vkeong loves good food, travel and photography!
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Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant @ Jalan Leong Sim Nam, Ipoh
Feb 4th
Since my last visit Foh San has relocated to a new and bigger builiding, which is just a stone throw’s away from their old place. The last time we had dim sum here few years ago, we had to wrestle for a table, eat under pressure since people were basically just waiting for you to finish and get off ASAP. You won’t even have time to slowly sip your cuppa tea, unless you could put on a thick skin. In all, it was not a very nice experience.
But I guess the humongous double storey restaurant that Foh San is currently occupying already solved the problem. On my way back to Penang to celebrate CNY, we had a brief stop over at Foh San for lunch. We got a table easily and service was OK, though not as prompt as it could get.
Duck Thigh Noodles @ Pun Chun Chicken Biscuits & Restaurant, Bidor
Jan 1st
Happy New Year 2010 everyone! Overall, 2009 was quite a sad year for the world. Let’s hope 2010 will be a good one!
Mention Bidor and food like duck thigh noodle, chicken biscuit (Kai Jai Peng) and ‘Sat Kei Ma‘ (squarish, sweet dessert made of flour and chicken eggs) immediately come to mind. For frequent travelers along the North-South Expressway between Ipoh or Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Bidor is surely a familiar town.
The last time I drove back to Penang from KL, I decided to make a stop at Bidor’s famous Pun Chun Restaurant for dinner. Instead of trying to finish the journey as fast as possible, sometimes it is nice to visit some small towns along the way, have some food and feel replenished to continue.
Pun Chun was very easy to find because it is located along Bidor’s main street, which is only about 5-10 minutes’ drive from Bidor Toll exit. Upon reaching the restaurant we were shocked to see the number of people eating at the restaurant, what a buzz!
We finally found a table and made our orders but then we were told that we had to wait at least 30 minutes due to the sheer number of customers at that time. Well, I didn’t really mind actually because it would give me some time to nose around the restaurant and observe their operation lol.
A lady busy blanching noodles for orders that came in non-stop.
To complete the order, individual double-boiled duck thighs are taken from a huge cooker and served together. Double boiling ensures that no water loss will occur and it also locks in the flavor and essence of the ingredients.
Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant @ Ipoh
May 19th
I only have three words to describe Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant: ‘so damn crowded‘. This is not a complaint ok, just an observation.
Customers queuing outside the restaurant for dim sum before 8am.
The chaos inside the restaurant. Number of customers standing could easily match those being seated. Your seat hogging skills have to be very good to ‘survive’ in here lol. I even saw an uncle hoggingreserving a whole table for his not-yet-arrived-big-family. So, being thick faced is the other requirement.
Look at how the customers were staring at the tables lol. They were hoping for you to finish ASAP and just get up from the table and leave. It was a really unpleasant experience with so many pairs of eyes looking over your shoulder while you eat with their hearts thinking “Oi, faster finish and go away la. Wah still take photos ah? Wah lao once not enough, take twice somemore! Never see dim sum before meh? Wah wah wahhh” lol.
So, no matter how good the dim sum, for me it’s pretty pointless. Because how on earth are you going to enjoy it? Click here to continue reading >
Lou Wong Bean Sprouts Chicken (Nga Choi Gai) @ Ipoh
Mar 4th
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.
