Cheap Eats @ Something Special Cafe in Ipoh
June 26, 2010 | 5,943 views
Something Special Cafe @ Hugh Low Street – Painted with a stark contrast of sunshine yellow and sky blue, it’s tough to NOT notice this wacky little outlet stuck in between the famous Xin Quan Fang curry mee (police station curry mee), and Paris Restaurant’s famous Hakka Mee (formerly Yin Yau Kui from the opposite side)
Huh. I lost half a Saturday today. No thanks to a well-planned, well-prepared, but ill-selected choice of starting time. Waking up at an un-Godly hour of 5am just to scramble my way over to Teluk Intan does not sound exactly like one’s idea of a perfect weekend now ….. does it?
Anyway, there’s a “Special” place (pun intended) I wanted to introduce to you readers since months ago. But somehow, the prospect of getting oneself stuck in the congestion on Hugh Low Street (Jalan Sultan Iskandar Shah) during lunch hour did not appeal at all. Hence the hesitation, and then come procrastination. 
“Thunder Tea” Rice, or Lui Cha Fan is a type of famous Hakka one-dish meal, consisting of an assortment of chopped greens and roasted peanuts on white rice, served with a side serving of the ‘lui cha’ – a Green broth made from various greens and herbs.
Something Special Cafe (in Chinese, it’s known as “Gu Ling Jing Gwai”) has not been on the scene for that long, but in the past couple of years, this cafe has remained a permanent favourite of the lunch crowd.
Why not? When a lunch set, consisting of a main dish (rice, noodles, or fish/chicken steak), an apple tart, and a glass of their homemade sweet potato juice is priced from RM5-RM7 (USD1.50-USD2.10) only !!
Something Special Curry Noodle – Their specialty consisting of a rich, creamy curry-based broth with lots of brinjals, long beans, and fried fish fillets with mee.
Crispy Chicken Chop Noodles – The noodles are wheat-based, and NOT the average yellow alkaline noodles. And claimed to be their own production! All the more reasons for some yellow noodles lurve, baby !!!
Chicken Little Rice – A bowl of rice with slightly spicy minced chicken (“gai ting”) with julienned cucumber and carrots, as well as shredded egg omelette.
## All of the above mains are priced at RM4 each if ordered ala carte, and for an additional RM1, you will get a glass of sweet potato juice, and their signature mini apple tart with a crispy pastry base. ##
Western Fish Steak Meal - Or fish and chips, but with a real slab of dory fish coated with crumbs and deep-fried. Served with a handful of shoe-string fries, some blanched capsicums and carrots, and a whole bun that was halved, buttered, and lightly pan-fried.
They’re using 100% REAL fish (as they claimed), and the Western Fish Steak with either rice, noodles or fries remains my favourite choice when eating at Something Special Cafe.
The food here might be nothing ground-breaking, but certainly value for your money as they do not skimp on the portions or compromise on the quality of their ingredients. Best of all, everything screams HOMEMADE; a plus when it comes to dining out nowadays.
I hate cafes that charge exorbitant prices and still serve mediocre, stale and frozen food.
The mini apple tarts, the glass of chilled sweet potato juice, and the staff will place all of your orders on a trolley then wheel them to you. Much like a dim sum outlet.
Click for a larger view. The menu that says it all … RM5 or RM7. Perfect for those on a tight budget, or donated invested them all way up on the highlands.
SOMETHING SPECIAL CAFE
No 170, Jalan Sultan Iskandar (Hugh Low Street)
30300 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Telephone : 605-241 4346 or 6016-542 9785 (Yee Siew Loon)
Business hours : Monday to Saturday : 11.00am – 4.00pm, 5.30pm – 9.00pm.
Sunday : 9.00am – 4.00pm, 5.30pm – 9.00pm. Closed on Thursdays.
Here’s a GOOGLE MAP to Something Special Cafe @ Ipoh
This cafe is located on your left, if coming from the police station direction towards old town of Ipoh. Next to Xin Quan Fang, the famous “Ma Ta Liu” (police station) curry noodles, and a few shops away from the popular Hakka Mee (formerly from Yin Yau Kui).
Ipoh Chai wrote about this way back in 2008.
The Lui in Lui Char is NOT Thunder but Grind in chinese
[Reply]
J2Kfm Reply:
June 26th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Yes, Bushido.
The word ‘lui’ in this sense is the act of grinding the greens, herbs, leaves and all to create that murky, but aromatic green broth. But since Grind Tea Rice sounds rather …. erm, funny,
most outlets use the moniker Thunder Tea Rice.
For that extra oomph perhaps?
Btw, nowadays, some restaurants do NOT practise the same old method of using the erm, mortar and pestle?! to grind the stuff. Blenders are used to ease the process.
But of course, this defeats the true meaning of Lui Cha?
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From the look of it…everything looks really…”something” special…perhaps only visually? :p
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 26th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Nope. They’re special in the sense that they create some rather interesting combinations,
like pumpkin noodles, thunder tea noodles, western fish steak with noodles, etc.
And oh, they’re cheap. RM5 flat for a complete meal, in an air-conditioned cafe.
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looks tasty!!
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Nice! I luvvv homemade stuffs.
Sweet potato drink? Is it like sweet potato dessert (soup) ?
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 26th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
It tastes almost exactly like sweet potato tong sui. But blended until it’s mixed well. Unlike the ‘fan shu tong sui’ with chunks of sweet potatoes to chew on.
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This cafe got an interesting name with awesome foods
I would go for the curry noodles, it looks very tasty to me^^
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Are you kidding me? All those noodles and rice for only RM4?? That’s already something special for me! The chicken chop noodles definitely is beckoning me, I can see it. LOL
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 27th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Yeah, no jokes. The most expensive item on the menu barely reaches RM10.
Imagine that.
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“I hate cafes that charge exorbitant prices and still serve mediocre, stale and frozen food.”
I’m so with you on this one. Nothing ‘groundbreaking’ nevermind, but please don’t serve pathetic food like so many cafes in Ipoh.
Thanks for pointing out this little shop. I must be blind for not noticing it while driving along this road so often.
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 27th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
The place was crowded on a Sunday afternoon. Mostly families go there on weekends, and on weekdays; the working crowd and students.
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It is pretty cheap! like stanley – dunno why i miss this place. I would love to try it! Esp the chicken kai ting.
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 27th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
It’s bright yellow, but if you’re breezing through Hugh Low Street in anticipation for your cup of white coffee (for instance), then you won’t notice this much.
Oh, this is somewhat directly opposite the Ching Han Guan biscuits shop.
http://www.j2kfm.com/ching-han-guan-biscuit-ipoh/
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I love the curry noddle. It is a big bowl & the noddles are very Q! I like the taste of curry.
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Wow! Yummy noodles
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Thunder Tea LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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[...] Something Special Cafe @ Hugh Low Street (NEW!!) – Cheap Set Meals from RM5-RM7 [...]
Yes, I love this place very much: air-cond with good and warm servicing, food delicious, hygienic & healthy. “Fair & Caring Price” is the policy of this shop. GOOD!!
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