Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

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

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Braised Lamb Shank (MYR 36 / USD 12) @ Scenic Cafe Garden served on a bed of mashed potatoes, sides of grilled vegetables and brown sauce

Before we decided to give another new cafe in Ipoh a try, we actually hesitated for a while. I guess this was understandable, given the sudden surge of cafe culture in Ipoh and the generally lacklustre experience with some of them. If you are one jolly cafe-hopper, then you should be able to relate to my claims.

Here’s the bucket list: Overpriced ‘gourmet’ coffee and tea (bags), generic outsourced desserts (cheesecakes priced at close to MYR20 per slice anyone?), lazy pastas, salads and sandwiches selection, and to no one’s surprise …. exceptional attention/investment focused on creating an ‘idyllic, artsy’ ambience targeted at the new generation of foodies – feed the camera/smartphone before the stomach.

So when Dad suddenly hatched this idea of a dinner outing at Scenic Cafe Garden at the junction of Tambun Road and Tiger Lane (interesting names, huh?), supposedly another boutique cafe housed in a refurbished bungalow (which we found out later that it was more than a generic bungalow!), I scrambled for alternatives in my to-eat list.

To cut a long story short, the chilly weather, dark skies and post-Cameron Highlands blues (more on that later) placed me in a half-hibernation mode, thus I went with the flow. At least, I could be rewarded with a potential gem for photography, should the food failed me. But read on to find out the full story on Scenic Cafe Garden; cheesy name yes, yet a spectacular place to entertain guests.  Read the rest of this entry »

This article was first published in the Malay Mail dated 12 Oct 2014. Read it HERE.

People come from all over the country and even from abroad to enjoy the food haven that is Ipoh. Partly owing to its strategic and accessible location along the North-South Expressway between Kuala Lumpur and Penang, frequent public transportation schedule (you can take a train or a bus from Kuala Lumpur) as well as a twice a day direct flight from Singapore.

The surge in visitors during the past few years, compounded by the advent and proliferation of social media, has paved the way for the discovery of hidden gems. From the what-appears-to-be-blatantly-overhyped Ipoh bean sprouts chicken (fondly known as nga choy gai) to Ipoh’s best kept secret (no more) of a kaya puff maker at Sin Eng Heong, and commercialized entities such as Old Town White Coffee and Foh San Dim Sum… the crowds are everywhere. However, despite the extensive coverage of Ipoh street food by various media, I still constantly receive queries about halal food options in Ipoh. This is somewhat understandable as the hard fact remains that Chinese hawker stalls and food establishments are more in focus when it comes to food hunting in Ipoh. Comparing the options of halal cuisine to other towns, Ipoh has a distinctive lack of memorable choices e.g. Nasi Dagang/Kerabu in Kota Baru, Nasi Kandar in Penang or even Nasi Lemak in the Klang Valley. Read the rest of this entry »

Nasi Lemak; one of the most versatile dishes in Malaysia where you can have this for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even supper and it feels so right. Can we name this our National Dish already?

Pardon the awkward sounding title, like something out of those viral websites with continuous feeds of mind-blowingly catchy headlines but in return providing you with a rather blah story. If you have been on the social media circle long enough, you must know what I am talking about.

It might even scream corny/tacky … or worse, spam-my.

Yeah, the reason that I had to strip off this white brief of mine (and no, I am not on some private beach playing games) and wave them high up in the air is mainly owing to the deluge of spam comments flooding every single post of mine.

I must have been pretty complacent lately (or the past year maybe), but the spam comments run in the thousands. Really. So much for the anti-spam plugin. So here I am, apologizing to anyone whom had left your comments on the posts but got no replies from the lazy Motormouth.

I must have been too engrossed in deleting spam comments. Or just plain lethargic from the 6+ years of writing on Motormouth From Ipoh.

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The “Lontong” from Gerai Mak Yah @ Section 14 Wet Market Hawker Centre has been repeatedly proclaimed as the BEST in Klang Valley. 40 years of legacy can’t be wrong.

A case of growing addiction perhaps, but we see ourselves going back to the Section 14 (where Digital Mall is and the area where the new Jaya Supermarket will soon be operating from) for breakfast again; for 2 consecutive weekends. Last week, we tried Lum Kee’s Siam Laksa and Curry Laksa from the hawker food centre on the lower floor, while today we ventured over to the Halal portion of the area; where Gerai Mak Yah Lontong & Nasi Lemak seems to be perpetually luring in the breakfast crowd.

It was barely 9am and the queue extended to a good 15 pax or so. Yes, service is DIY here. You walk up to the stall with the green signboard, get yourself in line and be prepared for the wait. Took me a good 15 minutes or so; with a dozen of hungry Lontong fans in front of me.

And the question boils down to … was it worth the effort?  Read the rest of this entry »

 Nasi Ayam Pasar Bulat from Restoran Fuziah is an established brand since 1980; when they were still operating at the old “Pasar Bulat” (Yau Tet Shin Market) along Cowan Street.

It’s the fifth day of Raya, and most of us are already back to work. Some with a limp, others with a whimper and probably somewhere out there are a handful of extraordinary souls eagerly lapping up the delayed tasks and pumped up with adrenaline rush upon seeing the heaps of unfinished assignments.

Me? I extended my long break (Raya ma … kita kan “1Malaysia”? So let me wallow in my sorrow okay?) to another day. And it gradually dawned on me … that I have not written much about Halal restaurants in the past few months.

I do believe that Ipoh has limited choices of renowed/delicious Malay cuisine (correct me please if my assumption is wrong here!), but there are still quite a number of famed establishments deserving of the spotlight.

Restoran Fuziah Nasi Ayam or better known as Nasi Ayam Pasar Bulat for example, escaped my radar for a good period of time. Not anymore. Here’s today’s fix of chicken rice story to get you through the Monday blues …  Read the rest of this entry »

Sambal Paku Pakis, Tom Yam Campur, Telur Bistik & Ayam Masak Merah @ Vicchuda Tomyam & Seafood Restaurant, Damansara Uptown

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