Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

Wake up to a steaming hot basket of fluffy Char Siew Bao perhaps?

In the blink of an eye, or without even batting an eyelid from the successive barrage of tragic news back home (the past week has been nothing short of dramatic for the Malaysian political scene!), I have spent a good week in Hong Kong now; finally settling down although not entirely separating myself from this nomad life. This will continue at least until October, I foresee, but the past 12 months have prepared my body and mind enough to sustain the continuous travelling and moving about.

How have YOU been my dear readers back in Malaysia? 

Truthfully, despite the fair number of warnings that the weather in Hong Kong can be terribly hot and humid, even many more times than Malaysia or Singapore, this past week had been rather mild to begin with. Heck, the night breeze was also cooling, and the indoor air conditioning at full blast somehow made the outdoor more welcoming than terrifying.

I wished that I could have brought my camera around for food reviews from Day One, but the first two days at work were packed with activities, even needed to travel to Macau for a good few hours and coming back past midnight by ferry. So, no new food photos this week, but I can give you a brief rundown of what’s good and what’s not so far.

Here we go.  Read the rest of this entry »

What’s better than a platter of crunchy, greasy, deep fried goodness fresh and piping hot from the wok? Pictured above are what we called “Lor Bak” or Ngoh Hiang (5 spices), the spiced pork rolls wrapped in beancurd sheets, but the term has been used to cover the entire range of fritters served with two sauces; one being a garlicky chili sauce and another being a starchy ‘lor’ or dark soy sauce with egg white ribbons.

I felt apologetic and compelled to write a note in between the days where Motormouth has seemingly vanished into thin air. Without a warning (although you might take this as a prelude to the Houdini act), a new blog post, or even a proper farewell (no, contrary to what some might speculate, I am NOT closing this site down), the hiatus seemed unforgivable to an extent where even I started to be drenched in guilt and pushed myself to write at least a paragraph or two.

But to no avail. The incredible (mis)adventures for the past few weeks rendered me helpless.

Since the last post on Beach Road’s Scissor cut Curry Rice in Singapore, I have traveled to Hong Kong twice; caught in a typhoon warning level T8 (where everyone went into hibernation mode and malls closed down) and got my flight rescheduled to the next day, Singapore for almost a week (until yesterday) and the rest of the time spent in a somewhat dormant mode in Kuala Lumpur. Oh and along the way, my trusty Nikon D7000 went into a tantrum (‘merajuk known…‘) with the focusing issue, everyone celebrated Raya (I deserve to be shot for missing the formality of an annual Selamat Hari Raya greeting to all Muslim readers), and well, the Malaysian political headlines getting jammed with conspiracy theories.

Due to a delay in working visa approval, I was floating around like a nomad, well, the optimistic side of me sees this as a chance to recuperate from the successive job environment changes since my government days in 2010 (read this overly-emotional post on Stripped down Monday), where I barely had any breaks in between.

Today, this super-charged Friday where I am still in Kuala Lumpur (surprise, surprise) until the final move this Sunday to Hong Kong, let me share some older photographs I stashed away in my archive; of my beloved Ipoh – the Old Town Walk.  Read the rest of this entry »

A feast of Hainanese curry rice in Singapore; pictured above were dishes ordered at Beach Road Scissor-cut Curry Rice near to Farrer Park – guilt-laden yet deeply gratifying ensemble of curry and braised sauce drenched rice, battered prawn fritters, stewed cabbage, fried pork cutlet and sweet and spicy anchovies with caramelized onions.

Since I have left Singapore (this happened unceremoniously a few days back, and yes folks, I am BACK IN MALAYSIA!), I faced quite a few thought-provoking questions from friends, relatives and random readers alike.

“What do I miss most from Singapore?”

Well, naturally, I would assume that the curious barrage of questions are directed at the FOOD that I miss most, since regrettably, I did not have much time (yeah right) to go around the island much for the other highlights besides eating. I made a long laundry list of activities and stuff that I would like to do within the 12 months, but apparently as fate would have it, work and traveling took up most of my time, while the rest of the days were spent idling away or recuperating and preparing for ….well, the next trip.

Now that I am breathing the Malaysian air again (choking up the haze somewhat, but still glad to be home for a while), seated here in front of my desktop on a breezy Friday evening and scouting for materials to share with you readers (who must be foaming at the sides of the mouth with the gradually infrequent reviews, and even lesser  food stories from Ipoh), I thought about sharing another one of those Hainanese curry rice outlet in Singapore (after Loo Hainanese curry rice and Beo Crescent); this famous stall on Beach Road near to Farrer Park/Little India named Beach Road Scissor-cut Curry Rice – the scissor-cut part referring to the use of the utensil to quickly cut the chosen dishes into manageable, bite-sized morsels.

Read the rest of this entry »

This article was first published in the Malay Mail Online.

Patisserie BoutiQue @ Ipoh old town – Come here for a revitalizing, Paris-inspired cafe experience during the mid day blues 

With dozens of new cafes popping up all over Ipoh in the last couple of years, one might feel slightly overwhelmed when making a choice for a Saturday afternoon tea break session. Now that I am based miles away from home, the routine homecoming trips to Ipoh have been nothing short of exhilarating (and to some extent, exhausting).

Almost every single trip home I would be greeted by new establishments out to make a name in the competitive cafe scene, despite the relatively lower crowd volume on weekdays compared to say, in the Klang Valley with its perpetual supply of teenagers and youngsters looking for the equivalent of a “library” or an Instagram-worthy spot after class.

But this does not seem to impede the young entrepreneurs from their start-ups in Ipoh, some even making a detour from bigger cities like Kuala Lumpur to explore the untapped (note that I use this word loosely though) opportunities in Ipoh; possibly capitalizing on the locals’ inherent fondness for coffee.

Soufflé pancake may not be an everyday item at Pâtisserie BoutiQue (you will need to check with them or look out for this at the display counter), but should you see this, don’t give it a miss 

One cafe that has bowled me over sits at the corner of the row of refurbished old shophouses in Old Town: Pâtisserie BoutiQue. At the other end of the row is Burps & Giggles; possibly the pioneer of this modern batch of vintage looking cafes.

Unlike a few unfortunately flagging ventures in town, Pâtisserie BoutiQue has amassed quite an unwavering support from the locals despite their slightly inconvenient 10.30am to 6pm opening hours.  Read the rest of this entry »

It’s way past Wednesday, but who cares when one’s taking a break?

You could be wondering whether Motormouth’s on another traveling spree, nursing (another) emotional outburst, indulging in excessive keyboard warrior-ism in a deluge of battles with themes ranging from what a gymnast should be wearing in competition to how a minister should behave, or cursed by yet another (rather frequent and convenient) lazy and procrastination spell.

Well, to be honest, it’s a mix of all of the above (save for the keyboard warrior part, as I wished I had the time to participate in the conversation but time is really not on my side), plus the fact that I only have two more weeks (give and take) to complete my assignment here in Singapore, pack up (something I dread the most, but have started since a month back) and get ready for repatriation back to Malaysia.

But then, there’s a catch. Read the rest of this entry »

This article was first published on the Malay Mail Online. Click HERE to read it.

Nothing beats the hands-on experience of devouring a crab; licking the shell clean then proceeding with the sweet flesh within

It may not seem fair to compare the number (and corresponding quality) of the seafood restaurants in Ipoh to those in surrounding towns with fishery activities such as Sitiawan, Pantai Remis and Lumut, or even Sauk, Lenggong or Tapah for freshwater catches from the rivers of Perak.

However, looking for a decent place for seafood in Ipoh is surprisingly not as tough as finding a needle in a haystack.

For the benefit of casual visitors to Ipoh, I would skip mentioning the more elaborate and well-known Chinese restaurants such as Pusing Public (or Mun Choong), Kok Thai, East Ocean or even the classic Tuck Kee. Instead, let’s shift our focus towards the street food style or chu char places that need no reservations, no minimum spending or number of diners (you can even go by yourself and have a blast feasting on prawns, crabs and shellfish!). Most importantly they serve utterly scrumptious food!

Back in the 90s, there was this incredibly popular food stall at the side of Nam Kew Coffee Shop (but now the shop has changed name to Yee Lock) located along Jalan Raja Musa Aziz in the heart of Ipoh town dishing up various seafood dishes including crabs and shellfish cooked in a dazzling array of methods from spicy kam heong style to steamed with shredded ginger. There were also fried rice/noodle dishes such as fried thick yellow noodles aka Hokkien noodles (usually called dai look meen instead) or wat tan hor.

The stall has since moved to a corner shop right behind the original premises; it is now named Yin Fai Kee but somehow the quality of their cooking has not been consistent — at least from our previous visit a few years back.

Maybe it’s the feng shui of the stall location (which is parked at the back of the shop; and also occupying almost half of the narrow sidewalk on the side with plastic tables and stools for a classic alfresco experience) but the new stall in Yee Lock is doing brisk business every single night; the patrons gladly queue for a vacant table on weekend evenings, then patiently wait for their orders of seafood cooked with high flames by the team of culinary wonders in an open kitchen setting.

You can arrive earlier, say about 6pm or so, to avoid the wait. The establishment can seat quite a large crowd but the tables are not designed for large groups of 10 or so, thus you may need to combine tables if you come in a large group. There were only four of us but we found it difficult placing all the dishes within the space of the standard-sized table. Bear in mind that during the day, this IS a coffee shop after all with stalls selling curry noodles (which is quite famous, the Ma Jie brand) and so forth.  Read the rest of this entry »

This article was first published on the Malay Mail Online. Click HERE to read it.

Try their weekends-only curry chicken with rice; the scary shade of red may seem intimidating but the spiciness is well tolerated even by non-spicy food lovers. Deep fried squid rings is a delightful snack that goes well with the Lingham’s bottled chilli sauce

Despite spending close to a year on the island across the Causeway, I have yet to jump on the bandwagon of partaking in the infrequent (sometimes monthly) pilgrimage across the straits of Johor to indulge in some retail therapy, makan sessions or catching a movie marathon in Johor Baru. On a side note, I did the reverse some time ago; staying in Johor Baru and visiting Singapore for a day trip on foot (technically, although we used public transport!).

But it becomes more challenging (and interesting) to embark on a food hunt on foot to JB (Johor Baru for short); crossing the border and coming back with a bucketful of pleasurable memories. One useful hint is to go on a Saturday instead of a Sunday, as you could be stuck at the Customs or the Causeway with the homecoming crowd on Sunday evenings (and it is not a pretty sight). Even then, do make it a point to wake up earlier and travel to the checkpoint at Woodlands before noon; preferably even before 10am if you can afford to sacrifice the luxury of sleeping in. Well, the recent trip was a mixed bag of emotions; this was my first pilgrimage (if you will) from Singapore since I relocated to the Lion City 11 months ago, and this will also be my last before I leave Singapore in a month’s time for my next career move. But boy oh boy, was it a fabulous eating adventure crammed into a span of eight hours! We started off with an early lunch at Restoran Hua Mui near to City Square Mall; just after the checkpoint. Read the rest of this entry »