Ipoh Food

Leaving Penang meant leaving all the super delicious food behind. The rain seemed to mirror the gloom as we drove across the bridge to the mainland.

                                               Gloomy and rainy weather

However, it was comforting to know that a tasty lunch was in store in Ipoh. Yes! The famous chicken and beansprout dishes touted to be the best in the country are synonymous with Ipoh.

                                       Famous coffee shop for chicken and beansprouts

We soon found our way to the coffee shop and ordered our meal. The shop was packed but we managed to find a small table tucked in a corner.  The food lived up to its reputation.

                                         Steamed chicken, beansprouts & fish balls

It was very tasty and the chicken texture was very smooth.  The bean sprouts were fat and crunchy and the fish balls had the taste of fish, unlike those we usually find in KL and Kota Kinabalu.

Then we nipped over to the shop selling the chicken biscuits that Ipoh is famous for.  I was surprised to find that they have so many flavours now.

                                              Famous Ipoh Chicken biscuits

By the time my shopping was done, my daughter’s car was fully packed with all the goodies to be distributed back home in Kuala Lumpur as well as in Kota Kinabalu.

After lunch, my spouse wanted to see his alma mater so despite the rain and the Friday traffic jam, we drove past it, just to satisfy his curiosity.

                                              Side entrance to St. Michael's Institution

                                                   St. Michael's Institution, Ipoh

Then we hit the highway to return to KL.  Along the way the rain was so heavy that visibility was very poor. At one stretch there was a long queue of vehicles inching slowly forward as there had been a bad accident.

                                                   Slow moving & heavy traffic

It was a relief to reach home before the sunset as we had a dinner appointment to celebrate my daughter’s birthday.

Food Trail (2) Favourite Food in Penang

After last night’s assorted hawker food dinner, we were ready for our noodle breakfast.

Penang’s kway teow soup is different from Ipoh’s.  Our friend took us to this coffee shop which he says serves the best kway teow soup.

We took him at his word since he is a Penang local.  He ordered for us and it was as delicious as he said. The texture of the noodles was slippery smooth, just like silk, and very thin. The kway teow we get in Kota Kinabalu is thick and rough, compared to this.

                                                  Penang Kway Teow Noodles

Come lunch, we went our separate ways, my daughter and her father went off elsewhere while my college alumnus picked me up for a small college reunion lunch at the 747 Restaurant.

                                                 Penang Brinsford Alumni lunch

The dishes they called were interesting and tasty and it was a big lunch. The food was less important than the getting to know you as I had not met them before. They were many years my senior in college, except one who was my junior and we had stayed in the same house in the college.

                                                  Lunch at 747 Restaurant

Lunch ended with photo taking and a suggestion that a reunion should be held in Kota Kinabalu, to visit that part of the country which had not been on their bucket list.

                                                  Garden of 747 Restaurant

                                                       Brinsford Ladies

The following morning, before we left Penang, our friend took us to another shop for the famous Char Kway Teow. This stall goes by the name of Tiger Kway Teow.

                                                              Tiger Cook
When the kway teow was served, there was a generous amount of cockles and two tiger prawns lay atop the plate of noodles. It was very well fried, not oily unlike some stalls and the aroma was mouth watering!

                                                       Super yummy char kway teow

These days, many stalls, especially in Kuala Lumpur, do not offer cockles in their char kway teow but to me, the cockles make the difference to the dish. Without the cockles, it doesn’t taste nice.

After breakfast, our friend took us to shop for Penang’s famous biscuits, nutmeg and sesame oil.

                           Famous Ghee Hiang shop for pastries & biscuits

                                               Buying nutmeg and sesame oil

Then it was time to wish him and Penang goodbye as we wanted to stop at Ipoh for lunch before returning to Kuala Lumpur. 

Food Trail Ipoh and Penang (1)

The recent trip to Penang to meet up with friends, old and new, saw us on the lookout for good food. We made an early start so that we could have breakfast in Ipoh, a 2-hour drive away from Kuala Lumpur.

                                            Morning queue of cars heading into Kuala Lumpur

It was a smooth drive and we soon saw landmarks which indicated that Ipoh was far away.

                                                    Limestone Hills of Ipoh

Ipoh is renowned for its smooth kuey teow soup too, apart from its steamed chicken and bean sprouts. We located a coffee shop on the outskirts and ordered kway teow soup and a bowl of fishballs to share.

                                                               Fish Balls

                                            Prawn & Meat slices in the Kway Teow Soup

After a satisfying breakfast, we headed for Penang, aiming to make it for lunch. A friend would be meeting us to take us out for lunch.

We made good time despite a queue on the way into Penang. Our hotel was located within the Heritage area so its frontage had to be behind the main road.

Our friend arrived and he whisked us away for lunch at the Penang Club which had a good view of the sea. We had assam fish head, chicken, claypot taufu and a vegetable.

That night we opted for hawker stall food. This is where we landed. There were many stalls selling a variety of food and the coffee shop was packed. These are what we ordered.

                                                        Prawn noodle soup

                                                  Vegetable spring roll (poh piah)

                                                         Oyster omelette

                                                        chicken & beef satay

                                                           Loh Bak

The hawkers were kept very busy fulfilling the orders placed by the never ending round of customers who walk in, hunting for a place to sit.

Desa Dairy Farm

The dairy  farm is situated high up on the slopes and a certain part of it is open to the public each day. Since it was a holiday weekend, there was a very long queue of cars crawling up the narrow road to the farm.

Everyone needs to buy a ticket to enter the farm grounds.

  Visitors go there to see the Freesia cows, the milking process, and to feed the goats and young cows.

 

They also purchase the cheese, the packets of milk and the gelato. The queues for the gelato were long too but we got our cups of gelato in the end. It was super yummy.

We queued to go up and we queued to go down too!!