vkeong loves good food, travel and photography!
Posts tagged Ipoh
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.
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 >
Toasted Bread @ Sun Yuan Foong Coffee Shop, Ipoh Old Town
Feb 14th
After having Char Koay Teow at Nam Heong, we went to the Sun Yuan Foong coffee shop just opposite for a second round of white coffee as well as some toasts.
Well, we initially wanted to try Sun Yuan Loong which is next to Sun Yuan Foong (are you confused with the names yet? lol) but it was just too packed with customers. OK, to clear up the confusion, actually both coffee shops are located side by side opposite Nam Heong. And they even have similar name with the left one ending with “Loong” and the right one “Foong”.
Sun Yuan Foong is claimed to be the recommended coffee shop to go for the original white coffee, while Sun Yuan Loong is run by a close relative of the former. I hope you get it, lol.
One of the most irresistible toasted breads, served with a half boiled egg and sausage. Among the many toast sets to choose from, I highly recommend this as the first to try. Just sprinkle some pepper and soya sauce for extra flavor and it’s good to eat.
A cup of warm and thick white coffee was the perfect companion to the toast sets. And it sure felt nostalgic eating food that haven’t changed for the past twenty years in an old coffee shop.
Another set we ordered was this cheese and ham sandwich, obviously made from a sandwich maker. Nothing special about it.. in fact it didn’t taste very good. There were four of us and we shared the food to leave room for ‘Nga Choy Gai’ as our dinner later that day.
If you think seeing four people sharing two sets of toasts is weird or funny, you haven’t seen anything yet! There were two tables of people next to us with roughly ten people or so, sharing ONE toast set only, LOL! I bet they were tourists and just wanted a little try before moving on to another spot, where they might share a bowl of noodle?
Actually this is quite a common sight in Old Town, earlier I saw a table of four sharing a plate of Char Koay Teow at Nam Heong lol. By the way, there are three things that you must do if you come to Sun Yuan Foong according to their checklist displayed on the wall:
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1. Enjoy a cup of White Coffee
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2. Enjoy a toast set, and
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3. Buy some White Coffee powder back home (if I remembered correctly)
Thinking back, I should have snapped a photo of the checklist!
Banana Leaf Char Koay Teow @ Nam Heong Coffee Shop, Ipoh
Jan 18th
I have been to Nam Heong coffee shop a couple of times but never had the luck to try their Char Koay Teow, said to be quite good and recommended by many. In my past visits, either I was too late or the stall just didn’t open. I don’t know why, but I tend to reach [tag]Nam Heong[/tag] around 4 to 5pm everytime, which is also the time the stall would close for business.
Just a few weeks ago, I was at [tag]Ipoh[/tag] for a one day trip and went to Nam Heong again. This time, I was lucky and the stall was still open. Do you know how close I was? I was their last customer for the day!
Since I was the last customer for them, they double checked with us whether one plate was enough, lol. Costing RM3.50 a plate, the [tag]Char Koay Teow[/tag] did live up to its reputation, albeit a rather small portion. Prawns were big and juicy, cockles were fresh and it had good wok hei. Basically nothing to complain about the Char Koay Teow.
