72: Ipoh Food Trip Part Deux

Do you know a huge chunk of places in Ipoh that are good food spots were closed on Monday?

Of all the damned luck.

We passed by Foh San, the huge dim sum place with 2 or 3 floors. It was crowded with people (as usual) but we managed to get some mooncakes (more on that here).

Finally we sat down at a coffee shop by the name of Hua Nam.

There was a huge plethora of stalls here, and we were really stumped on what to order. Let me help you visualize it here: the har mee had prawns the size of my fingers, the char koew teow was pretty fantastic smelling, and oh the cham peng.

Don't get me started on the cham peng.

I'm a kind of guy who likes mixing things. Bring me to Subway or Burger King and watch me mix all the soft drinks from the soda dispenser into my paper cup (much to the displeasure of my girlfriend, who thinks she's bringing a kid out to eat). It's just my style. So sue me. Think of Remy from Ratatouille. Same difference?

Anyway, a mix of coffee and tea. That is the cham, meaning "mix"(not to be confused with the cham which means "pathethic"). When it comes down to coffees and teas in the coffee shop, it really boils down to the milk. It can really make or break the drink. Too little and you get a kopi'O. Too much and you're just drinking palm oil.

I have to said that the cham here was prefectly balanced and quite tasty, unlike a whole lot of shops back in KL. Nice one, Ipoh.

We also ended up ordering egg on toast, which I have never actually done before in any coffee shop in KL.

It was a bloody work of art. 2 perfectly shapped soft-boiled eggs on top of 2 uttered and toasted slices of bread. I was half expecting the damn yolk to pop half way to our table (which it didn't).

Glorious I tell you.

Also less glorious were these rice flour noodles. But the stuff in them was pretty good. It was a D-I-Y kind of shop. Grab whatever you want and they'll cook it up in noodles for you (much to my horror was like yong tau fu again). I ended up taking beef tendon balls and beef balls (you can never have too much beef).

71: Ipoh Food Trip Part Un

went to Ipoh last Monday, purely for hedonistic purposes (i.e. the petty indulgence of food).

Seeing as Ming Court was closed (who closes at 10.30???) we went to eat Yong Tau Fu under the huge tree, at Tai Shi Tau.

The minute I took one step of out the car, I already made an inference:

The people here are ravenous!

Look at the queue!

Most of them were literally elbowing me just to get the fried sar kot.

I had to keep telling myself, "No more Mr. Nice-guy" and forced myself to stretch my arm (with thongs in hand) over the crowd to quickly pilfer all the fu pei-s and the wontons and the sar kot-s.

Yes, yes, I am an evil human being. But cut me some slack man. I'd hadn't eaten since 6.a.m.!

Fast fact: The way to order here is to grab a food thong and grab whatever you want, hand it over to the guy in charge, tell him what noodles you'd like (hor fun, laksa, etc) and in what sauce (kon low, curry, etc). Very alien to a newcomer such as myself really.

Anyway, once we sat down, we ordered from a drink menu which consisted of the usual such as coffee, tea, and also the unsual such as blended corn, red bean or even dragon fruit!

I ordered the corn and wmw ordered the red bean (my dad ordered the coffee, which was unworthy of a photo).

I have to tell you it was pretty cool (blending corn and all). It was kind of thick, but it was pretty good. Not that sweet to boot.

Besides ordering from the Yong Tau Fu guys, plenty of other stalls were located around the vicinity, like fried carrot cakes and porridges.

I had to say the fried carrot cake was pretty good (honestly, anything tastes super when you're starving) but it lacked the kick from the chili.

After a ridiculously long wait time, the YTF finally arrived (or every second feels like a minute when you are starving. I'm not sure)! Whoopee!

Honestly, if I had not been dying of starvation, I would have said everything tastes pretty normal. Its kind of like whatever you'd might get in KL, well, except for the fried radish (sar kot). Was it really worth the wait, braving the crowd, getting elbowed and having your seats stolen from unscrupulous families? Well, no.

But it was a pretty decent start to a long, foodie day.

So remember kids, being hungry will mess with your mind. But it's the healthier alternative to doing drugs.