Josephine Cafe & Bistro @ Ipoh Garden South
January 20, 2009 | 17,598 views
The classy interior of the bistro, surrounded with translucent glass walls, an alluring diversion to the pedestrians walking by
They take pride in their brand of imported Illy coffee. Other than SSTC (Spaghetti Sweet Tea Cafe), I’ve yet to come across another restaurant in Ipoh serving this brand of Italian coffee. Anyone?
The ambience exudes a warm, comfortable setting for a perfect dinner, with enough lighting for one to differentiate the olive from the black bean. They even have an upper seating area, which overlooks the whole dining area beneath. Cool, but refrain from wearing mini skirts, if you get my drift.
Fish & Chips (RM26)
Fueslli Carbonara (RM25)
Pollo Golden Bleu (RM32)
Josephine Burger (RM18)
With a name like Josephine Burger, it doesn’t take a genius to realise it’s one of their signature item on the menu. But of course, this doesn’t hold true at times. When Friday’s Burger is merely beef and cheese burger, and Old Town Special Coffee is merely double shot of coffee, or rather, single shot in smaller cup.
Half expected the burger to be something like David’s Diner’s Miniature ones, we were pleasantly surprised to see the burger arriving in its full glory, sandwiched between 3 thick slices (or slabs, more like it) of soft, wheat bread was a slice of supposedly prime beef cut, a fried egg that’s more solid than runny, lettuce, and two olives perched atop the grand structure.
Sadly, the beef was overdone, requiring more chewing and far from tender. The egg yolk was hardened, though the whites was ok. The bread was clearly the star of the dish, though that’s not really saying much.
Crinkle-cut Fries … Soggy and oily ….
Thai Green Curry (RM15)
A whole chicken thigh cooked in spicy (yes, spicy) green curry with roasted cherry tomatoes
Kick off your Shoes. let down your Hair and unwind in a cuppa Illy coffee ….
Al fresco dining’s another option, if the formal setting indoor is unsettling
illy coffee in Ipoh? Big Apple Donuts in Kinta city is also using illy brand coffee. A cup cost only RM4. Come with a complimentary donut too.
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Can see that this bistro has a nice ambience, especially for young couples to spend their valentine’s day, rite? 😉
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ohh once u go illy..theres really nothing thats better..
fine dining? no la..this still looks miles away from KL fine dining..
for starters..dont think fine dining serves fish n chips..
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Crinkle cut chips!? If you’re not a hawker in slippers and dirty apron with full meals at no more than RM7.50, you don’t serve crinkle cuts!! The serving size of sauce for the fish and chips is laughable! Back to the dependable Ipoh hawker fare we go!
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whoa im so outdated! msut check out these places during cny
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the name of the cafe is really cool. and very personalised as well! the melted cheese oozing out of the cordon bleu looks good!
somehow, this reminded me of delicious cafe. nice.
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You so fast, last Wed I passed by still haven’t open. Anyway, wanna to check this out also..but seems to be quite pricey for Ipoh standard, Fish n Chips cost RM26? I love the ambiance, looks cool.
Yea, saw the Illy coffee “advertisement” by them, feel that’s a bit too much.
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wow, fish and chips for RM26, expensive lor!!!!
penang is selling RM21, is already expensive leh… not any other fish but dory fish only wor… worth that price meh???
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Wow you are indeed fast! Was targeting the place since last week when I drove past it. So I went there the day after it’s opening. Was HAPPILY surprised that they were serving Illy coffee… Finally, my favourite fine coffee has arrived in Ipoh (that is apart from our infamous Ipoh White Coffee). My two-cents about the place: GREAT ambience, LOVE the decor but the food leaves a lot to be desired. Their saving grace is probably the COFFEE!I gave them my comments about the food, so hopefully they will improve cos I would still love to go back there for the coffee.
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A bit busy recently, that's why can't really reply on time and unable to visit you'll …sorry^^
Everything's will back to normal after CNY.
Wish you have a happy & properous CNY^^
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So, to sum it up… yet another pretentious rip-off joint in Ipoh?
Illy coffee at Josephine = RM10, illy coffee at Citrus = RM5…
Prices seem to be astronomical for what they are. I have no qualms about paying more money if the food justifies it… but RM26 for fish and chips with a) frozen chips b) non existent batter on the fish = epic fail. The proprietors need to have a serious rethink about their pricing. Put it this way, here in London, I can go down to my local fish and chip shop and pay £4.50 (RM23 by current exchange rate) and get a HUGE piece of cod (twice the size of your skinny dory) with a huge portion of home made chips. And this is LONDON we are talking about… food here is very expensive!
Also it is Fusilli, and your carbonara sauce looks scrambled – I don’t think its as much as using too much egg as it is them simply over cooking the egg.
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also to Joe who is constantly craving.. I actually have had fish and chips at a fine dining (michelin star) restaurant. It may be simple street food, but its all in execution too.
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Don’t think they are fine dining, hehe ^.^(from the lousy fries)..
Wishing u : GONG XI FA CAI !!!
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They even sew their own cushion cover!! Cool! I shall do that for Pea and Pumpkin, but first i need to learn how to sew. Hehehe…
RM18 for the plate of so-called burger definitely a rip off.
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wei.. motormouth… nice place wo.. muz go n try once.. haha…
ooo… avoid mini skirts?? hmm… too bad too bad.. =P
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hahah finally some place near my house..hmm..can give it try one day..friday okie!
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I like the title, that shows the owner is proud of what she’s doing and is willing to have every item on the menu to be judged at the expense of her reputation.
Well, that’s my opinion.
Ambience: Cozy yet spacious, suits tropical M’sia very well, seems airy too, casual yet elegant. (I just hope that they have all the precautions to keep the mosquitoes at bay at al fresco area,one thing I am afraid sitting outdoor in M’sia is bcause of those nasty blood sucking flies)
Food: It is more like a mix of food from a british chipper shop and cafe food than fine dining. What a pity for such a name and a nicely done place.
1. Fries are near whit colour. Worse still, they are not fresh straight cut fries???!!! Urgh..
2. Fish is over fried and oily. The rest..mediocre.
When I was in Ipoh, friends told me Ipoh’ans’ are not willing to pay expensive price for food. They like good quality and reasonable priced casual food. Which I agree and understand. The pricing ought to be adjusted to suit locals. Where possible, home made fries would add a personal touch to the food.
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Ooopss, silly me, just realised the shop name is Josephine Cafe & Bistro..Ok, yes, standard cafe food..but quality and cooking skills are not there yet acc. to the pics..
By any means, the owner aims it at fine dining is another question..hmm..
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sooooo expensive the fish and chips. KL can get good one for half the price! And soggy chips?! Mana boleh? Fast food can do a better job la.
Ipoh up market dining is rather cut throat.. dunno what they are trying to prove.. maybe they think ppl assoc. expensive with FINE (as in fine dining). sad.
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When in Ipoh, my choice will always be Glorious Beansprout Chicken Rice. 🙂
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Ipoh Garden Plaza? Meaning they occupied the previous dim sum lot?
The design and interior looks really relaxing… I won’t mind sitting outside on a lazy, gloomy Sunday noon.
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I went there too last Sat and it’s their first day of opening. My frens commented that the garlic bread that they served is good. I personally don’t like the fries served but thr’s one of my fren whom loved it. The coffee that we ordered is good too 🙂 I thought of going there again to try the food but seems like it’s not a good choice. Hahahaha ~ I love the enviroment there cuz it’s very cosy n relaxing.
Btw, we are being chrged RM15 for the cake that we bought cuz they are selling cakes too and it cost RM90.00/cake.
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Anonymous : oh Big Apple serves Illy as well? ok, now I know where to get my fix!
Selba : yeah, the place looks good, very comfy, with cushions bearing the name, Josephine.
Joe : yeah, I agree. probably in their trying period? let’s hope they buck up and change.
550ml Jar of Faith : yeah, I was slightly discouraged at 1st. for that price, least we should get better quality fish, and sides.
kampungboycitygal : nope, you’re not exactly outdated lah … its rather new.
Nic : maybe presentation-wise of the food resembles Delicious. the pasta at Josephine’s really big portion though.
SimpleGirl : oh, pls do check this place out. I’m sure since CNY hols, the business must be booming for them!
NKOTB : I think not. and with that hint of muddy taste, you’ll be better off getting your fish n chips at any western food outlets in ipoh.
anneray : hi! you’re fast too! let’s hope they change for the better, as the place looks promising for a dinner (not exactly quiet one though, the trance-y music was blaring at the background. u noticed?)
Shell : hi, no sweat! happy CNY!
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genuiness : oh, Citrus serving Illy as well? at half the price?! wow. yeah true. one can get good fish n chips in UK/Aust at that price!
mimid3vils : happy CNY! lousy fries aside, they really need to buck up the quality of their food. it's of course, a cafe and bistro, not a full-fledge fine dining restaurant, but still …. a tad pricey for Ipoh's standards!
Precious Pea : cushion cover for them both? hahaha..wont they just rip them off?!!!
KCA : haha, you planning to wear your killer skirts?!!! then sit downstairs!
FCOE : friday? hahaha.. think you'd better come to an agreement with the 'Fussy One' …
aDel : yeah, if its pricey, least give the best quality and quantity you can. don't find the easy way out and serve fries from supermarket, and unproperly-thawed baby carrots.
cumi & ciki : hmm, i'll have to agree with u there. still longing for a proper dining place in Ipoh. Citrus is currently atop my list.
Tummythoz : GBCR? wow. sounds cool …. hahahah …
jason : got dimsum meh?!!! *_* sorry, very lost. seldom eat there. for a cuppa, its ok. but the cakes also mahal bit.
Shopping Queen : maybe I should go again, and give them another try b4 judging. gotta let them sort out their devils, no?
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nearly step into the place last mon, but quick look at the ambience make me feel uneasy to part with my wallet, lol, ended up eating somewhere else.
prob i kedekut ma…
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I’m sorry to hear about the poor food quality of this so-called bistro. Their price is way too high up for the quality of their food served. I mean dory fish??? In Penang, for that price, we could get much better fish. When I go back Ipoh, I think I’ll still stick back to coffee shops/hawker stalls. Kong Heng here I come! 😛
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mycroft : hahaha, it was a wise decision anyway. Monday, with the other gang from ur place?
iamthewitch : yeah, dory. of all fish. that price can net a small pc of codfish, or salmon.
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do you know which type of dory it is? Some dory’s are pretty expensive e.g. John Dory.
also why do people keep referring to Cod as cod fish. Its kind of like calling chicken ‘chicken meat’ or beef ‘beef meat’. Just irks me i guess 😛
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i was there one night during the cny week.. poor service very poor.. when i reached they say full house but few tables are empty but not cleared.. then i waited 15 mins for them to clear the table. i ordered coffee and caeser salad. the drink took half an hour to serve and the waiter say ” ur salad is coming” and what happen nxt? one and a half hours to wait for a salad.. do u even need to cook? omg.. for the price i’m paying i rather go to indulgence , sstc or anywhere else
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The enviroment is nice, the cushion is nice, the music is nice….but the food so so, and yet the price is high. about service, we are standing infront of the bar waiting to be seated, meanwhile waiters/ waitress just looking at us standing at the doorside…..
while we ask is there any empty place at other side, the waiter did not look for us but stand still right there.
fren bring a SLR camera but not allowed to shot photo using the SLR.
italiannese in KL is much more better, RM25++ per pasta is for two but in josephine just for one….and the quality is far more different.
illy in josephine is so so…i think is personal error, waste the good coffee…paying RM10 for a bad coffee, rather go to starbucks or indulgence or coffee bean
with such food quality in ipoh…hard to survive….
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genuiness : probably just used to the way most restaurants call the fish as codfish. you have silverfish, catfish etc …. 🙂
camie : pity your less than satisfactory experience at the place. mine was not that positive either. wondering if they’ve improved nowadays.
Anonymous : you cant snap with an SLR? I was shooting with my phone, probably that was why i got off the hook. yeah, wondering how long can they survive with premium price and mediocre food.
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Thank you to the owner of this blog for posting such wonderful pictures , reviews and full address of locations.
Thanks to the internet creator. Without him/her we would not be connected to know more info in this world.
Thank you God.
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you’re most welcomed, Anonymous one. 🙂
of course, i’m answering to the FIRST line of thanks.
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hey, im actually looking for a place named The Dining PLace in ipoh. anyone knows where is this place? a map? a website? what is this place like?
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sorry Anonymous. haven't heard of. any Ipoh ppl out there would like to assist?
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I agree with you strongly that joesphine cafe serves MEDIOCRE food and BAD service, I have to emphasize that its not only BAD service, its SUPER BAD!!! I told them the Mocha tasted lousy as its really bitter, the lady, I guess she is the restaurant owner, to my surprise, she refuted that Illy's Mocha was like that!!
I have tried the same Illy's Mocha at Indulgence and Maria's, both of them tasted more or less the same, how come Joesphine serves different Mocha?????? Probably they are outstanding and unique, that's the only reason I would say haha
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opps…..Im sorry that I misread your 1st paragraph, however, I have to say that they didnt offer good service that day when I visited this cafe, and the lady's attitude is kinda disappointing.
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yesterday i went to the worst restaurant in ipoh. Both the service and foods were terrible. The restaurant is call josephine ( its situated in ipoh garden south , inside the parkson ria’s old building).
First of all, you must make yourself free for at least one hour because your food won’t arrive after 30 minutes even if you just ordered garlic bread only. The design inside actually not too bad but the services they provide will make you feel like you in hell. The waitress…is damn rude ( bare in mind the price is those high end restaurant prices). Me and my family ordered ice blended coffee , garlic breads, pancakes, salads etc. You will be surprised what actually arrived at your table.The ice blended is ….actually not really blended but a lot of ice cubes floating inside your coffee( but they charged like rm 12 to rm 14 for the ice blended coffee… more than coffee beans.)Then, the under baked garlic bread arrived. We had to ask them to send the garlic bread back to the kitchen to rebake it. ( very reluctantly by that waitress). Then this ‘wonderful’ waitress come and clean up the table while we still eating our food. We asked the waitress to stop cleaning first, then she just turned rudely to us and say “NO”. I got the shock of my life. The nightmare didn’t end there,then the pancake haven’t even arrived yet after 1 hour in the restaurant. We asked like 3 times for the pancake, again, the waitress didn’t bother much. At the end we decided to cancel the pancake as the enviroment inside is so terrible, so that we can get out of this place ASAP!!!
For people who think might want to step in this place again…………… think twice
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wow, after so long, they’re still providing the same level of service and quality of food?
that’s really bad for a place that’s supposed to be on the level of fine dining.
thanks jack, for the update.
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Today i v my fren went to worst restaurant (josephine) tat in you guys said, my fren also advise me not to go there. But i sitll need to go there for a try isit realy tat bad wat u guys said!
wat i found lately;
With tis kind of design in ipoh i had to say Yes! BUT have tat kinda good design, dun have the best quality food n service, n the price is only suit for the design is not the food, y dun juz display the design?????
wat my fren n i order was=orange juice, class of coke(damn is only half of the coke can), tea, lamb chop(the cheaper price 1) we also had to pay over(rm60++).
If tat is such a good food coming out, we would prefer to wait!
we were mean to have a good meal, not a bad meal tat juz served us!!
we were paying money for a good meal, not for bad service show!
And the last, we were complaint to the food is cold, and a lady coming out juz kept on told us the meal is cooked! (and tat’s wat u guys mentions she is the boss)!!! once and the last think think think think all my fren, you want to be a mice to try or having a good meal for wat u pay !!!!!!
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I went there earlier tonight. We had the pumpkin soup, which tasted funny. I can get nicer & tastier pumpkin soup for much less at this express soup place in KL. Next,the Mushroom Salad. It was literally drowned in way too much dressing (I deduced that the special ‘Japanese Dressing’ was only made up of kikkoman and sugar). Not worth the RM16 we paid.
My sister had the Linguini witih Mint Pesto….the linguini was also drowned in way too much pesto sauce. Awful!
For the drinks, I had the HOT chocolate. Mind you, I said HOT…Well, the drink came in a GLASS with NO handle. I’ve never seen hot drinks served in a glass before. How on earth do they expect me to hold it? I conveyed this to the lady, who in turn sulkily replied that they do not have any other glass, unless I’d like it in a coffee cup? Hey, hell yes, a coffee cup is a definite improvement from a glass, wouldn’t you say?
So in conclusion, I’d recommend Josephine’s only for lazy afternoon tea or coffee with friends. It is also a good place to hang if you’re looking for free wi-fi with a nice comfy ambience and cozy booths. Cos that’s just about all the place has to offer. What a waste of prime location!
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Oh and I forgot to mention that the few times I signalled for a waiter/waitress, it takes a very long time to catch their attention and when their very unattentive heads finally do turn to look at you, they give you a look that says ‘Do you need something or were you just signalling for fun?’ instead of coming right over. Wake up people, you’re in the service line!
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[…] Josephine Cafe & Bistro […]
[…] Cafe & Bistro; capturing hearts since 2008/9. Wait a minute. Is this the same Josephine that I wrote a scathing piece of review back in 2009; largely due to the below par food served at unreasonably marked-up prices? Yes dearies. I found […]
[…] Cafe Bistro; capturing hearts given 2008/9. Wait a minute. Is this a same Josephine that I wrote a sardonic square of examination behind in 2009; mostly due to a next standard food served during unreasonably marked-up prices? Yes dearies. we […]
A disappointing experience on Josephine cafe and bistro in French Hotel, Ipoh. I was served dessert before my main dish. My main dish didn’t even turn up when the bill came and they even charged me for that. The service was absolutely appalling. The supervisor not only DID NOT apologise for the poor service she even had the guts to ask me to go to other restaurant next time. Rude and arrogant staff will only lead to its demise! The owner of the restaurant should really look into it. Else it would embarrass Ipoh as a food haven!
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This restaurant is awesome to me.i like how itu use to be..
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