Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

This article was originally published on The Malay Mail Online. Click HERE for the feature.

Lake Gardens in Taiping exudes a tranquil sense of wonder; a breath of fresh air from the traffic and making you walk or jog without you even planning for it.

Being the second largest town in Perak after Ipoh, Taiping is blessed with an assortment of wonders; Lake Gardens with its magnificent century-old angsana trees (golden rain trees), Maxwell Hill with its cooler climes, the many firsts in Malaysia (railway, police station, museum, etc), the only night safari in the country and of course, its plentiful lip-smacking street food. 

We used to go on day trips from Ipoh to Taiping, all within a span of eight hours. And the hungry side of me would always have a list in hand; squeezing in at least three meals within the allocated time whenever possible.

The frequent commuting between the two towns means I have eaten at a majority of the famous eateries in Taiping; yet I still find myself craving and looking for more undiscovered gems.

Larut Matang Food Court – The perfect grazing spot for the indecisive. You even can choose to eat from the Halal or non-Halal section of the food centre.

Thankfully, travelling on the North South expressway from Ipoh to Taiping usually takes about 45 minutes, or an hour, tops. This allows for spontaneous day trips; or at times, even random food hunt excursions. Plus, Taiping being between Ipoh and Penang makes this town an attractive stopover for travellers both north and south bound. 

Let’s start with breakfast. If you’re the indecisive kind or plain eager to sample as many items as possible, you can’t go wrong by paying the Larut Matang Food Court a visit. Come early for breakfast for a splendid selection of hawker fare ranging from Taiping’s famous char kuey teow with fish balls, mee rebus, Nyonya kuih, chee cheong fun with steamed radish cake, chicken rice, oyster omelette and many more.  Read the rest of this entry »

Taiping is a town in the northern part of Perak, famous for its generally cooler climate, hogging the limelight for being Peninsular Malaysia’s absolute wettest town, with average annual rainfall doubling the average of other towns. While usually we relate cloudy weather to forlorn frowns and depressive states, but in Taiping, the unusually heavy rains have led to the fertile growth of flora, especially the century-old, breath-taking rain trees lining the perimeter of Lake Gardens.

Aside from its rich heritage, spanning a historic momentum since the 1844, when Taiping was the first town to initiate tin mining activity in the peninsula, the town is equally famous for the resplendent array of street food. From Chinese style of hawker fares to Malay-Indian (mamak) eateries, with the exceptionally famous Bismillah Cendol serving possibly thousands or millions of bowls of the delectable Cendol since the olden days, the town is developing rapidly as of late, with the opening of several departmental stores and chain eateries such as Noodle Station and Sushi King, fast food outlets, as well as cafes and bistros.

But the real charm lies in the most ancient of places. One brilliant example being Peace Hotel and Coffee Shop (Kedai Kopi dan Rumah Tumpangan Peace) on Jalan Panggung Wayang in town centre. A colonial corner shoplot with a dodgy guesthouse on the first floor, with the ground floor being a coffee shop populated with several stalls selling Chinese hawker food. The interior of the coffee shop plain screams nostalgia, with the same mosaic tiles on the floor since the pre-independence era, and the ceramic tiles lining the walls with colourful designs of swallows.

Read the rest of this entry »

Come come …. a mirage on a scorching hot day? Refreshing, over-flowing with those short, squiggly green worms …. 😉

They sell Pasembor (Indian Rojak) and Cendol … a cool respite from the sweltering heat

Cendol with Santan (Coconut Milk) & Gula Melaka (Brown Sugar Syrup) with Red Beans/Pulut (Glutinous Rice)

Ansari’s Famous Cendol @ Jalan Chung Thye Phin, Taiping, Perak (Address updated 15/3/09 – Sorry for previous mistake)

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