打卡 in Ipoh - 72 hours of Food, Fun and Friends

A few hours further up north from Kuala Lumpur is Ipoh. We took a short getaway with several friends, some of whom were from Ipoh. We were lucky to have them show us around and introduce their favourite haunts. It was my first time visiting Ipoh, and I was excited to finally come to a city that I’ve heard so much about.

Cantonese is a widely spoken dialect in this region of Malaysia. I knew just about enough Cantonese to follow along basic conversation, though I was far from fluent by local standards. Thankfully, good food can still be enjoyed regardless of one’s language capabilities (especially when you’re lucky enough to travel with people from the area!)

The most memorable meal that I’ve had here is Yong Tau Foo, a humble dish consisting of vegetables and tofu stuffed with fish paste. Much like the food, the dining experience at Choong Kee Pokok Besar Restaurant (忠記大树頭美食軒) is just as modest. It’s  an open air eatery, with a zinc roof providing reprieve from sun and rain. The stall selling Yong Tau Foo is just one of several food stalls located inside. Parking is street-side, and so we parked alongside other cars on a patch of grass next to the road. I was told, with a straight face, that any land where grass is growing is considered public land, and so apparently is fair game for parking their vehicles. 

(I didn’t ask if this rule of thumb applies to the Istana's gardens. Presumably there are limits.)

We fitted our car amongst the other cars on the grass, then headed into the eatery. Once there, we did what everybody else do: you stake your claim on an available table, queue up to pick your choice of yong tau foo from the trays on the tables, and then pay at the front of the queue.

You can pick whatever you like, and I don’t think you can make a bad choice from any of them. A particular memorable one for me was the deep fried turnip, which I hadn't had before. All of their soup bases were pretty great (we tried them all!). The plain soup was good enough to let the YTF shine. The curry one was very thick and rich, almost punitively so (it’s best split amongst several people). The assam laksa surprised me, because I liked it. (It remains to date the single bowl of assam laksa that I’ve enjoyed). The faint touch of sourness provided balance, and the mild spiciness provided that oomph with all the fried YTF. I was dunking all of my YTF into the assam laksa soup, and drank up the soup afterwards.

The other stalls here were similarly legendary. We had two plates of rojak - one regular, and one with cuttlefish and Kang Kong (water spinach). The rojak sauce was the thickest and most flavourful version I’ve had - after we finished the dish, we sat eating spoonfuls of what remained of that sauce. 

We also got a plate of Chee Cheong Fun (steamed rice noodle rolls) from another stall, which was served in the traditional Ipoh-style with a savoury mushroom sauce. The steam rice rolls were incredibly soft and tender; I guess the stall owner got to be a master to thrive alongside with the other stalls. We drank the local favourites here: red bean slushies (don’t knock it until you tried it!) and a fruit juice made from the bua long long fruit. It’s worth a special trip to return to Ipoh just to eat from this place again.

Nearby is Dong Tai Kopitiam Pasir Pinji, where we went for breakfast one day. The fried Radish Cake Slices were particularly outstanding. The Kaya Toast was good as promised, with crispy toasted bread sandwiching a slab of still-cold butter and a dab of kaya. The thick slices of sugar-butter toast were similarly good, as was the photogenic Eggs on Toast.

And what better to go along with this classic Southeast Asian toast breakfast than with the local kopi (coffee)? If you like your coffee cold but are wary of ice-based drinks, there are some versions of their cold kopi which is served in a chilled cup surrounded by a plate of ice. This is a good option for travelers who want a cold drink to beat the heat, but are wary of ice as a medium of food poisoning. 

Another breakfast place which was a hit for us was curry noodles from Restoran Xin Quan Fang. But, you may feel, curry noodles for breakfast is far too rich. That’s true, and your restraint is commendable. But in our defense, this restaurant only opens in the morning for breakfast. They're shuttered by 12pm. Clearly, enough people agree that rich curry noodles is appropriate breakfast-food. And if you visited the restaurant when we did, and smelt the aroma waffling from the curry, you may also sing a different tune.

As we came, our friends warned that the restaurant is run with an iron fist. Every customer must purchase a bowl, no exception. Don’t take your time thinking about what to order either; you better finalise your decision before waving down the server. Grumpy servers none withstanding, I enjoyed my breakfast. The kway tiao noodles were terrifically springy, perhaps some of the best that I’ve had. I chose their curry soup, and the broth was thick and came with a small pool of curry. It was incredibly flavourful. Despite the early hour, I finished an entire bowl of curry noodles easily. The dry version has black soy sauce added which I sampled - I enjoyed my curry soup bowl more.

If that seemed like a hefty amount of food to eat, you know nothing of traveling in Malaysia, nor of us. We scheduled about 7 eateries to visit each day - we’re fun like that! The main attraction in Ipoh (for us) is clearly for its cuisine. The sightseeing attractions are just something to occupy our hours before the next meal, to while some time away and let our appetite recover.

Picture by WK

Picture by WK

We visited attractions such as old tin quarries and a historical river dredge. Ipoh prospered during the tin boom of the 1880s, which transformed the town from a small village into a bustling city. Tin was in high demand for soldering and for canning food in those days, which led huge trading surpluses and an influx of wealth to the Perak region; for example, the first car that was imported into Malaysia was bought and registered here. But over time, the tin industry collapsed as other metals became commercially viable for industry use. The canning industry moved towards materials such as aluminum (which was preferred for being lighter and more corrosive-resistant). The manufacture of electrical circuits, which previously used an alloy of tin-lead for soldering, also replaced said alloy with silver due to the health concerns of using lead.

Picture by WK

We took a boat out on Tasik Cermin, which was translated as “mirror lake”. It was itself an abandoned tin quarry which had been filled with water and repurposed as a lake. Kin Loong Valley Chang Jiang White Coffee is a popular coffee shop nearby serving rich cups of local kopi. There is an upper level walkway with a view of the cafe nestled between the mountain peaks.

If you’ve seen Coach’s leather bags and ever wondered to yourself how a scoop of Coach ice cream would taste like, well, you’re in luck here. Over at the nearby Silverlakes Village Outlet, Coach also runs a cafe next to their outlet shop. They have pretty interesting flavours, and the Peanut Butter and Jelly was worth a try. 

Ipoh’s also renowned for having Buddhist temples build into the limestone mountains, such as the Sam Poh Tong Temple 三寶洞 and the nearby Nam Thean Tong Temple. Like the water fountains of Italy where visitors throw a coin in and make a wish, there too is a local legend about the ponds in one of these temples. Land a coin into the pots located in the pond and good fortune beckons. Like a friend described, it’s like a first-generation arcade of the 1990s.

And again, I'm not sure that this could be emphasised enough, these temples are carved out of a mountain. 

We went to quite a few places for snacks to bridge the long hours between lunch and dinner. Bowls of sweetened beancurd are a popular dessert in Southeast Asia, so I’m no stranger to them. But here in Ipoh, I’ve had some of the best bowls of beancurd of my life. 

We sat on plastic stools set alongside the yellow walls of Woong Kee Beancurd and ate some of the most well-made beancurd out of retro porcelain bowls. They were warm, which would normally have been anathema in the southeast Asian heat, but I don’t think they sell cold beancurd, and I wouldn’t have eaten a bowl of beancurd any other way anyways. There’s a few flavours available for the beancurd syrup, we tried the ginger and the osmanthus option, and both were pretty great. 

Another place with great beancurd is Kedai Makanan & Minuman Ding Feng across the historical Concubine Lane. This is a sit-down, air-conditioned cafe, and I was recommended to have their terrific Teochew-style beancurd “teow cheu tao fu fa” that came with a brown sugar topping and a warning not to stir. The brown sugar lends a slight crunch to each bite. Delicious.

A stop that brought a smile to my face was Pomepop, where we visited on our friend’s recommendations. It’s a bustling fruit store, but to describe them as a mere fruit stall is reductive. They specialise in pomelos, and the highlight of the store is their pomelo drink stand. In the afternoons when the sun beats heavily upon us, each sip was a wonderful reprieve from the heat. My favourite was the Lime Pomelo Ice blended, though the other Honey Pomelo ice blended was plenty delicious too.

We specifically requested for one sour pomelo so we can eat it in the Ipoh way - by dipping each cluster of pomelo sacs in soy sauce (it’s a game changer!). I couldn’t wrap my head around how this combination made a sour pomelo so addictive. It’s a combination that shouldn’t work but somehow did. It wasn’t pomelo season when we visited in July, but these pomelos were still plenty juicy. I left the store happy as a clam, clutching two sweet pomelos, a bag of ripened guava, and one yellow Buddha’s Hand (I’ll figure out what to do with it when I get home). They’re currently expanding the storefront to build a cafe next door, and I can’t imagine anything but success given how delicious their pomelo drinks are. Remember, when this store becomes TikTok-famous, you heard it here first!

As night fell, we made our way to the night market at Pasar Malam Taman Pertama. It’s a sprawling street market with food and fashion accessories are sold in equal amounts. Everybody bought a couple of food items and we soon had enough for a feast for supper. 

It’s durian season now, and three boxes of terrific Mao Shan Wang durians go for RM100. My other favourite in the night market was the fried cempedak, a cousin of jackfruit that’s a bit sweeter and stickier. The crisp fried exterior encases the sweet pulp of each fruit. The seed also softens up after frying and becomes edible. Interesting.

We spent a memorable evening having drinks at Tiga. It’s a speakeasy with its entrance in a small alley. The storefront was a bland sign proclaiming the business to be a wholesaler of sorts, and only the lit lamps over the door at these non-working hours suggested something different. It’s a much larger establishment than the narrow entrance suggested inside, with plenty of seating space.

A pretty nondescript storefront. You’ll have to trust Google maps that you're in the right place. 

The other night market is over at Ipoh River Front People's Park, perhaps about 10 minutes' walk from Tiga. It's a little quieter, and mainly sells second-hand stuff. 

Another standout meal that we had was a herbal salted chicken from Aun Kheng Lim Salted Chicken. Deep incisions were made into the chicken, and stuffed with slices of dang gui to flavour the meat. It was tender and flavourful. One of our friends with family living in the area also went out of his way to ensure we also had chickens from Poh Lee Fried Chicken and Restoran Wonderful Honey Chicken, which were wonderfully fried, and baked respectively.

We had a pretty good lunch at Restoran Nasi Ayam Pak Kong Chicken Rice Store, though the crowd favourite for us was their roasted char siew.  

Being in Malaysia, there was also no shortage of zi char to choose from. We ate at Hoong Toh, famous for their crispy fried wanton and their Gui Hwa noodles. The noodles aren’t actually osmanthus-flavoured as the name suggested, the name just alludes to how the shredded cabbage over the noodles appears similar to an osmanthus flower. Despite the misleading name, the noodles were wonderfully aromatic with wok hei. Restoran Tuck Kee is another local favourite. I couldn’t help but notice their huge fat bean sprouts - these were by far the thickest and juiciest bean spouts I’ve had. Listen to me waxing on and on about bean sprouts. Am I growing old? Lordy.

Taking the overnight bus from Singapore into Ipoh was a new experience for many of us. We tried it for the novelty of the experience. The seats were more comfortable than I expected. They’re clean and quite large. Each row on the bus accommodates three seats. The seats recline horizontally to about 30 degrees, and have an extending calf rest that inclines outwards. I hear more premium options include chairs with massaging functions.

Ipoh is an ideal destination for trying the overnight bus: the journey is eight hours away, which theoretically means that you can board the 10pm bus, sleep on the bus and arrive at Ipoh at 6am the next morning right in time for breakfast at a dim sum restaurant (these places open at the crack of dawn). Taking an overnight bus to other locations may be less feasible. You wouldn’t want, for example, to take 6-hour bus to Kuala Lumpur and have to leave or arrive at an awkward hour, or go some place further up north and spend part of the next day still on the bus.

For example, we had a grand dim sum breakfast at the crack of dawn at Chooi Yue Dim Sum Ipoh 翠月楼点心。 

That being said, taking the overnight bus is still not my preferred option to travel into Malaysia. We couldn’t sleep well on the bus, partially because still there is no comparison between a bed versus a reclining armchair, and also because the driver switched on all the lights every two hours at each rest stop to wake everybody up and get us to go to the loo. It's also wild that just days before we came to Ipoh, Malaysia passed a mandating seatbelts in buses, considering how fast vehicles generally speed along on Malaysia’s highways. 

The return journey back to Singapore was even less comfortable. Personally, I’d rather take the 1 hour afternoon flight back to Singapore and sleep well back on my own bed by nightfall. It’s good for locals who can freshen up and take a shower before boarding the bus. But if you’re a tourist returning to Singapore, it’s a bit painful to check out of your accommodation in the morning and mill around Ipoh before your 10pm bus departure. Though perhaps the one good thing is about taking the overnight bus is the lack of luggage size restrictions. We left sated, clutching our bags filled with souvenirs, my fruit haul from Pomepop and biscuits and candied nut bars from Kedai Biskut Guan Heong. We couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to the best that Ipoh has to offer.