Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

Let me tell you one last story before I depart to Bangkok for a few days. Looking back at 2012 and the multitude of Travel Ideas stories … I kind of envy the previous position whereby I used to travel on almost a weekly basis; covering regions after regions in the country.

And all the while walloping a truckload of the best Malaysian food.

Things have changed significantly, and two months into the new year and I have yet to step out of Klang Valley. Aside from the CNY festive break whereby I spent a quality week back in my hometown of Ipoh; where this blog was born.

Starting work almost immediately after the celebration; the cravings for a home cooked feast plus the sound of fireworks from the neighbourhood was sorely missed. True, they do play with much more bombastic fireworks here around where I stay … yet, the pleasure in knowing that you’re nibbling on Mum’s fresh-from-the-wok snacks while watching the re-run of re-runs of Chinese films from the yesteryear’s is priceless.

This story details the 7th day of the Lunar calendar; also known “Yan Yat” or People’s Birthday and how we spent the evening tossing Yee Sang at Gao Ren Guan in Jaya One.

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Cool-looking chairs …. bound to give that back an aching after a few shots!

You know the dreary feeling of returning to work after a long break? When your brain’s still accustomed to the carefree mornings, aka waking up and rollin’ in bed, anticipating/planning the day’s breakfast (or brunch), and treasuring every minute, every second of the day.

Without the hassle of dragging my carcass to the office and face the pc for 8 hours. Like now.

Near-zero occupancy on a Friday’s noon. Hmm ….

The complimentary house bread dipped into balsamic vinegar and olive oil

Circling around Jaya One, we were stumped on where for lunch. Service MUST be quick as I was rushing off for some ‘important‘ assignment after lunch.

Of course, our lunch on Fridays = 2.5 hours of pleasure dining. =P The perks of working with the government. (No rotten tomatoes, plz …)

Carpaccio and Rucola Salad Pizza (RM18.90)

And somehow I picked Santini, a brightly-coloured, rather chic outlet serving mostly Italian cuisine. With a lounge and bar, I’d assume people will throng this place for a drink at night. But I could be wrong, as Jaya One is practically ‘infested’ with restaurants, bars and cafes, it’ll be near impossible for an outlet to be packed to the brim. Unless it’s the over-rated (and over-crowded) Old Town White Coffee outlet, the favourite Chinese restaurant Ducking (which I’ve yet to find enough ‘kakis’ to dine with), or the perennial favourite of most coffee-junkies, Starbucks.

A slice of 8″ pizza with toppings of rucola greens, beef carpaccio, and mozzarella cheese

You see, after the damn long introduction, I’ve yet to touch on the food. Blame it on my pent-up emotions … ahem, I meant words. Ok, ok … here’s my take on the food @ Santini.

They serve a variety of pizzas and pastas, and some rather mind-boggling choices. I picked the beef carpaccio and rucola salad version, which can either come in 8″ or 12″ portions.

Half-expecting the beef to be raw and tasteless, the carpaccio was surprisingly good, slightly smoky, thinly-sliced and a tad briny in flavour. Of course, eating them with the overpowering taste of the rucola (rocket) leaves somehow tampered the sweetness of the beef, plus the strong flavour of the mozzarella cheese-flakes (not entirely melted) may put off non-cheese lovers. But not me. Fortunately, the pizza dough was good enough, with thin crust and light as pizzas should be.

Chicken … Set. (RM14.90) + Iced Lemon Tea