Wong Kok Char Chan Teng @ De Garden, Ipoh
June 10, 2010 | 7,653 views
Wong Kok Char Chan Teng’s Signature Cheese Baked Rice – Melted, oozing cheese atop on a bamboo basket filled with rice lightly fried with finely-julienned egg omelette, then baked together with the meat of your choice (in this case, a whole slab of pork chop) and your pick of sauce.
Since the opening of Hong Kong Food & Tea in Jusco Kinta City a few years ago, Ipoh has been struck with a dearth of worthy “Char Chan Teng” (Hong Kong cafe-style eateries). So when one was hit by a sudden craving for a serving of cheese baked rice or spaghetti, a milky cup of tea (“nai cha“), Macau style Pork Burger (“Zhu Par Bao“) or even Nissin Noodle Soup with Szechuan sliced pork, there was only Food & Tea Restaurant, the random kopitiams, or you gotta make your own.
A Hong Kong restaurant franchise that started in Malaysia back in 2003 …. Proudly?
I have dined and snacked on a few occasions at Wong Kok Char Chan Teng over in Klang Valley, where they have a grand total of 9 branches as of today; the latest being the branch at the new Sunway Giza mall over at Kota Damansara. And the first outlet in the state of Perak opened recently at De Garden of Ipoh. Wanna know how this outlet fared against the other well-established branches down south? Read on …..
The Value Sets @ Wong Kok Char Chan Teng come with a starter of Soup (Borsch Soup or Cream Soup), a beverage of choice (12 choices in all) and a dessert of either fruits or jelly. All from RM11.80/USD3.60 onwards.
Stepping in for lunch on a weekday proved to be a wiser choice than going on a weekend, for the crowd was far from thin even before lunch hour today. Thankfully, we found a vacant table amidst the lunch crowd; ranging from blue-collared workers to families (and extended families, of course), as well as youngsters and school children on a roll. We’re in the midst of a semester break anyway.
As soon as we were seated, I glanced around the premise and made small notes. The restaurant was brightly-lit and well-ventilated with blaring air-conditioners, coolers, and even fans. There is a small al fresco dining section on the outside at the front portion of the restaurant, perfect for those on a fogging mission. The restaurant is spacious, but some tables are noticeably placed closer to each other.
Colleague NK mentioned that WK’s (short for Wong Kok) Baked Chicken Wings with Cheese on Skewers (RM5.90/USD1.80 for two) is one of their better snacks.
Okay, on with the FOOD. A major gripe I usually had with most Char Chan Teng‘s is the ultra-expanded menu; with almost everything under the sun. Some people may like the abundance of choices (more than 200 items in their menu, if I’m not mistaken) but personally, since most are just variants of each other, it’ll definitely do the customers (as well as the proprietors in some ways) good if they limit the menu to a few choices.But this being a franchise, of course the menu’s standardized.
To ease choosing, you can pick from the various flyer-like menus; with Value Sets, Lunch Sets and Tea Time Sets sorted accordingly. Definitely more value-for-money than ordering from the ala carte menu, you can have a full meal here, complete with a starter, a beverage and a dessert for less than RM20/USD6 per pax.
XO Sauce Fried Rice (RM9.80/USD3) – Appearance notwithstanding, the fried rice got Mr Z’s approval, albeit the initial disappointment of looking lacklustre, in comparison to the ‘sparkling’ picture in their menu.
After the umpteenth glance and flipping across their ala carte menu, I settled for a Value Set for Cheese Baked Rice with Pork Chop. And you even get to choose your sauce of preference; either Sweet Corn White Sauce, Salsa Sauce, Mushroom Sauce, or in my case; Portuguese Sauce. Talk about customization !!! The Portuguese sauce was a thick, starchy Japanese curry-like gravy that blended well with the baked rice with melted cheese. The pork chop came in a surprisingly huge and tender slab, it was bewildering for most cafes serve theirs with a pathetic half-palm-sized portion, and routinely tough at that. For RM16.80/USD5 per set, I felt it was value-for-money as the ala carte portion would have cost me RM14.50/USD4.40 in itself.
Fish in Pineapple Sauce with Rice (RM8.90/USD2.70) – A tangy and sweet sauce much like the common sweet and sour sauce in Gu Lou Yuk, the batter fried fillet of fish was served with rice, and lots of crispy, deep-fried vegetables (my guess was it had to be kailan, but I could not be sure)
NK had the Cheese Baked Rice with Beef set (RM16.80/USD5 also), and he was all smiles after the meal. Mr Z at first wondered aloud whether his plate of XO Fried Rice was a smart choice, arriving with plentiful of chopped lettuce (fit for a cow?! :)) and none of those plump prawns in sight. But a spoonful of the rice revealed that Wong Kok really put in effort in maintaining their standard across all the branches; unlike Food & Tea Restaurant that serves mediocre and cold fried rice on more occasions than one. KYT had the Fish in Pineapple Sauce with Rice, walloped the whole serving gleefully, but complained about the greasy deep-fried vegetables at the end of the meal.
You can have their Cheese Baked Rice with Szechuan sliced pork, pork chop, beef, fish fillet, chicken chop or even tuna fish.
Although personally I could not help but compare the cheese baked rice with Kim Gary‘s, and Tsim Tung‘s, both NOT available here in Ipoh. And those were the restaurants that introduced me to cheese baked rice back in the early days when Char Chan Teng‘s were blooming all over Klang Valley.
And Wong Kok Char Chan Teng’s ultimate GIANT SIZE HONG KONG MILK TEA for FREE on your birthday !!! Just remember the fine details at the bottom of the brochure.
The meal came to RM83.40/USD25.30 for the five of us, inclusive of 10% service charge. Not the most affordable lunch on a daily basis, but nothing too exorbitant either. Plus the restaurant provides free WiFi, equipped with television sets, and you can even sign up for their membership card for extra perks. Drop by and ask for details.
** For the time being, until the end of June 2010, every table would be given a FREE WELCOME DRINK. Only one per receipt though. We got an iced milk tea on the house. **
** For even more savings, go for their Lunch Sets from RM9.90 onwards, with 5 choices everyday. Weekdays only. **
WONG KOK CHAR CHAN TENG
G-R-17, 18 and 5,
De Garden @ Persiaran Medan Ipoh,
Medan Ipoh, 31400 Ipoh, Perak.
Telephone : 605 – 545 1592
And here’s the GOOGLE MAP to Wong Kok Char Chan Teng
*In between TOS Coffee Bistro and Ayam Penyet-AP. *
AWESOME! :O
I’m an Ipoh-lang yet i know not of this! I’m so going to go there…! Thanks so much for this review ;D
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 11th, 2010 at 8:01 am
You’re most welcomed, mabel. The place is still new, started business on Wednesday.
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ahhhh… thats the Cheese Baked Rice i like! seeing all those cheese at the top of the rice making me drool… I like cheese very much 😀
WY
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My son and I drove past the other night … will try it one of these days.. now my son knows how to come to your blog, we went to the strawberry moment cafe in Camerons.. thanks to u! 🙂
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 11th, 2010 at 8:03 am
You’re welcomed, claire.
Glad to know he’s blog-savvy now? Hehe …..
Strawberry Moment’s opening at De Garden soon too, by the way.
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What an adventurous blog… Thanks for your compliment & support. We will improve to serve ipoh people better and provide more variety to this famous town (Food of heaven).
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Wong KoK (IPOH) Reply:
June 11th, 2010 at 3:53 am
Apologise for the typo error. Ipoh: Heaven of Food…correction for above. Thanks
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 11th, 2010 at 8:05 am
Wondering if we should be thanking YOU instead, for bringing this brand over to Ipoh. Strive to keep Ipohans happy and full, k?
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Wong KoK (IPOH) Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 11:47 am
You’re welcome. haha.. 😀 We will do our best to maintain best quality to serve Ipohans.
We will inform you in 1st hand for our next coming exciting event/brand.
I like the first dish. 😀
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love the birthday milk tea! last i went was with my family for my birthday. we attracted so many jealous eyes *proud*
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 11th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Jealous eyes? Hahaha …. I kept wondering, when they make the milk tea in that humongous jug, will the taste somehow be ruined?
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Wong KoK (IPOH) Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 11:50 am
No worries. Taste will be maintained well with 1600cc Milk Tea inclusive ice cube. All well measured.
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Look at the cheese?!! Definitely can’t eat during work lunch man.. I’d fall asleep for sure after that! LOL!
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I always headache when saw their N copy of menu~~ =.=”
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 11th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Me too, somehow. Especially when one’s hungry and indecisive ……
Thankful for the sets, hence can pick from the ‘limited’ sets.
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I don’t really like the food there, but it looks nice in your pics. HAHA.
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HK food served by golden haired boys and girls! Usually of acceptable standard.
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 11th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
We did not see any golden-haired boys nor girls that afternoon, but the standard was indeed well-maintained.
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Wong KoK (IPOH) Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 11:53 am
We will ensure the comfortability of customer and our waiter/waitress is presentable.
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woo.. what a good picture to start the post with 😉
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Went to Wong Kok just now for lunch. Great choices.
Its free to join member now and you get 10% off next time on.
Restaurant was full, have to wait.
All other restaurant around WK were empty except maybe Burger King.
There was no patron in TOS at all!
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 13th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Of course, being a NEW eatery around the area, it’s understandable as to why WK gets all the new and existing customers. That afternoon when we went for lunch, even BK suffered almost the same fate.
TOS meets their most potent challenger now. They’d better buck up or risk losing out.
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Stanley Reply:
June 13th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
When I saw the crowd last night at Wong Kok, I went to Pappa Rich instead. Compared to 2 months ago, we can get a table at Pappa Rich easily these days, even on a Sat nite.
I’ll try Wong Kok again on a weekday after school holidays. Prices of value sets seem reasonable to me. Even cheaper than Food & Tea many of them.
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 13th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Yeah, that’s the hurtful truth. The opening of too many restaurants at the same place may be beneficial in the short run, providing options to the dining crowd. But then again … after a few more months, when people are getting bored of the same food, business may not be so brisk, and even risk losing out to each other.
Let’s hope not, for retail centres like De Garden and 1Casuarina hold promises, helping Ipoh flourishes beyond its initial capacity.
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Wong KoK (IPOH) Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 11:58 am
You may call us 15 mins before your arrival. We will do our best to reserve table for you. Business Card is available thru our crew or cashier.
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Wong Kok, TOS,Pappa Rich & Boston has the same objective to serve Ipohans with best quality of Food & Beverages. We will stay in a healty competition rather forcing each other out. We are all good neighbours. 😀 You may be able to observe each outlet has different type of crowd which we all agree this is a good sign for fast growing ipoh economy.
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Michelle Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 2:42 am
Is the birthday promotion available to kids below 12 years? the condition mentioned bring IC as proof so I don’t know whether birthday for kids around 10-12 isit available
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 8:12 am
Hi Michelle, I am not sure about this issue though.
But I would not doubt that Wong Kok lets children to celebrate b’days there.
Maybe a photostat copy of birth cert? Just a suggestion.
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i was there last night.. couldn’t even find any parking bays & it’s only at 7pm.. have to go round few times then saw 1 car going off near Burger King parking bays & quickly drive in.. haiz..
What’s the point of opening so many eateries @ De Garden when parking bays are so limited & scarce!!
Sigh..
Was about to sped off if still cannot find parking lots & proceed to Tesco area whereby got many eateries, too!
No doubt there are many varieties to choose from.. It was packed even on a Monday, guess it’s ‘sun sie harn’..
hehe.. But one thing i find it kinda noisy.. foodwise it’s awesome.. took me quite some time to finally select mine..
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lolento Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Dun worries about the parking bays. De Garden Development Sdn. Bhd. is planning to build a 5-storey building for this parking purpose.
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Yeah, the space allocated behind the Burger King right?
Let’s hope they speed up the process, before we get complaints from the residents of that area.
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Tham Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
I think they are building the said multi-storey car park right now in front of the former Courts entrance.
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Tham Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Its going to take a while and more restaurants e.g. Pizza Hut are coming up.
If only there is Domino’s Pizza..
heard previously Domino’s going to open an outlet here..
guess they’re still scouting for a better location..
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I went to Wong Kok recently with my friends but we were extremely disappointed with the service there. There’s no one usher us to our seat to begin with but that’s not really matter as i can see the restaurant was quite crowded that time. Then, after we have wrote down our orders we have to frantically seek for attention from the staff. Some of them totally ignored us! Not to mention they just gave us 1 menu when there are 4 of us. And I have to take from other table myself. One of the staff was quite rude as well. No set meal to choose from and the food is mediocre. One of our order didn’t come and when we asked back we were told that it was finished! I guess at least they could inform us instead of letting us waiting like forever. Lastly, it’s still june but there’s no welcome drink like what mentioned in your blog. In the end we were really disappointed with the service there and we might never patron that shop anymore. Customers’ first impression is important
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went there a few days after it was opened. food was not bad but….. the whole family ended up with some minor ‘stomach discomfort’ the next day. not sure if anyone else has this experience. hopefully it’s an isolated case. if not, we’ll stay away from it for some time.
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J2Kfm Reply:
June 30th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Darn …. food poisoning from a new outlet?
That sounds bad.
I was there another visit after the initial week. The place was packed but the service was far from satisfactory. Hmm …. I posted the experience in the Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ipoh-Malaysia/All-About-Ipoh-Come-visit-Ipoh-City-For-Food-Relaxation/30490763961
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i went there three times…
first time didnt get to eat because waited for so long…they didnt even serve the drink…
second time waited for2hours for the food )=
third time was slightly better….didnt wait for so long…
the food was ok…jus that the food is not hot when served…
frankly speaking im quite disappointed with the service and the food….
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J2Kfm Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 8:21 am
2 hours for the FOOD? Wow …. kinda long. Did you voice out or did they give explanation as to why?
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damn poor service…even the not really crowded at that time…moreover, no usher lead us to seat…we had spent long time for the drinks n foods even looks not really busy…taste for the foods n drinks far from the others wong kok outlet, it’s not really tasty…finally, please increase the quality in service n the foods…dissapointed!
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J2Kfm Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Thanks customer for the feedback. I have heard many unfavourable views of the place as well. Especially come peak hours or weekends. Now that Boston is opened, Wong Kok better improve or else ….
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Their menu really got me confused, too variety and bad layout! Spend a little too much time to look all over it, and settled for Macao pork burger and XO source fried chu-chong-fun. Both orders disappoint me. Fried chu-chong-fun from street hawker that cost no more than RM2 is far better, and here, they charged for RM2.80 excluded tax. Pork burger, its so tasteless and dry, I can’t eat it without source.
Even their nai-cha is no good. Never had a nai-cha that tasted more like water than coffee or tea. Add 3 pack sugars still… why they have to follow the western style when they are serving chinese cuisine? Oh, and what’s the different between their 9 or 10 variety of nai-cha? What for?
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the service is suck…
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Most char chan teng in malaysia is pretty standard but not great. The best milk tea is in canton-i, of course you need to pay extra..After a while , you will find these char chan teng food in malaysia pretty dull and uninspiring to your taste bud. No kick or extra surprises in the food offering, everything just for the sake of filling up the menu..
Maybe the quality here is different.
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J2Kfm Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Hi mike, hard to say. These char chan teng places would be good enough for a simple drink or two, with some light bites, or an occasional meal.
True enough, nothing’s even close to the true authentic taste of Hong Kong’s countless ‘char chan teng’ but for a place that offers a variety of Canton dishes (with some tweaks) at reasonable prices, the Kim Gary’s, Wong Kok’s, Tsim Tung’s, etc would have to make do.
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[…] mike: Most char chan teng in malaysia is pretty standard but not great. The… […]
im totally disappointed with the services that provided by WONG KOK CHAR CHAN TENG!!!!i just come back from there….my blood is boiling…how could they give our birthday cake to another customer and they claimed that the other customer insist the cake was their. they blame the customer that is their fault and want to replace the cake which ALREADY CUT by the other customer to us..you thought refund is everything….you had spoil the whole plan for the birthday celebration….even how many times you say sorry is useless….sorry no cure!!!!!!
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J2Kfm Reply:
October 10th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
!!! A mixed-up cake?!! Now that is something very VERY wrong.
Then did the management repent for their mistakes by offering discounts, a substitute cake or dining vouchers?
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How many parking it contains with the 5storey parking bay???
200? too few …
I just been Wong kong for once after I have back to Ipoh for so long…
the food there…hmmm =)
Tht’s the only 1st and last time I went there. ..
Add oil la wong Kok, I hope pay for what it worth.
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J2Kfm Reply:
November 22nd, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Yup, Wong KOk was okay the first time we went, but the second time their performance went downhill.
And that’s it for me. 🙂
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Menu???????????????…
????????~
???????..T.T
????~
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Order and waited more than an hour, no drinks or food was served. All staff were busy lack of manpower. Eventually there was a staff say that our order was not key in computer. Wasted my family birthday mode. What is this kinda service. Please close shop if you have unacceptable service provided. Shame on you wong kok!!
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