Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

Behind the Scene – Freshly-steamed dim sum to satiate the breakfast crowd on a Sunday morning.

Saturday. Blissful start to the weekend; with a chilly wind blowing across the city, a gentle thunder roaring in the distant background and melodic pitter-pattering of raindrops on the pathways.

I should have just slept the day off.

The span between blog posts may get severely lengthened from now on, for work commitments will be taking me to another level altogether. There goes the mandatory year end holidays for Motormouth.

Though the ladies here do not push trolleys or carts filled with piping fresh dim sum from the wok or the steamers, they compromise by loading their trays with a little bit of everything, then make their rounds.

Short of collapsing in bed and revere in the sheer joy of napping on a rainy afternoon, let me get this post out of my system; before Chooi Yue Dim Sum gets old and stashed amongst the backlog of ‘to-blog-or-not-to-blog’ archives. And why the urge to recommend this place?

Let’s put it this way, if you’re sick of wasting precious minutes stuck on the “dim sum street” of Ipoh, or seeking for a worthy alternative to the famous dim sum restaurants in Ipoh, try this place in Ipoh Garden South. Not convinced? Read on ….

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Like a scene from a TVB drama huh? People of all ages sipping tea and chewing on delicate morsels of dim sum on Sunday mornings, in an air-conditioned restaurant setting. But this is Ipoh, and this is Royal China; a subsidiary of Tai Thong Group.

Best way to start a Sunday? Dim Sum breakfast with family members. Or extended family members/relatives/’yee ma ku jie’ (swear that’s not a profanity) and the joy of jostling for a vacant table; executing those dreadful empty stares to shoo away those lingering for eternity (after the umpteenth time of refilling their pot of tea), and finally going all out and pointing for steamed dumplings, fluffy Char Siew Bao, fresh Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun and century egg porridge, and shutting up the disciplined alter ego and munch on crispy fried woo kok (yam puff with minced meat fillings), sweet and wobbly egg tarts and maybe a pudding or two.

Char Siew Bao – BBQ Pork Bun

And so, there I was squeezing every single memory cell (grey matter’s the real deal?) to come up with the 3 meals a day fiasco; lasting the entire weekend and then some. After all, who’s better to put to test?

Royal China Restaurant was formerly known as Tai Thong, and previously at Heritage Hotel on Jalan Tambun. Since last year (or the year before, I lost track of time …. can’t blame someone who’s near to his geriatric doom), they have started operating at Coliseum Square, where you can also find San Francisco Steakhouse (they offer lunch sets now; for RM16.90++).

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That Ying Fa (“Sakura”) dim sum post got a few true blue Ipohans overwhelmed with nostalgia, and naturally; the other equally timeless eateries arose. A place that I still hold close to my heart  after all these years, was the famed Kok Kee Dim Sum Restaurant; currently occupied by a furniture shop along Hugh Low Street. Back in the 80’s, that was THE place to go for dim sum at night.

Dim Sum @ Sun Kok Kee Restaurant – The same old tasty choices from Kok Kee’s

While most people carry a lingering fondness from their childhood days eating dim sum for breakfast at Foh San or even Ming Court, my craving for dim sum developed after the repeated dinners at Kok Kee instead. Still remember how grandma and parents would go for the Char Siew Bao (BBQ Pork Bun), Har Gau (Prawn dumplings), Siew Mai (Pork dumplings) and fish balls, while me and brother would be waving frantically for the trolley carting the fried goodies to come over. Wobbly egg tarts, crispy yam puffs (‘woo kok’) and prawn rolls with salad sauce. Yummy stuff.

Thanks to a few comments from the readers, my eyes sparkled at the mere mention of Sun Kok Kee. Wait, you mean Kok Kee STILL exists?! Read the rest of this entry »

Updated 12 September 2010 – Click here for the second page that will lead you to the second visit with Lotus Leaf Rice, Fried Lor Bak Gou (Radish Cake) and Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun.

Just the other day I read with much interest, a comment on All About Ipoh about some of the older dining establishments in Ipoh. If you have been a true-blue Ipohan all along (a baby of the 80’s, at the very least) then you might have heard of names like Kok Kee and Kwong Chow Dim Sum, Tho Yuen, and the very famous Chee Seng on Jalan Theatre.

Still standing strong amidst the slew of NEW dim sum outlets; Ying Fa is a hidden gem the youngsters of today have probably never heard of, let alone aware of the existence at one corner of Belfied Street.

Of course, all of the names above are but long gone. For me, I had the fondest memories at Kok Kee; a dim sum restaurant that opens until late at night. The aforementioned restaurant occupied a spacious lot on Hugh Low Street (next to the current Hee Lai Ton Restaurant), and was one of the pioneers among dim sum eateries in Ipoh during the 80’s, aside from the very famous Foh San on Osborne Street, and maybe Ming Court/Yoke Fook Moon …. but I was too young back then to be sure of the facts.

Glad to see the locals (mostly families, or extended families) still patronizing Ying Fa, and not succumbing to the allure of the now legendary Dim Sum Street of Ipoh ….

However, let’s not count the immensely valiant Ying Fa out from this equation. Yes, about four decades of legacy, and amazingly still soldiering on albeit the dwindling of customers due to the other more commercialized and comfortable settings, and the sheer amount of publicity that has been pumped into strengthening the “BIG 3” amongst Dim Sum Restaurants in Ipoh.

Read on to find out why was I enticed by Ying Fa, and what they offer aside from the generic array of dim sum ……..  Read the rest of this entry »

Tai Woo Hong Kong Dim Sum @ Ipoh Garden South – A dim sum restaurant with a twist.

Tai Woo Hong Kong Dim Sum has been operating since 2008 in Ipoh, but has gone under the radar for much of the duration. Previously they opened for a short 3 months stint in Sunway of Tambun, then proceeded to relocate to the current premise, right smack in the middle of Ipoh Garden South.

Xiao Long Bao aka Shanghai Soup Dumplings (RM4.50/USD1.40)

I previously wrote about the Xiao Long Bao’s from Dragon-i and Din Tai Fung, and a reader recommended this place for XLB (xiao long bao) in Ipoh. Truth be told, not many place serve XLB for dim sum, or Shanghai cuisine here in good old Ipoh. Hence my interest was piqued, and we found ourselves there for breakfast on a Sunday morning …. Read the rest of this entry »

Good thing about having dim sum at night is that; you don’t have to wave until your arm falls out, before the staff carrying the trays walk over to you!

Fancy having Hong Kong dim sum for DINNER in Ipoh? Yup, you can do that at Yoke Fook Moon Restaurant, situated on the undisputed Dim Sum Street of Ipoh (Jalan Leong Sin Nam) that also houses the other two mammoths of the dim sum scene; Foh San and Ming Court.

One of the best Char Siew Bao (Steamed fluffy buns with barbecued pork fillings) in Ipoh, Yoke Fook Moon’s version is packed with tasty Char Siew

Recently the dim sum restaurant has undergone renovations, transforming into a spanking new eatery altogether; rivalling Foh San’s new age exterior (resembling more of a ‘Jau Lau’ or Chinese diner, than the traditional dim sum restaurant). Yoke Fook Moon has been operating for both breakfast and dinner hours since ages ago, but poor ignorant me only discovered about this AFTER they have went for the major facelift. But thankfully, the place does inject some life into the hauntingly hollow street come night time …..  Read the rest of this entry »

Dim Sum Spread @ Ming Court Hong Kong Tim Sum, Ipoh

Talk about dim sum in Ipoh, and a few outlets come to mind. The grand-daddy of them all has to be Foh San Dim Sum, which has recently moved to a spanking new premise on Jalan Leong Sin Nam; the undisputed “Dim Sum Street” of Ipoh. But of course, along the same road, you’ll find two equally famous names, being Ming Court Hong Kong Tim Sum, and Yoke Fook Moon, all within walking distance from each other. Of course, if all these restaurants are packed like sardines, don’t give up hope. You can find a few others scattered within the vicinity, such as Chef Fatt and Chang Keong opposite of each other on Cowan Street (Jalan Raja Ekram). Wanna know the exact location of each? Here’s a GOOGLE MAP to all the dim sum restaurants mentioned above.

Pork rolled in beancurd sheets with sweet and sour sauce – One of my favourite type of dim sum ever. Since I was a small kid, really.

It’s been aeons ago since I’ve paid Ming Court Hong Kong Tim Sum (it’s spelled as that) a visit. Reason being? The relentless wait for an empty table, or in most occasions, vacant seats to be shared with some other strangers. Yeah, the ‘Thap Toi‘ (tumpang meja/sharing tables) tradition is alive and kicking at Ming Court, not unlike Foh San. The fully air-conditioned restaurant can seat quite a number of patrons, but pale in comparison to the gigantic Foh San across the street.

So comparing Ming Court head to head with Foh San’s dim sum, which restaurant fares better?

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