Motormouth From Ipoh – Malaysian Food & Travel

THE “LAST” FEAST?

Felt like forever since I last wrote about Ipoh food, ain’t it? Thought that I could be running out of ideas on what to eat back home? Close ….

But no cigars.

It has been more than a month since my last homecoming. I can barely remember details nowadays; everything runs at an extremely sluggish rate with foggy recollection of the nitty-gritty happenings merely passing through the mind. Work has been slightly unforgiving this December. The last deadline ever?

Or could this be a sign of growing old?! Maybe. Or the imposing aura of the Apocalypse? Who knows? But here I am; sipping on warm syrup laced with ginger and screwpine leaves (pandan, to you and me) with bobbing balls made from glutinous rice flour; in white (filled with crushed peanuts and sugar) and pink; with less than an hour to go before the clock strikes twelve; proving once and for all ….. that this IS a new beginning rather than an abrupt end.

Welcome back Motormouth, and here’s to more food stories from Ipoh in the coming days. Read the rest of this entry »

Is this a Museum or a Temple, you asked?

Talk about irony. Just a few days after writing about Hakka Rang Restaurant in Kota Damansara; a Chinese restaurant specializing in Hakka cuisine with a formidable line up of backing from media exposure and fan base, here we were again; dining at Hakka Zhan Restaurant. But this time about 150km down south in the historical town of Melaka, within a short distance away from Pak Putra; the Tandoori & Naan specialist.

Four dishes for 2 pax. And yet still left me hankering for more. I am a natural when it comes to auditioning for an ogre character.

Read the rest of this entry »

What used to be Tai Ka Lock, became known affectionately as Tai Kar Rock, to something more contemporary … Let’s Rock. Tell that to a foreigner and none would have expected Yong Tau Foo and curry fish head to be the stars.

And right after the revisit to the revamped Italia Mia (changed owners, same premise, same name), we proceeded to try our luck at the ‘new’ Let’s Rock on Cowan Street.

Can’t brand this as new though, as aside from the new location (they were from the next street - read previous review HERE), nothing much has changed. The premise got more spacious now and the place opens until so late at night; giving the pubs within the vicinity a run for their money. Or the relationship could be symbiotic. 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 »

Craving for NON-Halal Satay? – Succulent bites of marinated pork and flavourful mutton on skewers (those sticks named ‘lidi’), served with sliced cucumber and pungent raw onions. Not forgetting, the spicier than average chunky peanut gravy.

And here comes Monday. The very last one for September. Time flies, it’s been a good 10 months since I moved to KL, and the urge to hunt for good (street) food has dwindled slightly.

Could be the weather, the traffic, the workload, or the sheer incoherence of them all. But one thing’s for sure, I’ll be damned if I decide to shut this blog up before reaching its prime.

Wait, or has it? ….

Anyway, here’s a short post on this very old school food court in PJ old town serving a delightful myriad of hawker food; a startling resemblance to Ipoh’s stadium food court, or Medan Selera Dato Sagor in old town. Read the rest of this entry »

A case of Penang Street Food in KL? (O&S Restaurant @ Paramount Garden – Penang Char Kuey Teow, Chee Cheong Fun and Yong Tau Foo)

My apologies, in case you were trying desperately to reach this blog yesterday, only to view an Internal Server Error screen. After missing out on the extended 3 days break due to a haphazardly-planned regional training session at Saujana, I thought at least I’d compensate by sharing a Malaysia Day story.

Only to be frustrated by an unprecedented crash.

I guess life has its own ways in telling you what to do (or in this case, what NOT to do) on a well-deserved holiday. Two days late, but better late than never ….. here’s an interesting piece to spice up your Sunday, and soften the blow of the impending Monday blues. Read the rest of this entry »

Ipoh famous Hakka-style yong tau foo (also fondly referred to as ‘yong liew’ aka stuffed ingredients), served with hakka mee, curry noodles or even laksa @ Wok With Kim (Yee Tan Kow Fishball Noodles)

You know, it’s funny. When you think about it, there’s no other place that serves ‘liew fun’ (loosely recognized as fishball noodles; though essentially the ensemble comprises of more than just fishballs) just like the version in Ipoh.

You may think that the combination is a no-brainer; noodles with various ingredients (usually vegetables) stuffed fish and/or pork paste as sides, taken usually at the earliest hours of the day.

But then again, I could not find one of similar nature in Penang. Okay, so up north they do have yong tau foo (YTF), but usually served with rice, or yam rice. Initially, I was stunned to find that they don’t have curry mee, ‘kon low lou shu fun’ (silver needle noodles/rat’s tail noodles tossed in a dark, savoury soy sauce-based gravy with minced meat), or even laksa to go along with the boiled/deep-fried pieces of YTF.

In KL, we do have a few good YTF places (Puchong’s being one of my favourite, while the one on Lorong Peel has this very authentic aura to its core), yet nothing that resembles Ipoh’s ‘liew fun’ combination.

Thus for today, let’s drool over this famous outlet on Yang Kalsom Road, that has been there for as long as I can remember …..   Read the rest of this entry »