Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

Glistening, caramelized and crispy skin; basked in a honey sauce that’s made from a secret recipe since 1986. The chicken is deep fried instead of grilled or roasted. To my surprise.

And it’s Friday! Haha …. barely set my mind to work and off we go on another two days of deserving rest! Don’t you just LOVE Malaysia and the declared and impromptu public holidays?

Although I was hankering for a few more days of lazing around in good old Ipoh; eating at my favourite food joints, mingling with the legends of Ipoh’s street food and growing horizontally effortlessly from the abundance of caloric-laden fares, work took precedence and here I am recuperating from the long holidays that went by in a flash.

Enough with the temptations already you said? Oh no. We have barely scratched the surface. A teaser of a post to tantalize your well-trained mind/diet into the weekend; let’s hear it for Menglembu’s famous stretch of glutton street aka ‘wai sek kai’.

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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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The traditional no-frills Char Kuey Teow (also better known as simply Chau Fun in Ipoh) with loads of wriggly bean sprouts, gorgeously-golden eggs, and plump prawns seated atop.

So here’s a post that is exactly one year overdue. More than a year actually, for I read Jason‘s account of the same breakfast; which was posted in July of 2009! That was even before I got infected with this dotcom mania. Imagine the might of procrastination. 😉

Anyway, Menglembu is one of the main township in Ipoh of Perak, that is also widely-acknowledged as the birthplace of crunchy, tasty groundnuts with shells intact, but yet with a roasted, smoky flavour. The term “Menglembu groundnuts” it seems, originated from the fact that a local resident named Mr Lee discovered this technique of processing the groundnuts way back in the 1940’s, and the name has been used since to describe this particular method of production; not necessarily indicating that Menglembu has a groundnut plantation or even houses the production companies. Here’s a brief history from PAGODA brand and the particularly interesting method of producing the tasty snacks.

Two most prominent brands of Menglembu groundnuts are Pagoda and Ngan Yin, also known as “Kacang Cap Tangan” with the signature thumb’s up logo.

Read on to find out more about our breakfast at the morning market, and the famous (for a variety of reasons) Wantan Mee at the “Wai Sek Kai” (Glutton Street) at night ….. Read the rest of this entry »

A reader recently lamented about the lack of Ipoh food reviews, in spite of the more than obvious name of my blog. If you’re still scratching your head, please …. scroll to the top of the page, okay? And if you’re diligent enough, or cared enough to read what the others wrote (brickbats thrown straight at Motormouth’s face etc etc …) then you would have no problem locating that particular comment. But of course, the recent spate of Krabi-Phuket posts, almost immediately after the Bali saga might have gotten to one’s nerves, for reading a Malaysian Food Blog yapping about Babi Guling and Krabi street foods sounds somewhat out of place.

Somewhat, okay? For this blog is STILL my personal journal of sorts, hence the rather detailed travelogues.

I don’t wanna be pinching myself in my golden years, desperately trying to recollect those memories of my glitzy/glamorous days of excessive travelling, and food-hunting.

But of course, I’m a pleaser. At least, that’s what I’d like to think. Hehe, okay okay ….  I saw someone puking back there. What?! Can’t I have MY moment for once?! Huh ……

Here’s a fuss-free, satisfying, yet won’t break a hole in your pocket type of eatery, situated in Taman Rasi of Menglembu, the town famous for groundnuts in Ipoh.

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