Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

Follow me on Instagram (@ipohmotormouth) for continuous updates
  • rss
  • Home
  • About
    • Terms & Conditions
  • Ipoh Food
  • Perak Food
  • KL/Selangor Food
  • Penang Food
  • Travelogue
  • Featured
  • Links
    • Malaysian Food Blogs
    • Inspirational Food Blogs
    • Random Blogs
  • Contact Me

Sabar Menanti: Where the wait for delicious Malay food is worth it

March 15, 2015 | 5,472 views
Tweet

This article was originally published in the Malay Mail Online. Click HERE to read the article.

Teh Tarik and Cucur Bawang

Breakfast of Teh Tarik with cucur bawang and roti canai at Restoran Sabar Menanti next to the public swimming pool in Ipoh

The restaurant is called Restoran Sabar Menanti which literally means “waiting patiently” in Malay. You can imagine the gleeful reactions to the somewhat weird choice of restaurant name, right? Well, this place focuses on the concept of “slow food”; every single dish and every piece of roti (Indian flatbread) is cooked on the spot upon every order. Be prepared for a long meal as the food comes (slowly) to your table piping hot and bursting with fresh flavours. But of course, they do serve an admirable spread of ready-cooked dishes for breakfast and lunch as well, in the tradition of nasi campur but this is a minor extension of their kitchen’s strength. The restaurant also has a battalion of staff hurriedly taking your orders and serving platefuls of delectable Malay food. Sabar Menanti can easily pass off as just another Malay eatery within the serene Ipoh city; nestled away from clear view within an oasis-like garden environment next to the public swimming pool.

Self Served Food

Sabar Menanti

You can choose to order ala carte dishes from their kitchen, or self-served items from the open counter

I came across the restaurant back in the mid-1990s (maybe it was a different name or under a different management 20 years back) when we used to attend swimming lessons here, and wondered what the fuss was with a line of vehicles parked along the road leading to the entrance to the pool. Only recently did we have a chance to sample some of Sabar Menanti’s range of simple, almost rustic Malay dishes with a very Malaysian twist like the Indian-Muslim inspired roti canai as well as Chinese-inspired soft-boiled eggs served on thick toast with a dash of pepper and soy sauce/dark soy sauce.

Roti Canai

Flaky, crispy roti canai served with curry, dhal and sardine sambal

For breakfast, you can also order fried noodles or rice from the kitchen, which can effectively test their mettle so early in the morning and for you to possibly experience the Sabar Menanti hospitality-cum-patience test. But let’s not digress. The roti canai arrived warm and crisp. What appeared to be a piece of Indian pancake made too dry without an unhealthy dose of ghee was misleading; the texture was just right with a certain chewiness that I simply adore (as I hate roti canai that is super thin and all crispy without any substance or texture). The accompanying curries and condiments were passable. The sardine sambal took the prize of being the most delicious complement to the flatbread; a notch above the usual spiciness threshold of similar offerings from “mamak” stalls, without resulting in a fiery finish the morning after. The creamy dhal curry was mild and relatively diluted but flavourful enough to be forgiven.

Roti Goyang

Roti Goyang – half-boiled eggs on toast

To call the soft-boiled eggs on toast roti goyang might sound a little weird. Images of dancing wobbly eggs come to mind, but that’s a fair moniker given the fact that it’s served with runny egg yolks dripping over a thick slice of bread that was lightly buttered (or could be margarine) and then toasted over charcoal fire; a rather unorthodox but traditional method of creating crispy toast with a faint, smoky finish.

Cucur Bawang

Cucur Bawang – crunchy, delicious and good to complement any mains

Don’t miss their cucur bawang — sweet onions dredged in flour and deep fried to a crunchy texture on the outside and a soft, moist centre served with a sweetish kuah kacang or peanut and sambal sauce. At RM1 per piece, the savoury snacks are stacked near the DIY counter at the front of the premises; whereby you can also pick other kuih-muih packed separately for a lighter breakfast or to satiate those in-between meals cravings. As I mentioned earlier, Sabar Menanti also serves nasi campur (Malay style mixed rice with a plethora of ready-cooked dishes usually served with a healthy array of raw greens aka ulam and sambal) and a la carte orders from the kitchen. These are available for lunch.

Dinner at Sabar Menanti

Hot, freshly-cooked dishes from the kitchen are served at night at Sabar Menanti

Come dinner time, the dining environment gets a little bit subdued; the area near to Stadium Ipoh seems to quiet down considerably, darkened skies casting shadows upon the rows of hawker stalls at the stadium food court, but Sabar Menanti operates well into the night – closing at around midnight.

What they serve currently are classic Malay dishes such as ayam masak merah and telur dadar, and certain Thai-inspired items like tom yam campur and steamed siakap in a clear, tangy broth flavoured by lemongrass. The dishes come in relatively small portions; good enough to be shared by two but for four persons and above, you would need to really order two portions of each dish. In the future, there are also plans to include Thai dishes in their dinner repertoire.

Their selection of greens seems to be agreeable with us as well. Even though the bean sprouts stir fried with salted fish was a little bit different from the norm, it was still tasty enough thanks to the juicy, plump taugeh cultivated in Ipoh.

Restoran Sabar Menanti Ipoh

The airy dining ambience, friendly staff and quality cooking are factors that have kept drawing the Malay food-loving crowd day after day, and night after night. Oh yes, the wait for the food during peak hours can really test one’s patience, but what’s wrong with taking things slower once in a while?

Restoran Sabar Menanti (Halal food)
next to Kompleks Kolam Renang MBI, Jalan Ghazali Jawi,
31400 Ipoh, Perak.

The restaurant opens from 8am until 12am daily.
This is near to the Ipoh stadium food court.
GPS Coordinates: 4.607296, 101.104363

Blog Widget by LinkWithin
Share
Categories
Ipoh Food
Tags
Halal Food, Ipoh, Ipoh Food, Malay Food, Malay Mail Online Feature, Sabar Menanti
Comments rss
Comments rss
Trackback
Trackback

« STG Boutique Café @ Ipoh Old Town The Seven-year Itch & One Quaint Café in Ipoh »

4 Responses to “Sabar Menanti: Where the wait for delicious Malay food is worth it”

  1. ciki says:
    March 20, 2015 at 11:28 am

    Ah i think i read the post!! so it was yours! Well done.. making me crave for cucur bawang now:)

    [Reply]

  2. BESTMobile Telco says:
    March 22, 2015 at 6:28 pm

    kalau dekat dengan rumah saya, mahu sahaja saya cuba, jauh la.. 🙂

    [Reply]

  3. Best Mobile Telco Simkad says:
    June 15, 2015 at 12:53 am

    Hurm betul-betul sabar menanti ni. Unik betul namanya. Tapi yang tahan & mengiurkan adalah menu makanannya

    [Reply]

  4. Swan Lim says:
    October 10, 2017 at 10:37 am

    Hi there! Does anyone know the contact number for this restaurant? Need it for an event!

    [Reply]

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Click to cancel reply
Load More...
Follow me on Instagram

Why not start from here?

Motormouth's Ultimate List of Ipoh Food Motormouth EATS in the Klang Valley!!! Travel Stories from All Over the World Motormouth's eating up Perak!

Recent Stories

  • Hungry? Head your way to Merindy Restaurant in Kampung Simee
  • Not a Houdini’s Act, but almost … in this blanket of haze
  • Keep calm and take a break: Three cafes to do just that in Ipoh
  • Guangdong cuisine at its best from this unassuming Hong Kong eatery
  • Have An “Oddies” Saturday!
  • The Coffee Academics @ Wan Chai, Hong Kong
  • Grab a quiet breakfast of curry mee and yong tau foo at Foo Kwai, Bercham
  • Motormouth’s Life in Hong Kong
  • Heart still beating, but the energy fizzled out …
  • Beach Road Scissor-Cut Curry Rice – More than a Mess

Archives

Discover All About Ipoh on Facebook

All About Ipoh on Facebook

Most Viewed Posts

  • Ultimate Ipoh Food List by J2Kfm - 1,489,102 views
  • KL/Selangor Food - 244,541 views
  • Best of 2012 – Motormouth’s Top 12 Ipoh Food Finds - 168,047 views
  • Perak Food - 116,928 views
  • Ipoh Famous Yong Tau Foo @ Pasir Pinji Big Tree Foot (Dai Shu Geok) - 110,098 views
  • Bentong @ Pahang – Small Town, Big Heart, Even Bigger Appetite! - 108,609 views
  • Penang Food - 107,093 views
  • A Closing Chapter in Life @ Felda Residence Hot Springs, Sungai Klah - 106,164 views
  • Medan Muara Ikan Bakar @ Tanjung Harapan, Port Klang - 90,986 views
  • Sitiawan Food For Dummies – Half A Day’s Worth of Food Hunt - 87,042 views
  • Ready for A Culinary Safari in Taiping? - 86,895 views
  • Teluk Intan in A Whirlwind – Of Street Food, Leaning Tower & BIG Cinemas - 84,287 views
  • Motormouth’s Travel Ideas – Eating Up Sitiawan! - 81,452 views
  • Village Park @ Damansara Uptown – Is This The BEST Nasi Lemak in Klang Valley? - 72,169 views
  • It’s Perfectly Alright for Girls to “Burp” & Guys to “Giggle” … - 71,379 views
  • Bukit Tinggi – Eat. Shoot. Breathe. Bliss. - 66,643 views
  • Perak Food Guide by J2Kfm - 65,122 views
  • All About Ipoh’s Dim Sum Restaurants – 10 of the Best - 64,168 views
  • All About Ipoh’s Curry Noodles – 15 of the Best - 62,430 views
  • Secret Garden @ Ipoh – A Respite for the Jaded Soul - 61,626 views

Categories

Stats

Admin

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org
rss Comments rss