Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

This article was first published in The Malay Mail.

This carrot and onion fritter is one of Merindy Restaurant’s signature item; the other being the Ipoh famous sar kok liew.

The beauty of waking up on a beautiful Saturday morning in Ipoh is the thought of a thousand and one breakfast options (figuratively speaking, but who’s counting?), all lined up for you to choose from. Nestled deep within the neighbourhood of Taman Mirindy, in a relatively more serene part of the Kampung Simee suburb in Ipoh, is this undiscovered (at least that would be my assumption for most visitors and a large majority of the locals) gem of a coffee shop aptly named Merindy Restaurant. At the other end of the same row of shophouses is Moon De Moon Restaurant, housing an immensely popular curry noodles and kai see hor fun (Ipoh style chicken kuey teow soup) stall. The wait for a bowl of noodles at Moon De Moon can be an excruciating 30 minutes on average, sometimes even up to an hour!  Read the rest of this entry »

This article was originally published in the Malay Mail.

A platter of freshly fried sar kok liew that you can already pick and eat on the spot, should you choose not to wait for the noodles

By now, if you are a self-proclaimed foodie in Malaysia, you must have at least heard or eaten at one of Ipoh’s most hyped hawker stalls — a stall aptly named Big Tree Foot or Dai Shu Geok located in the rambunctious neighbourhood of Pasir Pinji. The stall was rightly named due to the over-arching structure above the zinc roof shaded eating area; a few large trees providing shelter and some desperately-needed breeze in the typically warm afternoon.

Most of the items sold at Big Tree Foot are deep fried ingredients stuffed with homemade fish paste (otherwise known as yong tau foo more commonly, but we Ipoh folks call them yong liew), served as they are — piping fresh batches steaming hot from the wok right in front of you. The variety is astounding, and if this is your first time paying a visit, you will tend to get lost in the mix and end up piling dozens of greasy, delicious and extremely addictive pieces of yong liew in your bowl.

But should you come to a breaking point where the only thing standing between you and a piece of everything in your restrictive diet plan, then no fear. Choose the piece that represents Ipoh most — sar kok liew otherwise known as jicama or yambean fritters.

Outside of Ipoh, sar kok liew may not ring a bell with most yong tau foo lovers who are more familiar with the usual repertoire of fish balls, stuffed beancurd, stuffed chillies and deep fried beancurd sheets or foo pei. However, any self-appreciating food lover from Ipoh would highly regard sar kok liew as one of the most delicious, yet basic item that every single fish ball noodle stall should have. Read the rest of this entry »

This story was first published on Malay Mail Online’s Eat/Drink section on April 6.

I remember how we used to stay up really, really late into the night pondering over school projects, peppered with mindless small chats and life anecdotes (well, whatever that’s significant during the teenage school years). That the few of us school mates would be struck by hunger pangs at the most inconvenient of times; say, way past midnight and wondering where to head for a quick bite.

But of course, when I mentioned ‘quick bite’ in Ipoh back in the 90’s, I don’t refer to the 24 hours ‘mamak’ stalls or fast food outlets, mind you. There probably was only 1 round-the-clock ‘mamak’ outlet back then; the still viable today yet less popular Salam Corner at the back of Jusco Kinta City. But since we usually would be gathering around Pasir Puteh area, it made sense for us to look for alternatives.

In the form of this really excellent place for late night noodles, chicken and bean sprouts.

Yup, imagine savouring Ipoh famous ‘nga choy gai’ (bean sprouts chicken or ‘ayam tauge’) in the wee hours of the morning. Kum Kee is the official name of the corner lot opposite of Pasir Pinji police station, yet most of us remember this fondly as the place famed for “Big Small Feet”. Let me tell you why.

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Sar Kok Liew (Stuffed yambean/jicama) has been featured on this blog countless times before. But if you have not been enamoured by the droolworthy stories, what’s holding you back?

I remember how we used to look forward to Chinese New Year back when we were kids. And slightly beyond the age of toddlers; bordering on being adolescents. The moments when we would happily shopped for new clothes (Kiko, Kiki-Lala, and even the random Thundercats shirts from the morning market!) and shoes (always with velcro, since I was pretty bad at tying knots with shoe laces).

Then the sheer joy of eating the festive cookies; of which most notably … the Kuih Kapit (“love letters”; a crispy biscuit folded into a fan-like shape made from a batter of eggs and coconut milk) comes to mind.

A refreshed touch of glam in the coat of purple paint. Where is this, you asked? Old town of Ipoh. As in the oldest portion of the vicinity, I reckon.

And here’s a story on where we bought our ‘kuih kapit’ for years … Read the rest of this entry »

How does “Kon Low Lou Shu Fun” with “Chu Yau Char” sound to you? Utterly sinful and delicious? Or scarily unhealthy and resentful? For me, there’s no denying the allure of “Liew Fun” in Ipoh.

Now I am going to skip all the grandfather’s stories and get straight to the heart of this piece. I have this post in draft since yesterday, yet could not find the time to write one proper sentence. Writer’s block? Or purely basking in every single minute of the weekend? The latter, actually. Guilty as charged.

Now if there’s a NON-halal satay stall worth trying in Ipoh, aside from Kong Heng that opens only during the day, this uncle must be somewhere up there in the ranks.

And why the strange title; amalgamation of three distinct entities (okay, so pork and lard come from the same source, but still …. ) today?

If you love your Ipoh hawker food, don’t miss this place. Seriously. Read on for the insight …. Read the rest of this entry »

“Sar Kok Liew” aka Stuffed Yambean/Jicama is but one of many Ipoh’s signature street fares. Diced, or cubed yambean with beancurd sheet deep fried to a crispy finish, but most importantly; the moisture within must be retained for that juicy crunch.

If you had taken Motormouth’s words for it, you would have remembered how I had paltry affairs with both the K10 claypot chicken rice outlets in Ipoh. First the one in Ipoh Garden East, and the original one in Bercham.

And you wonder why was this post is named as such? (ie : Redemption) And what’s a claypot chicken rice specialist doing serving “Sar Kok Liew”?!! Read on for the revelation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s take a walk down memory lane. This stall, housed in such an inconspicuous manner deep in the middle of Pasir Pinji wet market had always been a family’s favourite haunt back in the 90’s. Or maybe late 80’s? I can’t be sure, for when we were still residents around the Pasir Puteh area, we used to eat the fish ball noodles (also known as ‘kap liew’ or ‘liew fun’ to us Ipohans) here on a weekly basis.

When pigging out like mad won’t cost you a bomb, an arm, or a leg. Every piece of ‘yong liew’ (more popular known as Yong tau Foo in the other states) is priced at 40-45 cents each.

Back then, I never paid much attention to the stray kittens and puppies circling under our table. Nor the slight stench from the day’s offerings sold at the wet market; and the random pest or two.

Only one stall was operating then; this same “Yee Jie” (translated to Second Elder Sister) stall is surprisingly still up and running. And the allure of tucking in into a bowl of soupy goodness with a myriad of stuffed fish paste as sides proves to be evergreen.

The “Yee Jie” hard at work. A family business this one, the third generation of youngsters already knee deep in assisting the operations.

Read on to find out more about this past favourite of Motormouth’s, and how such a simple fare can attract the crowd to a dilapidated wet market at night ….. Read the rest of this entry »