Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

A rather alarming trend with eateries in Ipoh is this prominent surge in the number of new ones opening; from cafes, fast food chains, bubble milk tea specialists (do you even need any more hints?), restaurants to the bistros, commercialized hawker stalls (imagine one notoriously famous 45 minutes Buntong Wat Tan Hor suddenly going upmarket and …. lost the charm) and whatever in-betweens.

Wishing you “Lin Lin Yau Yue” (An auspicious wish in Chinese for “Have Abundance Every Year” … but phonetically, sounds like “Every Year Got Fish”!) – Steamed Tilapia in Soy Sauce

But more tragically, the survival rate of the newbies in the Ipoh food scene is relatively low. Unless you’re one indomitable chain like McDonald’s, Old Town White Coffee, or even Starbucks, the rest just can’t come close. Just look at De Garden two years ago and now. I daresay, almost half of the original occupants have wrapped up and moved on to greener pastures, or maybe fed up with the picky eaters.

Yes, we Ipohans believe in quality food at reasonable prices, rather than unrealistic/over-promising diners charging triple for the same cup of coffee you can get at the neighbourhood kopitiam for mere RM1.20 or so.

 Before this restaurant calls it a day (unlikely though, given the warm support from the crowd on certain evenings, and the soon-to-be very strategic location), let’s see what Ipoh Hometown Restaurant has to offer …… Read the rest of this entry »

“Mun WHAT”? Okay, so there was this amazing place back in the 80’s-early 90’s in town (on Anderson road, facing the current Nam Kew restaurant) that used to serve delicious ‘dai chow’ dishes, various roasted meats, and a delectably irresistible creme caramel custard; much like how Thean Chun make theirs nowadays.

My dad used to work at the now-defunct French Hotel on Cockman Street (Jalan Dato Onn Jaafar) since I was a small kid, and the fond memories of eating wobbly and sweet egg custard at Mun Thin, or ice-cream at First Coffee House, or even the banana split at KFC (yeah, for your information, KFC used to serve ice-cream back in those days) would be forever etched in this gradually deteriorating mind.

“Bao Siew Yok” – Stir-fried Roast Pork with Leeks and Onions (RM18/USD6)

Now let’s get back into business. 🙂

Mun Thin was all but gone for more than a decade. The shop has been transformed into something else (forgot what, but should be a coffee shop with another name for some time) since then, and we have all but lost hope on reliving those sweet memories from the earlier years.

Until now. Yes, the same people that used to run Mun Thin is now at Ipoh Restaurant (how original?); right smack in town centre (on Hume Street/Jalan Masjid, also known as Coffin Street, albeit that’s an unpalatable moniker) …… Read the rest of this entry »

Hainanese Roast Chicken Rice (RM5/USD1.60 per portion)

Finally something Halal from Ipoh for a change? Yes I know, I’ve not been an ardent hunter for Halal cuisine in Ipoh for more reasons than one. Firstly, there are only a mere handful of Malay restaurants (read : restaurants; a proper eatery with air-conditioning unit and proper menu) in Ipoh; and I think I might have tried the most premium of all; Laksamana Cheng Ho. And that was not good.

Wait, we went TWICE. And both visits were … blah …..let’s drop that. Hence you never read about the restaurant even after almost 3 years in existence; this Motormouth from Ipoh.

Crunchy bean sprouts blanched to the right degree/texture; lightly seasoned with pepper and dash of soy sauce, then garnished with chopped scallion and red chillies. (about RM4/USD1.30, if I’m not mistaken)

And since Ipoh’s synonymous with “Nga Choy Kai” or Ayam Tauge, also commonly named as Bean Sprouts Chicken (if you’re confused, read through this list of all the ‘Nga Choy Kai’ outlets I have bulldozed my way through ….), it’s only fair that the Muslim counterparts get to taste what this hoo-hah was all about.

Usually the halal version of chicken rice equals margarine cooked yellow (to a scary extent) rice, served with almost dehydrated roasted chicken and a sweet chili sauce, or sweet soy sauce (kicap manis). That, my friend …. is far from the original Hainan chicken rice we’re talking about.

So let’s see what Ipoh Hainan Chicken Rice; this chain (two branches now) outlet with a cleaner and presentable facade offers to the Malay community in Ipoh ….. Read the rest of this entry »

Hong Bak. Or at least that was what I remembered from our meal way back in the first quarter of 2009! A Hokkien classic of braised pork belly (very fat, so beware … or throw caution to the wind!) served with interesting blocks of ‘kan sui gou’ aka alkaline kueh.

And can you believe that I have been itching to write about Hua Xing since April 2009? Yeah, this draft was left untouched; a solemn state of procrastination to the max.

When Motormouth loses his touch, it’s obvious. Since coming back from Ipoh; there’s this very urge to write more on food from Ipoh. There were few surprises along the way; in particular the fabulous old-timers that me and my family have been eating all these years; yet I never bothered to write a proper entry on them. But the imminent shift in the pace of life in KL compared to Ipoh rendered me almost incapacitated.

Catching up on deadlines for articles, screening through the archive for good finds OR at least something that caters to my tastebud (and I’m sure after following my blog for some time, you would have known what I like and what I don’t …), and proper time management on the whole calls for precedence; before I got swallowed by this wave of the rat race.

Clearly, this eatery is no amateur when it comes to serving the most authentic Hokkien classics; with a fused notion of Canton style cooking thrown in for good measure. (By the way, the bottom right was a glass of delightful sweet potato or pumpkin drink with barley)

It’s Friday now. And a good 9 months since this draft was first initiated. The second visit to Hua Xing happened because Sungei Way is a short distance away from where I am working now. Guess this won’t be the last trip there; judging from the overall favourable reviews from the others.

Let’s see what have I tried from both visits, and what you should NEVER missed ….. Read the rest of this entry »

One of East Ocean‘s (Tung Hoi in Cantonese) most sought after dish; the Claypot Ginger Chicken (Qiong Yung Gai) warrants an order no matter you’re bringing along your Grandma, your friends or even your children. Half a chicken at RM15/USD4.80.

East Ocean Seafood Restaurants are everywhere in Ipoh, so to speak. There’s one in Chemor which I wrote about, another in Ipoh Garden South that I am not so fond of, and this one in Menglembu that some said is the best among the lot.

Aside from that, the group of Prosperous Seafood Restaurants (in Tower Regency and Heritage Hotel) are supposedly from the same group of eateries.

Usually, we would associate this category of Chinese diners with (g)astronomical prices, as in the case of Oversea Restaurants (especially the new one), but surprisingly at East Ocean, you can have lunch for less than RM20/USD6.50 per person.

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Curry Wild Boar (RM12/USD3.90) – Cubes of chunky, gamey meat from the wild, paired with potatoes in a thick, robust curry paste. Typical Chinese style of dry curry dishes.

Talk about hectic. Pardon me, for Motormouth just returned from another short excursion to Kuala Lumpur, and suffering the wrath of heavy, torrential downpour somewhere along the expressway.

But as they say; ‘When life gives you lemon, you make lemonade?’ The saying somewhat rang true when the foodie instincts suddenly kicked in and off we went for an early dinner at Fu Man Restaurant in Tanjung Malim. Or so we thought, already contemplating on the prospects of licking our fingers from the delicious deep fried salted pork belly or even a serving of the almost extinct dish of stir-fried pig’s large intestines with pineapples.

Lo and behold, Fu Man was packed to the brim! A few tourist buses were parked haphazardly by the road, and we suspected something amiss when a few diners were standing around waiting impatiently although there were a few vacant tables here and there. The restaurant was booked by the tour agency, and this called an immediate alternative around town ….. Read the rest of this entry »

And yes, we DO have an airport here in Ipoh. Surprise, surprise!!!! Much like how the old Subang airport has (had?) their famous Lala Chong Seafood Restaurant (read Precious Pea’s review here), Sultan Azlan Shah airport of Ipoh is commonly referred to as the landmark when one is trying to seek for Li Garden Restaurant; a Chinese seafood restaurant (‘dai chow’) on Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah Selatan.

* On a side note, read about how they are toying with the idea of moving the airport to Seri Iskandar in the future, instead of expanding the current one.

Claypot Tilapia Fish (Kam Foong Yue) @ RM27/USD8.50 – You can also choose to have the “Pak Sook Gung” (a type of catfish) to be cooked this way instead

I read about Li Garden a few months ago from Ipoh Echo. Previously, I barely knew about this restaurant near to the airport in Pasir Puteh from my father who travels along the route on a daily basis. But of course, being a little out of the way, I have never thought much about having dinner here. (They’re only opened from evening until midnight).

But of course, resistance is futile. Especially when one’s clouded by the thought of having lamb/beef briskets, curry chicken in bread, and claypot tilapia fish …….

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