Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

*We started the Tourist @ Home Series with #1 at Sin Yoon Loong white coffee

Don’t flinch at the sight of the title. Please.

Lou Wong has got to be one of the most popular yet widely believed to be over-hyped, and at the unenviable end of the popularity spectrum of being repeatedly-bashed by the locals or ‘purists’.

If you have been living under a rock or plain oblivious to what Ipoh is famous for, or where Ipoh actually sits in the map (*insert facepalm moment here), then allow me a few seconds to get you warmed up.

Bean Sprouts Chicken, Ayam Tauge or Nga Choy Gai in Cantonese is not a one size fits all dish; but instead a collection of individual items making up the lazily-named ensemble that’s a combination of two distinctively separate dishes; “Nga Choy” is bean sprouts; proudly cultivated with water from Ipoh’s limestone hills believed to infuse the sprouts with nutrients resulting in a fatter, juicier and crunchier end result.

Secondly, “Gai” is the chicken, usually poached to a smooth yet bouncy texture; a process involving submerging the chicken to a boil then transferred to a cold water bath to halt the cooking process and retaining that delicate texture of the flesh. Somehow, most subpar establishments cannot get this process right in a consistent manner; ending up with either undercooked chicken (with bloody marrow and pink-coloured, almost translucent meat) or overcooking the poor fowl to a coarse texture.

But the third component is usually lost in translation; a bowl of unbelievably smooth ‘sar hor fun’ or flat rice noodles in a light soup flavoured with the chicken stock and a dash of white pepper.

Now, let’s move back to our story for the day.

The initial plan was to ferry the hungry souls to Cowan Street Ayam Tauge near to the Excelsior Hotel and dim sum mega-stars in Ipoh town.

Well, naturally, Cowan Street was and is still my personal favourite outlet for Nga Choy Gai in Ipoh, despite the violent protests and tantrums projected at poor Motormouth many times before.

Some of you have been stomping your foot and standing your ground in justifying your pick for best nga Choy Gai in Ipoh; outlets like Stadium Ipoh’s Yoon Kee, Ipoh Garden’s pinnacle of a patience-test at Kam Hor, Buntong Ayam Tauke (where you can eat from the comfort of someone’s home compound) and Pasir Pinji’s Kum Kee surfaced time and again. And let’s not forget the sworn rival of Lou Wong’s just across the junction; Onn Kee.

*A pity that the Fifteen Tower Ayam Tauge stall has been demolished together with the food court, and the current whereabouts or future direction remains unknown.

Anyhow, Cowan Street decided to close (again) over the Merdeka weekend. Oh well, why do I get the feeling that they may not be running the business for long?

Since stomachs were grumbling, minds were twisted and some were already transforming into beasts ready for the Purge, we quickly retraced our steps to Lou Wong which is situated about 5 minutes of drive away.

On a buzzing Saturday night, the Gerbang Malam (literally translated to Night Arch) night market was in full force; and the nuisance ‘jaga kereta’ guys were also out like a battalion of desperate money makers. The Ipoh authorities should definitely buck up and extinguish this bunch of threats already; they are overstaying their welcome and by conquering every single street around the vicinity and ‘extorting’ ridiculous sums for mere half hour parking, this has greatly shamed the tourism front of Ipoh.

Lou Wong was no doubt packed with diners spilling out onto the streets; a norm for everyone enjoys the al fresco dining set up underneath the dark skies and welcoming breeze.

The interior of Lou Wong was brightly lit by fluorescent lamps and well-ventilated with ceiling fans, hence we settled for an indoor experience this time around. Well, partially because I needed the light source for photography anyway.

The ordering process is painless, almost. You don’t need a menu here, though we never bothered to ask for one just to test their patience. But if you are a first timer, just know that you should be well taken care of (they have been in business for a great number of years and served possibly thousands or millions of customers before you), and you only need to pick your rice or noodles.

The chicken and bean sprouts combination will be tailored to the number of pax eating; while you choose to have a plate of rice flavoured with chicken oil (sounds gross but very yummy) or the incomparable Ipoh ‘sar hor fun’ (also known as kuey teow elsewhere) in soup, or served dry with soy sauce, dark soy sauce and a dash of pepper.

I still remember the look of horror on our faces way back then, before I started writing upon biting into pieces of bloodied, under-cooked chicken at Lou Wong. But things have changed, significantly.

Our portion of poached chicken was cooked to a right degree; the flesh retaining that firm bite but the dressing was a little underwhelming this time around. The difference between Cowan Street’s version with Lou Wong’s is quite apparent in the sauce; the former has this indescribable fragrant, nutty taste to it; while Lou Wong served their chicken in an oily, soy sauce dressing.

The blanched bean sprouts won me over, without the faintest element of surprise. Lou Wong has almost always delivered with their top notch bean sprouts, blanched to a fabulously crunchy texture; served with a bountiful dose of red chillies, chopped scallions and white pepper.

Not a truly authentic Nga Choy Gai experience, but we usually order sides of pork balls in soup from Lou Wong, while at Cowan Street’s, the braised chicken feet warrants a try.

For the noodles, I have no qualms with Lou Wong’s version, but just don’t compare the broth here with Thean Chun’s as this was not made the same. Onn Kee and Cowan Street cook theirs in an almost similar way, while the supply of ‘sar hor fun’ (rice noodles) could possibly come from the same source.

Overall, this was not a bad dining experience after all. At a price of about MYR10 per pax, this does not necessitate an alarming call to brand Lou Wong as a tourist trap either. Save for the tragically uncontrolled situation with the parking touts, I probably will consider returning whenever the craving comes again in the near future.

The catch is …. This will only be a second choice to Cowan Street for me. Onn Kee just did not deliver the goods the last round, hence has been taken out of my equation. Buntong’s version was a bit oily, and Kum Kee in Pasir Pinji deserves a try but suffers from a slightly off the mark location.

“Where else would you bring a first time visitor for Nga Choy Gai in Ipoh?”

Read more about Lou Wong Ayam Tauge in my previous post HERE.

Restoran Lou Wong Tauge Ayam Kuetiau (non-Halal)
49, Jalan Yau Tet Shin,
30300 Ipoh, Perak,
Malaysia.
Opens for lunch and dinner until late everyday.