Lou Wong Bean Sprouts Chicken (Nga Choi Gai) @ Ipoh

During my last trip to Ipoh I finally had the opportunity to try the famous Bean Sprouts Chicken (Nga Choi Gai). It is a fact that whenever Ipoh is mentioned, the first food to come mind would be Bean Sprouts Chicken Rice or Koay Teow. Although I have been to Ipoh a couple of times, I did not try this symbolic food simply because I have always ended up in kopitiam drinking white coffee instead, lol. Besides being the most famous, Lou Wong was also agreed, by many to serve one of the best Bean Sprouts Chicken Rice in Ipoh.

Well I think everyone should know that Bean Sprouts Chicken is similar to Hainanese Steamed Chicken, just that it is eaten together with a plate of bean sprouts. So, it all boils down to the smoothness and tenderness of the steamed chicken to separate itself from the other chicken rice. Lou Wong’s steamed chicken’s skin had this slippery smooth texture and tender yet firm flesh, which was truly terrific.

Bean Sprouts – seasoned with some pepper, light soya sauce and oil. I didn’t find anything special about the taste but their shapes were definitely a bit shorter and fatter than the usual taugeh.

We also ordered some of Lou Wong’s famous beef balls. They were quite big and had a bouncy and springy texture. Nice.

The Kue Tiau (Koay Teow) was tasty because of the sweet, flavorful soup. But it had some bubbles that looked weird to me. I tried not to think too much while eating but I am still wondering if they are caused by dish wash that wasn’t properly washed off the bowls lol.

Lou Wong’s chicken is tasty alright but I was quite appalled by the level of hygiene practiced by the waiters. Hands that touched remments of previous eaters and table cloth are the same hands used to serve food and drinks. Can you imagine my horror when I saw one of their fingers dipped into our koay teow soup?
Well, I guess this is something often overlooked by many when patronizing Lou Wong so I thought there was no point complaining. Besides, nothing happened to me anyway after the meal, I just felt a bit geli lol. Oh by the way, this was where the chickens were cooked by placing them into the big steel pots of boiling water.

Then they would be transferred and hung here after being fully cooked, ready for any customer’s orders.

There are a few Bean Sprouts Chicken restaurants here as well with Onn Kee (diagonally opposite) being the biggest competitor to Lou Wong. And after some research I found that some people actually preferred Onn Kee’s chicken to Lou Wong’s. Hmm, I can only wait for my next trip to Ipoh find out myself.

I don’t know about being the best, but Lou Wong is definitely the most popular in Ipoh. You won’t believe the exaggerating crowd eating here, people were standing around waiting for tables!
Because of this, you are kinda forced to leave immediately after finishing your meal to give up the table. You know the uneasy feeling you get when people are staring at your table, silently hoping for you to finish your food as soon as possible? lol. If you can overlook this and the questionable hygiene, then yeah Lou Wong is recommended.

Restoran Lou Wong Tauge Ayam KueTiau (老黄芽菜鸡沙河粉)
49, Jalan Yau Tet Shin,
30000 Ipoh