Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

The mere mention of Sitiawan evokes memories of fresh seafood @ Kampung Cina, Foo Chow-style cooking at Bei King or Lido, the insanely popular James cendol in front of the Indian temple, the Chinese-style of bagels named ‘gong pia’ & even Teochew style Bak Kut Teh coupled with steamed fish head. (Read a portion of it on Sitiawan – Half A Day’s Worth of Food Hunt)

For me, revisiting Sitiawan brought to the surface sweet memories of the constant day trips (almost on a monthly schedule!) we made back then. Throughout my 3 years tenure of working around Perak, Sitiawan, Teluk Intan and Taiping opened my eyes to an entire different landscape of cuisines and local delicacies that I was kept unaware of while hibernating in Ipoh.

#1 – RESTORAN SUN HON SIONG @ AYER TAWAR

The Foo Chow clan takes pride in whipping up scrumptious sweet and sour cooking; in this case the Sweet & Sour Pork (Gu Lou Yuk) Rice at Restoran Sun Hon Siong @ Ayer Tawar surprised me with perfectly executed batter-coated pork, cucumber and even fried potatoes in a sweet and sour gravy balanced with the right flavours.

 Ayer Tawar – A small town you will pass by before you reach Sitiawan; along the Lumut highway

This is a story of our 2D/1N excursion to Sitiawan few weeks ago. In line with Visit Perak Year 2012, here’s another travel idea to help you plan that family getaway this holiday season.

Ready for the onslaught of another food and travel extravaganza? Let’s go. Read the rest of this entry »

This is the final chapter of my 2D/1N Jeram-Teluk Intan-Bidor-Sungkai food run. Find the related stories below :

Jeram’s Famous Pau & Yam Puff @ Kedai Kopi Shin Lock
Teluk Intan – Day One
Teluk Intan – Day Two

This sifu (let’s call him the Bidor’s dollmaster, for the sake of it!) seemed to be deep in thoughts, never skipping a beat albeit within firing range of my camera. Look at the laborious process of manually-shaped moon biscuits before they went into the oven.

While we used the Kuala Selangor way to travel from PJ to Teluk Intan, the shorter (in terms of time, not distance) route has still got to be the Bidor way. Hence, we picked the obvious choice when departing home on the second day.

Bidor is a relatively small town in Perak; south of Ipoh (about 60km away) yet distinctively popular for two things – The fresh fruits stalls and of course, the legendary Pun Chun herbal duck thigh noodles.

Seedless guavas, soursops, durians, ‘jambu air’ (rose apple) and oh yeah … “PETAI” (bitter beans/stink beans) are but some of the famous must-buys in Bidor.

But we did not enter Pun Chun this time. Instead we chose to have our lunch at Sungkai. Let’s cap this fantastic series off, shall we? Read the rest of this entry »

Continuation from Day One in Teluk Intan …

Keng Heng Coffee Shop & Budget Hotel @ Jalan Raja – One of the oldest and most iconic ‘kopitiam’ in Teluk Intan.

Fresh from a satisfying slumber at Grand Court Hotel, we forced ourselves to wake up to the bright sunshine peering through the gaps between the room’s violet curtains. The image of a beautiful morning was outside our windows; serenaded by sounds of chirping birds and the tranquil tone set by the Perak river flowing within a short distance away.

Day One was packed with street food adventures and small walks around town. Imagine a town square lined with layers of heritage shophouses (no doubt housing grandiose stories behind their existence since pre-colonial days) surrounding the landmark of Teluk Intan; Menara Condong aka The Leaning Tower.

And so, what did we do on our second day? Read the rest of this entry »

A ray of sunlight falling on the peeled pomelo; a fruit indigenous to Asia and here in our country; the small town of Tambun in Ipoh steals the limelight for mass cultivation of the citrus fruit.

“The pomelo (Citrus maxima or Citrus grandis) is a crisp citrus fruit native to South and Southeast Asia. It is usually pale green to yellow when ripe, with sweet white (or, more rarely, pink or red) flesh and very thick albedo (rind pith).” (Source : Wikipedia)

Pomeloes are also known as ‘limau Bali’ referring to its island of origin more than a century ago where legend has it that a Chinese trader brought the fruit to Malaya, and also ‘limau Tambun’ since the Perak state government had laid claims to the citrus fruit that has become a hot favourite of publicity/media coverage and incorporated into a key development segment in agro-tourism for the state.

However, Tambun is not only famous for the pomeloes. There is also the renowned hot springs of Tambun, the Lost World of Tambun (a theme park near Sunway City) and a Tibetian Buddhist Temple lying by the foothills of Ipoh’s impressive stretch of limestone hills.

Read the rest of this entry »

And now …. ladies & gentlemen, put your hands up for the FINALE of the series … the last “Tong” (Cave Temple) in Ipoh that I’d like to entice you with;

“KEK LOOK TONG”

Kek Look Tong (official website) is a winner of many local best landscape awards; accolades from the local government for non-Muslim houses of worship; rewarding that extra mile the temple committee went through to build and maintain a world-class facility with breath-taking scenery.

No doubt locating this gem in Ipoh takes a few daring turns, and the driver’s instincts come into play more often than not. Hands down the most secluded of all the other cave temples in Ipoh (aside from one Tibetian temple, that’s even more remote, but let’s leave that for another day), Kek Look Tong is hidden deep within the residential area of Gunung Rapat (of the well-reviewed Heong Peng fame).

Ready for the onslaught of pictures? Here goes ….. Read the rest of this entry »