. I worked part-time during school hols in 1980 nearby and enjoyed this particular hawker CKT. He left a half-fried egg (like half-boiled) on top of the plate of noodles. The entire egg was intact but vibrating as he served! Can you find out where he is or is there similar style in Ipoh? Thanks.
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J2Kfm Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Hi worldwindows. I am not sure about this, but judging from the following comments below this, safe to say that might have been the first few generations?
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Well, the closing of one chapter means the beginning of another….
I’m sure you will soon find another favourite breakfast place near your new office…. 🙂
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J2Kfm Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Yup, let’s see what KL has to offer eh? 🙂
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Since some of you have give a rather negative opinion about the CKT, I think I need to clarify a few points to give the tauke a fair justice. Firstly, the CKT is wet because its the style since the days of his grandfather. Yes, its already the 4th generation running this stall (over 50 years) and still counting. Secondly, I believe those who had gone to the shop on weekends or public holidays would know how long you have to wait for a plate of CKT, imagine if the tauke did not firstly pre-fried (like what Sally had said), I think the customers would have needed to wait longer. In another word, the tauke is trying to make the frying process faster. But the CKT is not pre-fried actually, its the family ‘secret recipe’ and only handed to family members. I think I should not elaborate more on this. Thirdly, I believe whoever tried the CKT before should taste the cockles are different from other stalls, is because they use freshly hand made peel cockles, what I mean is the tauke wife peel over thousands of cockles everyday with her daughters. They do not buy those already prepared cockles and their prawns also is good quality prawns. Thats why the price of the CKT is a bit tad higher than the others. Give credit for them please, they worked hard to run the stall. RM3.50 is only so-so price for a plate of CKT, wait until you come to KL (like me) and a plate of CKT is around RM4.50 which tasted like dry noodles, seriously.
How I wished I can have a plate of CKT with the fried fishball (from the next stall) and a cup of iced coffee now. =)
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J2Kfm Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Thank you so much synroxx for the elaborate story.
Yes, RM3.50 is not expensive at all, especially when compared to prices in KL. But in Ipoh, paying anything around that price would mean that people expect more than two shrimps and a small handful of noodles.
Though your explanation on the frying process can be understood, given the extremely high volume of (human) traffic, they can’t help but be pressured to shorten the cooking process.
I have waited for more than 30 minutes once!
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bla Reply:
December 3rd, 2010 at 10:34 pm
how you know???
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just a few comments:
# sin lean lee is definitely more than 3 years old.. 7or 8 years ago (i’m not very sure)?
# the laksa stall used to be quite popular in Jalan Yang Kalsom (opposite the church), the stall lady moved in with sin lean lee ppl when they opened the restaurant in old town.
# the CKT stail should be in their 4th generataion now.. the original stall was run by their great-grandfather in a (now-demolished) old cinema next to Kong Heng.. it’s already been named “kam fun” (golden noodles because of its small portions) at that place then. the next generation moved into a coffee shop (opposite sin lean lee) in the 90s(?).. and finally moved into sin lean lee together with the “liew fun” folks.. and the irony is that the CKT ppl named their stall “kam” CKT, despite the original intention/meaning of this moniker..
# the “liew” fun stall ppl, no doubt, is still very popular with ipoh folks… but the sizes of their fish balls, meat balls etc are all getting smaller in recent years.. and their “ngau nam” is definitely not the best compare to other beef noodle stalls in ipoh…
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J2Kfm Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Yes, definitely older than 3 years. Oh, you have misunderstood me Peter. I meant throughout the three years I have been working around the area, and making this place a favourite place for breakfast.
Yup, previously this CKT stall was from the opposite corner shop; now named All Inn Cafe. Or so I heard from my parents.
I wouldn’t say that the ‘ngau lam’ from the liew fun stall is the best in Ipoh, given the fact that Desa Rishah’s Buntong beef noodles, and the one at Tong Sui kai, as well as the famous Srimaju Buntong beef noodles are considerably better. But still, very tempting in the sense that the beef slices are usually cooked to a very tender texture, barely cooked but with a substantial bite.
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Michael Reply:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:44 am
hi mr. loh, thanks for the comment… the laksa stall lady is my mother… they move to old town since around year 1998 if i am not mistaken… that time i was still in form 4… i bet you live here since you know them very well 🙂
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Went to Nam Chau for their white coffee & dried curry mee couple of weeks back 🙂 definitely praise-worthy but the only grouse is the parking problem… limited and guarded by those who want to make quick bucks!!! In the end I parked at the road at the back and used the small lane to get there!!!
Is this place on the same side as Nam Chau???
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J2Kfm Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Yeah, you can park a few streets away. But on weekends or public holidays, there ARE jaga kereta guys. So beware.
Same side as Nam Chau, further down the road. You can find Kong Heng on your left and this one on your right.
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Just curious..where do you work?Haha.
Yeah they are well known for expensive yet nice noodles. well what to do. aahha.
Thank you for your great reviews. Ipoh’s lost 🙁
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J2Kfm Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Erm, not exactly lost lah … still got a lot of Ipoh food reviews to be done. Just hope I can find the time and capacity to finish the remaining posts.
I will be working somewhere around PJ. 🙂
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Yes, the CKT stall was run from the now-demolished cinema next to Kong Heng.
The present father was only a helper to the old man doing the frying.
He inherited the stall after the old man retired & changed to to the present refried with an egg on top.
The old man used to fry each plate separately & the egg was evenly mixed in. Thumbs down to the present overly priced, overly hyped commercial version.
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synroxx Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Dear Bushido,
I’m afraid the word ‘helper’ isn’t appropriate. This CKT stall is inherited from the 1st generation (a very old man) to his sons (2nd generation–> a white haired old man and black haired uncle). Then the white haired old man retired and left the stall to his bro. And the current tauke is the son of the white haired old man. The tauke’s son (4th generation) who is also one of the person who in charge of frying. Hopes this info helps.=)
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Bushido Reply:
December 3rd, 2010 at 8:43 am
Any old timer remember Ipoh’s best ever CKT ….Spider of Kg Simee ?
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synroxx Reply:
December 3rd, 2010 at 1:18 pm
There’s a lady selling CKT inside the Kg Simee, but I don’t know whether she’s called Spider or what, but her stall is worth a visit.
OMG, I want the golden CKT and the white coffee right now! *jealous*
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Oh yum! More memories….e.g. breakfast dates with my wife…I’m going to miss all your Ipoh reviews after you move….but then again, KL holds many many good food places too…just not as good as Ipoh…:-)
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Oh…just behind Sin Lean Lee is the famous beef noodle place also. I don’t know if it’s been reviewed here but they cook the raw beef on the spot and tastes like nothing in ipoh. Worth a visit definitely!
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I don’t like wet CKT too, btw welcome back? to KL!!!
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Wow, the half-boiled egg on toast looks attractive, I would like to order that one too if I got the chance to visit Ipoh someday 🙂 The Chee Cheong Fun with Mushroom Gravy is such a great combination I see.. My parents are CCF sellers too, but I never try it with mushroom gravy before.. I really wanted to eat it so much! I’m drooling man..
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Wow wonderful dishes i like all and hungry now
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Aik … how come the CKT no more putting in cockles ….. cut cost ka.
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[…] Famous “Golden Char Kuey Teow” of Old Town, Ipoh […]
Thank you for this review. I have never tried any food from this coffee shop before even though I used to go old town very often. Will definately try those food that you recommended next time when Im back home!! 🙂
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J2Kfm Reply:
December 18th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Hi Godiva,
You’re welcomed. But come public holidays or weekends, this shop will be packed!
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Sorry to say that this is really a disgusting ckt, the prefried hor fun and the egg not properly fried. It’s like a half boiled egg with ckt. I’ve been living in Ipoh for almost 40 yrs and hard to find a good hawker food now. For the price vs the quantity of the food is nvr get a star rating from me.
But somehow this hawker still attract a lot of customers…
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J2Kfm Reply:
April 7th, 2011 at 10:05 pm
Hi Soo. If you had read my older review, you would have known how much I detested this CKT. Back then.
But credits to be given where credits are due, sometimes the CKT can be of exceptional quality. No joke.
Wet with a partly cooked egg lying golden on top, and served with copious amount of chili sauce.
Just that not worth going for a single portion since you will probably finish everything in two mouthfuls.
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The prawn mee sold here is so good, must eat. Cannot find a better one. I came here all the way to eat prawn mee. Love it.
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Thanks for the great review! I’m gonna show my aunt and cousins what you wrote, especially on the coffee.
(FYI: “aunties (and leng lui’s …?) running the beverage stall” are my relatives. =D )
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