Ipoh Makan-Makan

I am now less of a jakun… after 29 years in Malaysia, I finally got my lazy ass down to Ipoh. The weekend trip was an all-out eating fest, starting with brunch with Kim’s family at a nearby Old Town Cafe — coffee, half-boiled eggs, toasts, char siu pau and kai si hor fan. Between all the makan-makan, Kim gave me a tour of the city and we also visited her relatives.

I found Ipoh to be a laid back place. The old town area is still very much the center of attention, where most of the famous food stalls are located. Driving around, all the vintage shops and architecture brought about a unique sense of simplicity from an era past.


Kim’s family took me to a restaurant called Marpoh for dinner. The specialities here are Lemongrass Chicken and Deep Fried Prawns with Oats, which we had together with Fish Head Curry, Claypot Tofu and some other vegies. The delicious meal was surprisingly reasonably priced as well. Anyway, here are some of the other yummy food I sampled:


CARAMEL CUSTARD
We went to a cafe nicknamed ‘House of Mirrors’ which is famous for their Caramel Custard. I must admit I was surprised to find a somewhat western dessert like this in a very chinese cafe in a very chinese town such as Ipoh. The Caramel Custard was delightful nevertheless.



IPOH CHEE CHEONG FAN
At ‘House of Mirrors’, I also had some Ipoh Chee Cheong Fan, which is different from the ones we get in Penang. It came in some light mushroom-soya sauce topped with fried shallots — plain and simple, but still very tasty.



BEAN SPROUTS AND CHICKEN
Now here’s one of Ipoh’s most famous exports. For our supper, we made our way back to the old town to tuck in some Bean Sprouts and Chicken (Nga Choy Kai). Ohh, it was sooooooo very good. I’m not going to bother eating the ones back in Penang anymore.



HAKKA MEE
Breakfast the next morning, we went for the famous Hakka Mee (noodles) at ‘Yin Yau Kui’ cafe. We ordered our noodle and a bowl of clear soup with fishballs and meatballs. Our food arrived almost instantly and tasted great. I also tapau’d two packets back for later…