Holiday Foodsteps: The Little Gems of Ipoh and Penang

 As always, one finds little things that stand-out along the way - they may not be full-blown meals but these little gems command the spotlight (and are often the things we remember most). These are some of my favourite spotlight-stealers:

Sin Eng Heong Kaya Puff

No. 64, Jln Mustapha Al-Bakri,
Jln Clare,30300,Ipoh Perak.

05 2439 659, 012 453 4596 (Elaine)


Orders for the kaya puffs were being taken even before we got to Ipoh - I suppose that should have been a bright, flashing indicator of how good the puffs are. Alas, my family decided to skip on the orders, deciding that we'd be fine without a taste of these much-talked-about kaya puffs. As the packets of warm kaya puffs, fresh from the oven, made their way onto the bus after we stopped by the bakery to collect them, we relented and tucked into some.  The pastry that gives into the delightfully rich kaya concoction is a masterpiece - so light, flaky and crumbly that it surprised me. Devine. Simply devine.

Muar Chee

Gurney Drive Hawker Area
Penang 

This what I've come to know affectionately as the inside-out muar chee. In possibly every other part of Malaysia, muar chee comes in the form of glutinous rice balls with sweet filling (peanut or otherwise), rolled in flour. They've always been a favourite of mine and I have fond memories of tucking into muar chee balls and getting the flour all over my mouth and fingers. When I first stumbled upon this version of one of my favourite snacks, I was intrigued - and how can one not be as you stand in front of the stall watching the lady expertly cut the glutinous rice strips with a blade while simultaneously coating the pieces with what would usually be the peanut filling. Lets just say I fell in love at first bite.



 

Swatow Lane Ice Kacang 

New World Park 

Swatow Lane off Burma Road

Penang

When it comes to hawker food, competition is tough in Penang and while New World Park offers the comfort of a clean, modern setting for hawker food, the food does disappoint somewhat. It is (more than) worth a visit, though, if you're on the hunt for ice kacang. This is perhaps my favourite version of the iconic Malaysian dessert - a treasure trove of the usual suspects (sweetcorn, redbean, jelly, syrup, peanuts), fresh fruits, attap seeds and the most incredible ice cream (one gets a choice of ice cream flavours - durian really stood out for me).

Holiday Foodsteps: Ipoh Central Kopitiam

These are the ingredients to the perfect weekend breakfast: a good cup of local white coffee, toast (kaya is a bonus) and perfectly done eggs. If those are the ingredients to your perfect breakfast too then Ipoh Central Kopitiam is going to make your morning.



 
We spotted the kopitiam as we stepped out of Foh San and despite being absolutely stuffed from all the dimsum,  we couldn't resist the pull of the coffee so across the road we went, because that's just what tourists do in Ipoh - eat. One sip and we were sold - we knew we'd have to come back the next day.

 
 Frothy, and with that lovely flavour that only local coffee seems to have - the perfect pick-me-up.

 
A gorgeous runny yolk on light, crisp toast.

The coffee shop doesn't only serve coffee, eggs and toast, of course (though I would have been equally happy if that was all it served).
 

Apom balik - the soft, fluffy sort.



Curry chee cheong fun


 
Hor hee, for the ones who prefer a warm, soupy start the to the day. 

I'm always on the look-out for a good cup of local white coffee (the places that get their coffee right almost always get their eggs and kaya toast right, too) - so if you happen to have a favourite coffee shop in Kuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya, I'd love to hear from you, one kopitiam lover to another.

Holiday Foodsteps: Top Wok, Ipoh

It was meant to be, Top Wok and us - destiny, if you may. It had been an eventful day involving a trip to the emergency unit (be very, very careful - steps in the caves can get extremely slippery) and all we wanted was to settle down to a good dinner to laugh it all off. After discovering that our first choice restaurant was closed for the day and that a wedding was being held in our backup restaurant, we kept our fingers crossed that the third time would be a charm. 

TOP WOK SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
No 12-1, Lebuh Perajurit 3/1,
Taman Ipoh Boulevard Timur,
31400 Ipoh,
Perak, Malaysia.
Telephone : 605-547 6392, 6012-506 1503

Salted fish topped tofu. A perfect golden brown on the outside, soft on the inside and paired with a delicious gravy that hinted of salted fish and crunchy fried onions - this went right up there on my list of favourite tofu dishes.

Tung Po Yuk - slow cooked pork, served with steamed mantou. The tong po yuk here is a bit of a house special and it truly didn't disappoint. It brought back happy memories of a 5 year-old me, deeping strips of soft, steamed mantou into that deep, dark gravy that we all know and love.


Otak otak.  I'm always a little apprenhensive about otak otak served at restaurants - there's always a tendency to go a little overboard with the gelatin so what you get is not the rich, velvety fish paste but a fish jelly of sorts. The flavours from Top Wok's version were delightful and while the consistency wasn't quite spot on, it still made for an addictive, satisfying dish.

Sizzling Nyonya squid. Sweet, spicy, sour, and with that tantalising sizzle. Enough said.

   
Steamed grouper tail. Fresh fish, a generous amount of garlic and steamed for just the right amount of time - check, check and check.

Buttermilk mantis prawns. Contender number two in the buttermilk mantis prawn challenge was a pretty strong one - a drier dish than the one in Leun Fong, this one was a little more to my liking.

To wash it all down - a nice cold (eye-opening) glass of umbra juice.

Top Wok serves the sort of warm, comforting food that makes families happy. Looks like the third time really was a charm for us.

Holiday Foodsteps: Completing the Foh San Experience

The last time I was at Foh San, I was vegetarian for the day, so while the sights and smells definitely tempted me, I dutifully stuck to the vegetarian-friendly dim sum dishes. This time, I was very much my omnivorous self and very eager to tuck into the very dishes that had tempted me so. It probably shouldn't come as a surprise that the restaurant was full at 8.30am - we thought we were rather early but were proven quite wrong. After the table-scouting-pressure-applying routine that eating out in just about anywhere in Ipoh seems to entail, we went straight for the counters where piping hot little morsels of dim sum were being dished out.





 
Restoran Foh San
51 Jalan Leong Sin Nam
30300, Ipoh, Perak 

I must say that dim sum is definitely more for the omnivore, with the variety of meat-laden dishes available. Here, you'll catch a glimpse of some of my favourites.

Char Siu Sou (Barbecued pork pastry). These unassuming looking little pastries were absolute stars in my book with the char siu filling just right and the pastry light, crumbly and baked to a perfect golden brown. 

Wu Kok (Deep fried yam dumplings). Yam dumplings are one of those dim sum staples - every outlet has a version of it and sometimes, just sometimes, you get some truly outstanding ones. The dumplings are Foh San are not outstanding but manage to do the trick with their slightly lighter coloured char siu filling.



 
Siu Mai (pork dumplings). I'd never seen wolfberry-adorned siu mai before.

Century egg-topped dumplings. 



Steamed pork ribs with black beans. I liked that the Foh San version wasn't overly salty (as black bean dishes often are in danger of) and that the ribs weren't simply all about the bones. 

I was on the look out for the lotus paste filled glutinous dumplings that I'd fallen in love with the last time I was there but they were no where to be found. I suppose that's the thing about a restaurant that doesn't have a menu - then again, it also means that there's a little element of surprise at every visit. Some other dishes that were table favourites include the loh mai kai (steamed glutinous rice with chicken and Chinese sausage) and fried radish cake.

So yes, the Foh San experience feels a little more complete now that I've sampled some of their non-vegetarian dishes. Sure, one can argue that better versions of some of the dishes can be found elsewhere but there's something about joining the legions of happy dim sum eaters on a Sunday morning in that hustley, bustley atmosphere that gets you coming back time and again.

Holiday Foodsteps: Foh San, Ipoh

Foh San isn't a restaurant, it's an institution. It's an impressive structure and from what I've been told, a far cry from the small, crowded outlet that it used to be. With a setting not unlike a traditional Chinese teahouse, it's open-air concept really helps keep it from getting too stuffy.


Restoran Foh San
51 Jalan Leong Sin Nam
30300, Ipoh, Perak

Chin Toi

Yam Cake

This, I was completely taken by - lotus paste encased in a soft, chewy, glutinous shell.

I can see why Foh San enjoys such popularity - a wide selection of delicious morsels to be shared, well-made dim sum and an incredibly inviting atmosphere. With it's clever mix of traditional dim sum carts and self-service counters, there's almost no waiting time - good news for a bunch of hungry breakfast-seekers. I have to admit, they seemed to have everything covered - a take-away counter just outside the restaurant and lifts for the elderly. While a little more expensive than some other dim sum places, Foh San is well worth a visit.

Holiday Foodsteps: Ipoh - A Seafood Fest

Yeh Lai Ong
Ipoh Garden, Ipoh.

My brother has a theory about restaurants: easily bendable cutlery and plates that look like they've been too close to fire means that you're almost guaranteed a good meal. This is the place that proves his theory time and time again. No trip to Ipoh would be complete without a visit (or two) to our favourite restaurant, at least not for us anyway. It's one of those things that we talk about even before we get to Ipoh, a sort of centre piece to our holiday. The thing is, they recognise us, even if we only pay them a visit twice a year - and that's always nice, isn't it?

Claiming that no other place does steamed clams better than this place, this is where my brother gets his clam fix. Steamed in Chinese wine and ginger, this dish always has a wonderful aroma. He consumes his clams with all seriousness, treating it like an Olympic sport. There's a method to all of it apparently - one has to get the right amount of gravy into the shell before slurping everything up and adding the empty shell to the growing tower on the side plate.

I've yet to come find a place that makes a sweet and sour sauce as good as this one. There's a fantastic quality to the taste - a little garlicky, a little sweet, a little sour, a little magic. It's so good, it's almost addictive. I was tempted to order a bowl of gravy just to go with the fried mantou that was crisp and golden on the outside and deliciously soft on the inside. I think it's the authencity of the sauce, how you just know that it's the natural flavours of the ingredients coming together that makes you want to lick every bit of gravy off the crab (and of your fingers!).

Fried squid, something I can never resist. They do a mean fried squid - crispy, tasty and with the squid cooked just long enough. It was a last minute addition to the meal, and an addition that we definitely did not regret.

Deep fried pomfret. This is another one of our favourites as the fish is always fresh and the soy sauce gravy makes an excellent complement to the fish. This time, it was a little low on the soy sauce gravy, much to my disappointment though the fish was still well fried. Perhaps a better option would have been the steamed fish Teochew style, something that we had on the second visit to the restaurant that trip. Steamed with salted vegetables, the salty-sour gravy was extremely appetising.

It's funny how coming from the east cost, we look forward to seafood in Ipoh but really, it's the sort of meal that puts you in the best of moods even if the rain threatens to put a dampener on your holiday (and trust me, this trip, it did try).

Holiday Foodsteps: Ipoh - The Power of Choice

I've always loved coffee shops - the old Chinese coffee shops wih stalls selling different things, the type that if you really think about it, shouldn't be called just coffee shops. I love the hustle and bustle of busy stall-owners and how they all seem so set in their ways and the amount of choice that you get.



Thean Chun Coffee Shop
Situated in Old Town, Ipoh

My parents have fond memories of this place, of stalls that have been there for generations and of food that never disappoints.

What's a trip a Ipoh without having kuey teow, Ipoh style? For some reason, only stalls in Ipoh seem to get this absolutely right (hence the name, I suppose). The broth has to be clear, with a slight reddish tinge from the chilli oil and the flavour subtle, just natural sweetness from the prawns and meat.

This was a personal favourite - pork satay. I have to say, I've not had satay this good in a long time, if not ever - the pork was tender and not too lean, well cooked but still wonderfully juicy. The best bits were the paper thin slivers of fat between the meat. What was amusing was the way they served the satay - every table gets a starter pack, in a way, of satay and you're free to consume as many sticks of satay as you wish. The service is so good that you even get any remaining sticks of satay replaced with nice hot ones in the middle of the meal. At the end of it all, someone comes to count the number of sticks you've consumed, an interesting system.

Curry chee cheong fun. For me, this was something quite new as I'm more used to either the chee cheong fun with the sticky sweet sauce or the smooth sort you get at dim sum restaurants. The curry was not spicy and was more of a mild gravy to go with the chee cheong fun.

Creme caramel is not something you get at just any coffee shop - this was probably the first time I've seen it served at one but upon entering the shop, one would quickly notice that the creme caramel features at almost every table, always a sign that it's one of those must-have things. Well, they were all right, the creme caramel was excellent - smooth and melt-in-your-mouth. I thought it was incredibly thoughtful of them to serve every little dish of creme caramel with a glass of cold water. I couldn't think of a better way to end the meal.

Good food, great coffee and a sweet ending. That's what holidays were made for.

Holiday Foodsteps: Ipoh - Operation Curry Mee

Two things you have to remember when visiting one of the most popular breakfast spots in Ipoh:

- Patience is the name of the game
- One never messes with the system

Located along Jalan Sultan Iskandar Shah (Hugh Low Street)

Competition can get pretty heated up at a place like this - trying to get a seat is a bit like running special ops. You do a quick scan of the area upon arrival and potential tables are locked down as targets. You gesture to your troops to spread out, all the while keeping an eye out for lesser competitors who decide to give up and leave. At this point, you make eye contact with the customers seated at your potential table - mentally hurrying them up or giving them the evil eye for daring to chit chat as they finish their last few drops of iced coffee. As soon as the woman at the table reaches for her handbag, you zone in on her seat, call out to the rest of the troops and settle down at the table before anyone else can.

It's a bit like clockwork, the way they work - food orders are taken only after drinks are served and bowls of sambal arriving at your table is a sign that your noodles are on the way. I suppose it's comforting in a way, the same way counting down to your number at the bank is.

The curry noodles are of a different style here - the gravy is clearer than your usual fare with little or no coconut milk in it. It's simple, just noodles, beansprouts and bits of spring onion in a less-than-normal amount of gravy.

This is probably what really sets it apart from the rest - the meat is served seperately. A big bowl of roast pork, barbecued pork, shrimp, steamed chicken and pork innards or spare parts, as it is more fondly known as is placed on the table to be shared. Dunked into the sambal, the chicken, pork or shrimp is a complement to the noodles. It's a pretty good idea to serve them seperately as it keeps the pork crispy and ensures that the flavour of the meat is not overpowered by the curry.

I have to admit, I found the whole experience pretty interesting - everything from the hovering over tables (something I hadn't done for a long time) to the system, and of course to the different style of curry noodles. The noodles are a bit of an acquired taste, I think, and like most Malaysian favourites, curry noodles is a matter of personal preference. While this one was definitely worth trying, I'm still partial to my curry noodle shop by the beach back home in Kuantan.