Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

Nam Heong Famous Egg Tart (MYR1.90) with a cup of White Coffee (MYR1.90); and the e-Order tablet attached to every table

Happy Merdeka dear Malaysians. This is definitely a case of an unforgivable delay of a greeting. Motormouth is indeed guilty as charged, but hear me out please? I was back in Ipoh (rejoice!) for the past weekend and the whirlwind of food tours (playing local tour guide to a few eager beavers sure took the breath out of me!) plus the tremendously temperamental weather threw some spanners in the works throughout the days.

Lightning pierced through the skies early this morning; with a fair share of rain and yet in a matter of hours, the sun was torching my lazy butt off the bed.

Anyway, celebrating our nation’s 57th year of independence back in Ipoh was a blissful affair. This was the first time that I took a direct flight from Singapore to Ipoh on Firefly (this is the only airline servicing this route!), and the experience was positive with only slight delays (about 15 minutes or so on the return flight). And good to visit the refurbished Sultan Azlan Shah Airport after almost two decades!

The gastronomic journey this time around revolved quite a bit on the tourist haunts (or traps, depending on which camp you’re in) as there were a couple of first timers in the ‘makan’ entourage. So let’s cut to the chase and kick off the series with Nam Heong Food Court at Ipoh SoHo; one of the most talked about new outlet in town.

A scary sight especially if you had no initial idea on their modus operandi! But rest assured that you will get your seats assigned to you pretty quickly; a sign of efficiency using crowd control measures and modern computerized system to track orders and accelerate turnover. More on that in this post later.

Nam Heong sounds familiar to you? If you remember the story of how Ipoh Old Town White Coffee started, then you would be nodding frantically. Or putting your hands up. Brownie points for those who remember this chapter.

Anyway, taking things a step further into transforming the kopitiam experience in Ipoh, kudos to the brains behind Nam Heong for coming up with Nam Heong Food Court at the new Ipoh SoHo area next to the Sultan Idris Shah Roundabout (or better known as the Moonlight Grail Fountain Roundabout).

The tablets come in the size almost similar to iPad mini’s, with a relatively interactive and responsive app built in for proficiency in taking your orders, tabulating the sum and reducing human errors, so to speak.

Marrying the concept of Lot 10 Hutong in Kuala Lumpur by congregation of famous hawker stalls in Ipoh, and a smart breakthrough in food ordering that has been practised by sushi joints like Sakae Sushi but has yet to be seen in modern kopitiams thus far (at least the eateries in Ipoh), Nam Heong Food Court elevates the experience by housing the ‘hawker food’ stalls on the ground level, and included an escalator to bring guests up to the first floor where the area can easily accommodate up to 200 patrons as claimed.

Upon arriving at the premise, I half expected to witness a large crowd gathering or queuing up for seats, and I was not too far off from my vision. It was peak lunch hour on a Saturday, and there were at least more than a dozen of customers seated on the red plastic chairs placed in front of the podium with a young chap distributing queue numbers ala bank style.

But they did it quite efficiently, I’ll have to say so. Allocation of queue numbers was by number of pax in the dining party; there were four of us so we got 4113 or something. And were called only about 5 minutes of wait. The rest of the crowd before us came in 8’s or 10’s apparently. If you are in party of 2’s or dining alone (don’t lah … there are stuff that you need to share), then you should be able to get a seat relatively fast.

The Pre-Ordering Bill came lightning quick; in an instance after confirming our Orders on the e-Tablet, a waiter came with this and we had to pay on the spot before our food was served.

I will skip describing about the environment, as you are free to experience and judge by your personal experience or from the pictures that follow. But let’s focus on the ordering part.

For every table for 2, there is a tablet attached or rather, screwed to the table. Obviously non-removable (so stop wondering), when sharing food with your hungry gang of 4’s or more, the device can be a nuisance somewhat; placed right smack in the middle of the communal side dishes. But small gripe there.

The touch screen was responsive, very good tactile feedback and bright enough with detailed shots of the food in crisp display. They must have invested much into these devices, at least that ran through my mind then.

Re-enacting the retro charm of an old kopitiam with marble-top-like tables; an interior filled with soft lighting and mosaic-tiled floors, but with air-conditioning and some darn nifty method of delivering the food; cooked from the stalls downstairs and transported through the lift contraptions in the middle.

So you start by placing your orders from the various hawker classics separated into segments; from Nam Heong Dim Sum to K10 Fish Ball Noodles, Stadium Stall #18 Char Kuey Teow to Pak Kong Chicken Rice, and even Tung Koo Thing (Medan Aneka Selera) Curry Mee. The prospect sounds promising; gathering some of Ipoh most popular hawker food under one roof; dining in the comfort of cooling air-conditioning at full blast, and not even have to stand up and walk over for your orders.

 The waiter will then bring a bill to you; based on your orders and you pay on the spot. Pretty mechanical; just like how one dines at any hawker stall.

Most of the items are priced at around MYR 5 – MYR 7 per portion, a premium over the sidewalk hawker stalls as expected, but still a notch below what Old Town White Coffee or any other modern kopitiam clones are charging.

Chee Cheong Fun with Mushroom Sauce (MYR3.80) was a little too bare; I’m sure a spoonful more of minced pork and sliced shiitake mushroom won’t hurt now, right?

Dry Curry Noodles (MYR6.20) with a handful of BBQ Pork (Char Siew)

Crab Meat Popiah (MYR3.00) arrived last, surprisingly. For a side dish/appetizer that’s supposedly quickest to being served

Prawn Noodles with your option of noodles (select from Kuey Teow, Yellow Mee, Bee Hoon)

Rojak (MYR5.80) that was more sweetish than spicy; with finely-crushed peanuts 

Char Kuey Teow came extremely late into our meal; probably one of the more popular items there I suppose.

Well, we had quite a bit of items to share and sample; typical of eating any hawker centres in Ipoh. Although the prices are relatively higher than the conventional hawker stalls, the trade off is worthy if you get the best of all worlds in the same compound and an ambience that does not reek of smoke, sweat and well, spit.

But sadly, all the glitz and glamour could not cover up for the mediocre quality of the food.

The Rojak was clearly a winner when pitted against the rest of our orders; being a safe choice with sweet shrimp paste nectar coating cuts of fruits and vegetables, and a piece of prawn cracker smashed into smaller pieces.

The Popiah that was supposedly stuffed with crab meat (yeah, at MYR 3.00 per roll, you would best wish if you can even find a tiny piece stuck between your teeth) was not a bad choice either; juicy julienned yambean stuffed into the soft popiah skin with crunchy fritters and your choice of sweet or chili sauce or both. You customize the extras through the e-order system as well.

White Coffee and Milk Tea (MYR1.90) were thankfully spared from the commercialized, half-hearted spell

The rest of the items were sub-par, some even bordering on being ludicrous to even stake claims of being affiliated with the original stalls.

Take for one, the Stadium Char Kuey Teow. Completely devoid of ‘wok hei’ despite the longish wait, this was a disappointment. The CKT tasted bland with an obvious lack of effort in frying the noodles on a heated wok with high fire; merely dishing out the noodles to cater to the massive crowd that afternoon maybe.

The Curry Mee was another sad affair; the dry curry paste was not thick enough; or maybe they did not even scoop enough curry paste. This was more like a ‘kon lou meen’ (dry sou sauce noodles) with yellow noodles that reeked of alkaline taste from the lye water, and none of the classic trait of Ipoh Garden curry mee.

The Chee Cheong Fun was actually not too bad, but they really skimped on the mushroom gravy with minced meat. And pickled green chillies do not come automatically with every serving, though you can request for it FOC.

The egg tart was lacklustre and crumbled without the usual buttery fragrance of Nam Heong’s original version served in old town.

The modern facade screamed for attention; clearly visible from afar and standing out amongst the sea of new shophouses at Ipoh SoHo. Stan & Brew Cafe is located opposite of Nam Heong. 

Credits given where they are due, Nam Heong Food Court did successfully envisioned and brought a concept of modern kopitiam to the next level with their ordering system; including the luxury of ordering before one arrives at the premise (you can read from their website on how to do the MeCanOrder system). However, to ensure sustainability and continued success, there has to be substance beyond sheer style. Thus far, I have not tasted the K10 Fish Ball Noodles Yong Tau Foo, Pak Kong Chicken Rice, Lam Mee, Facey Noodle House’s Pan Mee and Fish Noodles.

This should be the next BIG thing, a destination to bring tourists to sample local delights (just like Lot 10 Hutong). I will keep a close watch on their progress. Meanwhile, I wish each and everyone of you a Happy Independence Day, and Happy Mid Autumn festival!

Nam Heong Food Court (non-Halal)
Blok B, 2-15; Ipoh SoHo
Jalan Sultan Iskandar Shah
30000 Ipoh, Perak Darul Ridzuan
Opens for breakfast, lunch and tea time only. Not open for dinner.
Tel No : +605-241 0923, +605-241 1319
Location Map is HERE