Falim Laksa Stall (华林市玉姐叻沙)

Falim Laksa (华林市玉姐叻沙) used to be my usual Sunday lunch spot. Please click here to refer to my previous post on this famous laksa stall. However, the laksa stall was mysteriously closed in the middle of 2012. 

To my surprise, the laksa stall has resumed its business in mid-September, back at the usual place, in front of  a corner shop at the start of Falim street. 

I was told that the stall had to shut down for awhile, due to renovation done upon the corner shop lot. Well,  my Sunday lunch spot will be back as usual then, I guess.

You are asked to hand pick as many fried stuff as you wished.

And they have thoughtfully calculated the price for the required amount of fried stuff and the quantity of laksa as well.

玉姐 responsible for cooking the laksa noodles a.k.a. 濑粉.

Laksa broth is poured into the cooked laksa noodles and will be delivered to your table swiftly. 

As you can see, the laksa stall doesn't offer the best of place for you dine-in, but you can enjoy the only drink available at the stall which is priced at RM1.20, while waiting patiently for your bowl of laksa.

Within minutes of ordering, the laksa is delivered to your table. As usual, pay for the food first ASAP it's delivered, which costs RM3.50 for a normal bowl of laksa, or you can size-up for extra RM0.70.

Blending the shrimp paste with broth is the usual approach to feast with a bowl of laksa, with gives the extra sweetness and reduce the sourness as well. However, you can request for the omission of the paste if you find it too strong/strange for you.

Fantastic needless to say! Recommended to come later in the afternoon, where the broth has the strongest taste after cooked for hours and that's when the crowd get started. 

Falim Laksa Stall (华林市玉姐叻沙)

Address : No.257, Jalan Lahat, 30200 Falim, Perak.

Business hours : 11.30am - 4.00pm (Sundays only)

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Barossa Fine Dining

Recent Groupon purchase has brought me to yet another new found land, which I had never step foot into previously. This time is Barossa Fine Dining. 

Located inside of the serene and scenic Royal Perak Golf Club, in the heart of Ipoh city.

Elegant indoor dining atmosphere with scenic view of the golf course are for diners to enjoy.

Front row seats on the sushi bar to enjoy the art of sushi-making by the sushi chefs.

Today's Special menu for fresh nigiri sushi (hand-formed sushi).

A wide range of Japanese wine available for selection, with a handful of them on display cabinet.

Barossa's menu consists of authentic Japanese and Thai cuisine. Barossa Fine Dining does not serve pork but offers alcohol on its menu.

For those who like to preview Barossa's menu, please click here for any further details and pricing on the menu.

The first plate to arrive is Kyuri Maki (RM18) literally means cucumber roll, which comes with rolls of 6. The sushi is rolled with peeled cucumber, surrounding fried fillings and topped with fish roes. Juicy on the outside, crunchy on the inside. This is one of the best Kyuri Maki I've ever eaten though.


The second plate is Spider Maki (RM26), which is made of fried soft shell crab, cucumber, avocado, lettuce, mayonnaise rolled together with nori and rice and topped with roes. 

Next dish to be served is Unagi Kabayaki set (RM38), which comes with grilled eel, fried potato, chawanmushi, miso soup, peach pudding and a bowl of rice. 

Here comes the Salmon Carnival set which was purchased over Groupon for RM45 instead of RM102.50 which includes 4 salmon sashimi (RM18.40), 2 salmon tanuki temaki (RM20), salmon teppanyaki (RM23), 6 salmon maki (RM9), 4 salmon nigiri sushi (RM18). The portion of the platter is adequate for sharing of 2 persons and the salmons taste fresh, which justifies the price of the deal. Please click here for full details of the Groupon deal.

The overall dining experience is enjoyable, with peaceful dining atmosphere and warm-welcoming staffs. However, the most important of all is the standard of the food provided which make the visit worthwhile. Please visit Groupon page and Barossa's facebook page for any upcoming promotions

Barossa Fine Dining

Address: Royal Perak Golf Club, 

               Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah (Tigerlane), 

               31400 Ipoh, Perak. 

Operating hours: 11am – 3pm / 6pm – 10pm daily

Contact: 05-5484802 / 05-5486802 / 012-555 6893

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Brewsterlane Kitchen

Today's special menu written on blackboard with chalks. located outside of Brewsterlane Kitchen.

My recent purchases over Groupon has given me the opportunities to venture into some previously untested restaurants, Brewsterlane Kitchen is one of them. The deal is priced at RM55 for the choice of two, either Australian tenderloin steak or Australian sirloin steak with scallops. Please click here to view the full details of the deal.

However, I received a call from the restaurant one day before in which they confessed the beef they received aren't really fresh. They rejected the stock and request my permission to exchange for lamb tenderloin. I agreed, but with disappointment of course. At least they are honest, in some ways. 

 Located in one of the Ipoh's most well-known road, Jalan Sultan Idris Shah. Previously known as Brewster Lane in which the name of the restaurant comes from. The owner and chef, Sam Lee (李勇辉) has a decade of experience in 5 star hotels, especially in western cuisine. 

The restaurant makes you feel at home, well decorated with wooden furniture and antiques on the wall.

The dining place is rather small, only able to cater for 5 tables at one time. Therefore, early reservation at 016-539 4749 is rather advisable as compared to walk-in. Brewsterlane Kitchen has opened its door to public for more than 5 years.

Besides Groupon, the restaurant is also having their own promotion, where you can enjoy a RM15 - RM30 set meal for free when you order any item above RM40. The promotion duration lasts two weeks, which is one week before and after a diner's birthday.

 Fresh lime juice was recommended to accompany the main course, priced at RM2.50 per glass. The milky appearance resembles soya bean milk, however it does taste fresh and a bit sour.

The main course, lamb tenderloin is served together with French fries, salad, vegetable soup, and pudding dessert. The presentation is simple, yet the mutton's aroma has filled the room even before the dish is served. The soup tasted like freshly squashed potato to me, while the others are far from anything remarkable.

The lamb tenderloin is cooked medium done. The portion is adequate for one person, not much nor too little. Furthermore, the tenderloin lacks the offensive smell and gamy taste, which drives away its predators. The meat is tender (hence their name it tenderloin?!), juicy, succulent  and best served with the gravy provided.

  The restaurant's specialty, Foie Gras on tenderloin steak priced at RM168+ with portion for two, which has limited fresh stock daily. The waiter a.k.a. Uncle told me reservation should be to avoid any disappointment. Frankly speaking, that's what I intended to do for my next visit! 

Brewsterlane Kitchen （人禾居原汁味食馆）

Address: No. 142, Jalan Sultan Idris Shah, 30000, Ipoh, Perak.

Reservation No.: 016-539 4749 / 012-6892638

Opening hours: 12pm to 10pm daily

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Fai Kee Restaurant (辉记小食馆)

1). By the name Fai Kee, it sounds like any other ordinary Chinese Kopitiam. However, not many people know that Fai Kee has been a family restaurant inherited for three generations. However, the main reason that kept the customers coming back is their signatured Fish Head Rice Noodles.

2). Originally Fai Kee was selling stir-fried noodles, porridges and fish head rice noodles. However, fish head rice noodles is the only dish they are selling now, when it was taken over by the third generation of the family.

3). Traditionally Fai Kee used deep-fried the fish head and make into fish head rice noodles. The restaurant uses Groupa Fish, deep-fried into golden crispy while maintaining its texture. Finally, either a freshly made sweet, sour and salty broth or a rich milky white soup is poured into bowl to complete the fish head rice noodles. 

4). Besides the signatured fish head, Fai Kee also has a wide variety of fish meat available for customers to choose. Customers can always add-on Groupa fish meat or fish belly. In order to satisfy the taste buds of a wide range of customers, the owner has been added in the bland milk cooking, Dory fish, etc.

5). The Cantonese believed that the essence of the fish bones can only be extracted when a fish broth is boiled into milky white colour. Therefore, the milky colour has become an indicator of the fish broth. The reason behind the sequence of deep-frying the fish head first, then only cooked into the fish head rice noodles, is due to the shortening the boiling time of the fish broth and at the same time minimizing the fishy taste of the bones to make the fish broth to retain its freshness and tastiness.

6). You can have a choice of Fish Meat Rice Noodles, which gives you bite after bite of fresh meat.

7).  Or the all-time favourites, Fish Head Rice Noodles, if you're not much of a carnivore.

8). On the other hand, I don't think there is a choice, when it comes to the selection of noodles available.

9). Usually, tomatoes and pickles, even orange juices will be added into this type of milky fish head rice noodles.The sour and salty taste not only will increase your appetite, it will also reduce the blandness of the milk in the soup. However, the fish broth is still not up to my standard, in terms of milkiness, as compared to the other compatriots in KL.

11). The originator of Fai Kee Restaurant was the current owner’s grandfather, which has been running the business since 1919. Even though the grandson has just taken over the business from his father 11 years ago, he has never neglected the century old traditional, which is the heart, effort and time to sturdily boil a fish broth worthy of an heritage that lasts for generations to come.

Fai Kee Restaurant (辉记小食馆)

Address : 28, Jalan Seenivasagam, 30450 Ipoh, Perak.

Business hours : 7.00am - 4.00pm

Tel. : 012-4546111

GPS Coordinates : N 4°35.931'    E101°5.228'

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Sum Sum Yi Fatt (3328) Restaurant

There are aplenty of restaurants located in my neighbourhood. Many of them just came and gone with a wind, without having the chance to try them out. However, only handful of them managed to cling on their business for several years until this very day. Sum Sum Yi Fatt (3328) Restaurant is one of them. 

Sum Sum Yi Fatt (3328) Restaurant is located by the road side, same row with Fresh Hotel, en routing from Falim to Ipoh-Lumut Expressway. 

Occupied a two storey shop lot, 3328 houses up to 20 odd tables. Do not be midjudged by the "emptiness" of the restaurant, this is a jammed, packed place for dinner for the locals, especially during weekends and Public Holidays.

Suck up a glass of refreshing Lime Juice, while ordering our dishes for the night. Self-prepared Sugarcane is not bad either. By the time you taste the drink, the dishes are already on the table, that is the promptness of their service, on a weekday night of course.


Steamed Snakehead (清蒸油浸生鱼)

This is the 1st dish made out of Snakehead (生鱼), a type of local fresh water fish. I had to compliment the freshness of the fish where it is skinned from a living fish, and the accompanying soy sauce isn't too salty too, just nice! This dish would easily be my favourite of the night.

Stir-fried Snakehead (姜葱生鱼)

This is the second dish made of the same Snakehead, where the meat is skinned out and stir-fried with ginger and scallion. This dish comes with richer flavour, but less tenderness as compared to the former dish. The whole plate was gone, minutes after it was served, need I say more?!

Stir-fried Snakehead with Bitter Gourd (生鱼炒苦瓜)

 Snakehead Soup (生鱼滾枸杞叶汤) 

Soup is one of the must-have dishes in our usual Cantonese meal. The left over meat and bones of the fish are boiled together with Wolfberry leaves into a bowl of soup. The soup is refreshing and the leaves are crunchy. No wonder the trio of dishes are their signatured dishes.

Cripsy Roasted Duck (脆皮烧鸭)

Boiling oil is splashed onto the roasted duck before serving, which makes the skin crispy and also the name of the dish. However, it is still under-achiever compared to the next shop's roasted duck, especially in terms of the dipping sauce.

Steamed Tilapia (酱蒸金凤鱼)

One of the regular dishes ordered during eating out in Chinese restaurant. The fresh water fish is steamed and topped with sweet & sour bean curd sauce.First and foremost the fish doesn't tasted muddy, that's a relief!  

Mongolian Pork Spare Ribs (蒙古排骨) 

The spare rib is one of the dishes listed on their Special Daily Menu. The ribs are chopped into bite-size and topped with Mongolian sauce, which tasted sweet, sour and milky too. Not bad either, one of the recommended dishes by the waitress.

Deep fried Squids with Salted Eggs (咸蛋鱿鱼)

Fried stuff is always one of our favourite dish during eating out. Anything goes well with salted egg. A great combination of deep fried and salted egg, however the squid would taste even better if it was cooked with a smaller ones. No doubt it is an unhealthy food, yet everyone seems to like it.

Chili Pepper Squid (椒盐炸苏东)

Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab (炸软壳蟹)

Stir-fried Kai-lan with Roasted Pork Spare Ribs (芥兰炒烧肉)

Kai-lan a.k.a.Chinese Broccoli, although I don't see any resemblance, is pretty crunchy after stir-fried; the roasted pork are slightly fatty to my liking though. Just a so-so average Joe.

Claypot Pork Belly with Salted Fish (咸鱼花腩煲)

Sliced pork belly is braised together salted fish, which the fragrance to the dish. However, it still isn't no way near the standard set by Oversea Restaurant, which is one of their signature dishes.

Salad Chicken (沙律鸡)

Stir-fried Paku vegetable (炒蕨菜)

Paku is a type of fiddlehead fern, where it is widely used in Asian culinary. Paku is slightly stir-fried and topped with lime juice and soy sauce. This dish is very appetizing and refreshing, not to mention crunchy, the only texture I preferred when eating vegetables.

Stir-fried Potato Leaves (清炒薯苗)

Sambal Prawn with Stinky Prawns (叁笆臭豆虾)

Freshly plucked stinky beans from Cameran Highlands are cooked in sambal style with prawns, but still haven't perfected as good as the Thai restaurant. 

3328 Restaurant served as one of the favourites among the locals, where you will find it full house during weekends. Of course, the restaurant offers a very reasonable pricing for Chinese Restaurant meal. However, what you pay is what you get, don't put too high expectation on it, if you're comparing with the high end restaurants.

Sum Sum Yi Fatt (3328) Restaurant

Address : 14, Jalan Mas, Taman Mas, 30100 Ipoh, Perak.

Business hours : Lunch hour until dinner hours daily.

Tel. : 012-5336121

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