Kintoki Japanese Restaurant （金时日本料理）

There is a Japanese Restaurant in my neighbourhood, which has opened a few years back but I haven't got the chance to taste its culinary. As a Japanese food craver, I finally took up the courage to try out the one and only.

1). Situated at the side of Jalan Kledang Utara, en route to Ipoh-Lumut Expressway.

2). The restaurant is not too spacious, can accommodate 20 odds customers with their cubicles. The cashier counter is decorated in Japanese style.

3). How about a Ebiten Temaki for starter? Wrapped with Japanese rice, Japanese cucumbers and a big hot prawn tempura!

4). Beef Teriyaki, where cutlet of beef is dipped with sweet soy sauce, I really liked it although the portion is not very filling..

 5). Sushi Nigiri? Nah.. just a plate of sushi set lunch. Plain and simple, nothing significant though..

6). A Unagi Bento, this looks ordinary but it tasted above average with the ingredients so fresh. The set lunch comes with unagi, Japanese rice, egg slice, carrots, turnips, vegie, Miso soup and jelly for dessert.

7). The highlight of the meal is of course Unagi and nothing else!! Grilled eels dipped with sweet soy sauce, just simply make my day!!

Luckily all the sushi and bento rice are made from Japanese rice, unlike some of the them cheating their customers with some cheap-skate local breed. Lastly, the set lunches are quite affordable and worth the try!

Kintoki Japanese Restaurant （金时日本料理）

No. 151, Persiaran Desa Rishah 1,

Taman Desa Rishah,

30100 Ipoh, Perak.

Tel. : 05-2813487

Business hours : 11.30am - 3.00pm

                           6.00pm - 10.30pm

Big Sister Pan Mee Restaurant （大家姐板面馆）

Recently traveled down to Kampar in Perak and seek for a quick lunch. Apart from the all-time famous Curry Bread Chicken, I am looking for something else and found out a newly opened pan mee （板面） restaurant in this old mining town. To my astonishment, the shop is still relatively unknown according to our fellow Kamparians.  

1). Situated at the side alley (Jalan Ampang) in between Jalan Besar and Jalan Idris, diagonally opposite of Pizza Hut.

2). The pan mee shop has just opened for three months, since December 2010. However, the air-conditioning is terribly needed, especially during lunch hours.

3). An extensive menu of noodles is available, however to my disappointment, there is only size, the smaller mee-like noodles offered by the shop, in which I prefer the bigger size or the hand-pinch size.

4). A special drink on the menu is the Vietnamese Coffee, where you need to separate the coffee residue by using the filter provided. Before drinking it, you can mixed the coffee with the condensed milk at the bottom of the cup according your preferred sweetness.

5). The traditional style pan mee is cooked with soup (wet version), topped with potato leaves, anchovies and sliced mushrooms. The small portion priced at RM3.50 and the large portion cost extra 50 cents.

6). I have always fond of dried chilli pan mee, however only the dried version is available. Although it has all the ingredient as the wet version, the taste is just plain ordinary, nothing special about it.

 7). However the highlight of the meal comes with their signatured fried tofu, topped with plum sauce, priced at RM4.00 for 4 pieces. I really like the sweet and sour taste!

Being a pan mee specialist restaurant, there are a variety of pan noodles are available for selection. In my opinion, the pan mee is not up to my expectation and comes inferior as compared to our KL counterpart. However at least there is something new to try out whenever you visit Kampar.

Big Sister Pan Noodle Restaurant （大家姐板面馆）

Jalan Ampang, 

31900 Kampar, Perak.

Business hours : 8am-3pm, 6pm-10pm daily.

Beansprout Chicken at Buntong （驰名文冬口芽菜鸡）

One of the must-eat gourmet whenever you come to the City of Mountain is its famous Beansprout Chicken (怡保芽菜鸡), otherwise you might considered yourself never visited Ipoh before. The Beansprout Chicken combined three of the most famously produced ingredients, which are beansprout, chicken and "Hor Fun", better known as Kuey Tiaw.

One of the restaurant serving Beansprout Chicken is secretly hide in Buntong, the birthplace of all the famous Ipoh beansprouts. Opens from 6pm onwards daily except Tuesdays, this place is jam-packed during dinner time, make sure you get your table rewarded by coming as early birds.

This is Ipoh's signatured beansprout, I liked to call it 'fat' and 'short', where they are home-grown in a few households in Buntong. Juicy and crunchy!

This is the famous Beansprout Chicken, but ironically it is not cooked together with beansprout and rather served separately as Steamed Chicken (白斩鸡), famous for its tenderness and silkiness.

Apart from the two famous counterparts, Ipoh also famous for its noodles, which known as "Sha Hor Fun" （沙河粉）or Hokkiens called it kuey tiaw.

The noodle is available in two versions, which are dry and wet. The dry version of Ipoh hor fun is showed in the picture above, where you need to evenly mixed to enjoy it. Usually I prefer the dried one, as I always get my tongue scalded by the soup of the wet version.

Put aside the tourist favourites in town, there are a few more 'underdogs' scattered around Ipoh, which are well known among our locals and should be given a chance to taste it for yourself.

Restoran Ayam Tauke （驰名文冬口芽菜鸡）
Address : No. 849, Jalan Guntong, Buntong, 30100 Ipoh, Perak.
Business hours : 6pm onwards daily (except Tuesdays)
Tel. : 05-2557469, 017-5787251


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Bidor Pun Chun Duck Drumstick Noodle （品珍酒楼）

Probably the one and only place that worth paying a visit whenever I travel down or passed by Daerah Batang Padang, is Pun Chun Restaurant (品珍酒楼) in the small town of Bidor.

Located at then main street, in the heart of town of Bidor, which is just a few turns away from Bidor toll exit

Open from 6.30am to 4pm daily, this is also a breakfast / lunch hot spot for the locals, not to mention the tourists, especially on weekends and public holidays. During those older days, this restaurant considered to be the local Chineses' favourite place to held their wedding dinners / banquets.

A perfect day starts with a cup of coffee, true especially for caffeine-addicts..

Dry duck drumstick noodle 

A plate of 'Wan Ton Mee' a-like noodle priced at RM7.00 per plate (at the time of writing). The price has been increased over the years, as compared to RM5.50 when I first tasted it in 2009.

The herbal soup contains a duck drumstick, which gives the name of the combination dish.

Their menu also features a wet-version of duck drumstick noodle, where the noodle is served together with the herbal soup and drumstick this time. However, the flavour is not as strong as the dry counterpart.

Besides the ever-popular duck drumstick noodle, the restaurant also offers other types of noodles, such as Char Siew Noodle, Shredded Chicken Noodle, Dry Curry Noodle, Chicken Feet Noodle, and also their famous confectioneries namely Chicken Biscuits (鸡仔饼) and Shat Kek Ma (萨骑马). For more information, feel free to visit their very own blog spot, check it out here!

Pun Chun Restaurant （品珍酒楼）

Address: 38 & 40, Jalan Besar, 35500 Bidor, Perak.

Business Hours : 6.30am - 4.00pm

Tel. : 05-4341554 & 05-4341562

Fax : 05-4346191  

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Dinner at Indulgence

Recently I had a dinner at one of the most prestige restaurant for fine dinning in Ipoh, Indulgence Restaurant and Living. This is a place where I would come visiting for special occasions with the special one. So, here it goes..

1). Secretly tucked away in a mansion in the heart of Ipoh City.

 2). The dinning hall has a simple, comfortable and relaxing ambiance.

 3). Better get your table reserved, especially on special occasions. This is also a kind of place where our royalties would dine in, we are talking about high standard nonetheless.

4).  Take a sip of a refreshing drink while scratching our heads on the menu.

 5). A glass of Merlot from Aussie, unfortunately it didn't taste as what I imagine it would be..

 6). Toasted bread with SCS butter spread, fragrant and creamy..

  

7). How about Foie Gras for starter? Topped with melted Manchego, a goat-milk cheese from Spain and bottemed with mushrooms. A nice and small portion, but not the best I have tasted so far..

 8). A seared rare Petuna Ocean Trout, served with caramelized onions, ginger-mustard on a picalilli sauce. The meat is tender and tasted even better with the special made sauce.

 9). The high of the night comes with the Australian Wagyu Beef, seared square and cooked medium rare with heirloom spuds, mango and pea tendrils. The meat was nicely grilled, tender and juicy. Craving for more, if only it doesn't cost a bomb..

 10). A special dessert of the day, named Banana-Nana, consists of crispy fried banana, chocolate banana cake and vanilla ice-cream topped with strawberries. You'll loved it, if you like banana..

 11). Last but not least, anather special made dessert, An Eton Mess Berries. Apart from the cute-looking dunk, tasted almost similar with the previous dessert.

12). A true rare gem in Ipoh indeed, with an award-winning restaurant and 7 uniquely decorated boutique guest rooms available to accommodate visitors all year long. It has become a branding for years to come and set a standard for fine dinning restaurant in Ipoh.  

Indulgence Restaurant & Living

14, Raja Dihilir, 30350 Ipoh, Perak.

Tel. no. : 05-2557051

Business hours : Wednesday to Sunday 9.00am - 11.30pm

Chicken Kueh Tiaw at Lok Wee Koi (乐会居茶室)

Lok Wee Koi Coffee Shop (乐会居茶室) is one of the places that I have been visiting since my childhood days. This is also one of my favourite spot for a quick-fix lunch whenever I have a errand to run in Ipoh Town (Pekan Bharu). 

1). Lok Wee Koi is situated at a corner shop at the intersection of Jalan Mustapha Al-Bakri and Jalan Raja Musa Aziz.

2). This place offers a variety of food for you to choose from, namely Hor Hee, Chee Cheong Fun, Fried Noodles, Roasted Chicken Rice, etc.

3). Of course there is only reason I am here, for my favourite Ipoh Chicken Kueh Tiaw (鸡丝河粉)! Served with  prawn broth and topped with freshly sizzled chicken cutlets and prawns. However, the flavour do neeed some consistency though..

4). A Chicken Kueh Tiaw is not complete without Ipoh's famous kueh tiaw (河粉)!

5). Well, another reason I am here for the Ice-Cream Float, the shop's signature drink! Bandung syrup topped with vanilla ice-cream, and to be mixed with the soft drink of your choice. Usually I'll pick Ice-Cream Soda or Sprite. Simply refreshing!

6). Last but not least, the additional Fruit Rojak makes the meal complete with its special made shrimp paste sauce with grinded groundnuts. Bon appetite!

Lok Wee Koi Coffee Shop (乐会居茶室)

Jalan Mustapha Al-Bakri,

30300 Ipoh, Perak.

(Morning until late afternoon)

Yut Loy in Kuala Kangsar (悦来餐室)

The nature of my job takes me throughout the state of Perak. It has given me an opportunity to try out the gourmet wherever I go. This time let's find out what Kuala Kangsar, our royal town has installed for us!

 1). Restoran Yat Lai is situated at 51, Jalan Kangsar, same row as Farmasi Kangsar.

2). The name "Yut Loy" appears on their entrance, as opposed to the one on the blinders.

3). This is how the inside looks like, a classic Hainanese coffee shop. Jam-packed with customers during lunch hours!

4). The menu and price list is hung on the wall, however lunch starts from 1pm, as stated on the wall.

5). If you happen to pass by the shop after 2.30pm, then you are lucky enough to have a taste of their signature pau, which comes with chicken and beef, 2 flavours. This is one of the favourites of our Royalties!

6). This is what it looks like when you open up the Chicken Pau, filled with chicken cutlets and gravy, just like a Char Siew Pau.

7). The REAL reason we are here, is for their Hainanese western food, which is only available after 1pm. The Hainanese Chicken Chop is priced at RM15.00, slightly more expensive than offered else where.

8). Freshly made chicken chop are deep fried and topped with signature Hainanese sauce, tasted almost like Oriental Style without the tomato paste. Crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside!

9). We also try out their Beef Steak, which offered a smaller portion than the chicken, but with the same sauce and same price at RM15.00. Taste different than our usual American / English grilled steak.

This is my usual place for lunch, whenever I am in Kuala Kangsar for a job. I really wish that this kind of traditional food will be able to continue for generations to come and taste for themselves, and also brings back fondmemories for the older generations too!

Yut Loy Restaurant (悦来餐室)

Address : 51, Jalan Kangsar, 33000 Kuala Kangsar, Perak.

Tel No : 05- 776 6369. 
Business hours : Morning until late afternoon (The pau are served after 2.30pm)


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