Lunch in old Ipoh Town: Loke Wooi Kee Coffee Shop

When I was in Ipohon my way back from KL one day, I was wondering about this old place where my dad used to bring us when we were kids for a stopover lunch in the old town when someone mentioned the word 'lunch in Ipoh' in the car.

It has indeed been a very long time since we stopped over in Ipoh for lunch or any meal, for that matter ever since the barrier was constructed to split the road to KL and into Ipoh; causing inconveniences to most road travelers and although I used to drop by Ipoh for breakfast in the past.

Besides, I do have memories of dropping by Ipoh during my childhood as we used to travel to Penang (northern region) to visit grandmother and then occasionally stopping by the old town of Ipoh for lunch or dinner; depending on the time of arrival at the state.

Ipoh is the capital of the state of Perak; a state located between the north and south of Peninsular Malaysia; although slightly towards the northern part and is one of the larger states on the map. Having several counties or small cities under its wing, Ipoh is still the most prominent name uttered by most locals; from both the state and even other state dwellers.

The development in Ipoh may not be as rapid as it is in the metropolitan capital city of Kuala Lumpur, but it certainly has its own uniqueness and exotic offers through its age-old heritage and charm.

Besides temples and natural limestone caves, Ipoh is the other food capital of Malaysia; rivaling that of the island of Penang with its entirely separate menu and culinary delights made famous from the old-timers who have survived the ages of change and evolution.

Driving into the old town of Ipoh, everything seems like it was preserved from its yesteryears; although of course, that does not mean there is no development at all in this charming city.

There are a few modern shops/outlets taking over the pre-war shophouses lining the streets; blending in with the memories of yesterday in the backdrop.

While navigating my way through the busy streets during the mid hours of noon, I placed an immediate call to dear old daddy to ask for the name of the old coffee shop he used to bring us for a round of old town culinary delights whenever we stopover in Ipoh.
Thankfully dad's memory still serves him good (although he complains of being forgetful sometimes) and he gave me the name of the place in an instant and coincidentally, we were just around the corner and found the shop just a few feet away from us.

Parking coupons are required here in Ipoh, and one can easily get a book from the nearest shop; usually these mobile/cell phone or even photo shops are selling them.
Scratch off the date and time and place them on the car's dashboard; stating the duration you will be parking based on the amount you have scratched off and you are good to go.

Ahhh, the old school Loke Wooi Kee coffee shop does not seem to be that old school anymore considering the fresh facelift it has been given with a new coat of paint and a brand new signboard.
There used to be a department store across this shop and now, it's no longer there.
It is no wonder that I cannot find the coffee shop earlier for I was focused on looking for the department store and an old school and rustic coffee shop.


Spot the coffee shop at the end; with the green board and a truck parked in front of it.


It may have changed on the outside, but once I stepped inside the shop, it seemed like it was almost the same as yesterday though of course, they repainted the walls and also re-arranged some of the tables.




The reason we are here in this coffee shop...
A bowl of Chicken Hor Fun (Flat rice noodles) cooked with chicken broth; aka Kai See Hor Fun (in Cantonese)



At a glance, it may look not seem like it is anything special and one may even wonder the extent of making a stopover in the middle of a trip down the highway for a bowl of flat rice noodles?
Now, that's where the specialty comes in; not the broth, nor the chicken or the prawns you could see in the picture above.
The drawing factor lies in the smooth and silky texture of the hor fun; or the flat rice noodles produced in Ipoh which seemed to surpass that of the other versions found all over Malaysia.
Yes, the hor fun is smooth and seems to slide right through the tongue into the throat! No kidding...



The locals attributed the silkiness of the rice noodles; which are handmade by the way, to the ingredients and perhaps, one of the secret power ingredient lies in the source of the water which flows from the natural limestone caves. Well, that was what rumors say anyway, and the state is famous for its bean sprouts which are exceptionally juicy and fat in size and also soy beans among many other things.
Myth or fact? I think it is more like something which everyone believed in until today :-)

Another one that I used to remember from my childhood days was this; that I introduced to hubby.

The Pop Soda with Ice Cream 



It is basically a fizzy drink; usually a 7-Up (I call it the old-school drink) with rose syrup sugar and an ice cream.



Pour in the fizzy drink and the ice cream will just float; yes, it is a science experiment in food ;-)

Fishballs and fish cake with glass noodles




Ipoh Popiah; a slightly dry version compared to the Penang popiah and this is stuffed with minced pork as well (Penang ones are usually with seafood; shrimps/crab meat/mantis prawns)



We tried a plate of the Teluk Intan Chee Cheong Fun available in the shop (Teluk Intan is another town in the same state)



Hmmmm, mixing the different types of sauces seem to taste a little weird and we just could not get used to the taste of this chee cheong fun; preferring the Penang version and even the original Ipoh version which hopefully I would get to blog about sometime.

The place may be the same and the memories of the place would remain in me as part of my childhood for many more years to come. Much has changed in the coffee shop; although most of the old vendors are still around but I guess, it's best that way for the good things never change, don't they?

*I must plan a road trip to Ipoh someday again, it's been a while since my last trip!*

Prawn wanton and Chicken Hor Fun @TK Chong

The name of this shop somehow reminded me of my ex-boss from my first job, and yet they had nothing in common nor are they related besides the similarity of surname and the first name.
This shop offers Chinese hawker delight; the famous Ipoh Chicken Hor Fun and also prawn wantons.

Those who are working in Damansara Perdana may be familiar with this place, and for me, I chanced upon this place when I was in the area and I found it to be packed during the peak lunch hour compared to the neighboring coffee shops.
Well, when there is a crowd, it must be good right? After all, why would people flock to this shop instead of the neighbors?

So, we walked into the shop to see what they had to offer.
They sell the Ipoh-style Chicken Hor Fun (flat rice noodles) and also prawn wantons
(Ipoh is a capital town of Perak, one of the states in the Northern region of Malaysia and is famous for food as well, like Penang)

Shredded chicken and prawns with the Hor Fun in soup (RM6 for small, RM8 for big - I think)

It was a rather big bowl filled with the flat rice noodles in tasty soup, with plenty of spring onions, fried shallots, chicken shreds and sliced prawns.

If you are not interested in the soup version, the same thing is available in the dry version with gravy.
Dry Hor Fun with shredded Chicken and prawns

Somehow the dry version makes the loads of hor fun rather apparent compared to the chicken and prawn slices and there were no spring onion garnishing like the soup.

Additional orders/side dishes:
Stir-fried bean sprouts (RM4.50 ~ USD$1.50)

This is plain and simple dish that cannot go wrong; furthermore with a light sprinkle of oyster sauce.
I love the big fat juicy bean sprouts, and it's so hard to find them in the city (mostly found in Ipoh).

Of course, I must have the Prawn wantons; I am a fan of them and they can be hard to come by (although I have recently found a few available in the city!)

I was a little disappointed with the prawn wantons, honestly, as they were really small and it was a really small biteful of prawns in it.
They are really stingy with the prawns inside the wanton, and the types I like ought to be filled with big juicy and fresh prawns bursting with flavor, but this, sorry to say so, is just not the type I like:(

Food was not too bad, and the service, well, it would be prompt if you ask for the Chinese lady boss who was more attentive to our orders compared to her staff.
Price wise, it was still reasonable, but the food quality is not simply one I would sing praises for.
Then again, it's me and my personal tastes, and I can be picky sometimes:)

Food Court @ Orchard Road

My Singapore food journal continues with my second last post; on a particularly value-for-money lunch at a food court located on Orchard Road.

(I promise that this is the last post on food court :)

The name of the place, as I can make out, is Food Court (yeah, what a good name!)

As mentioned in my previous post, one will come across many food courts of such nature; be it in the open or closed areas like these in Singapore, offering the local delights for the budget-conscious travellers (and locals).

It is not hard to locate a food court, with its buzzing crowd and the rows of stalls amidst the brightly lit environment.


Honestly, I'd recommend a hawker food court (this is better in hygiene) if you are a tourist in Asia, as truly, this is the place to experience the local culture and to eat like the locals (isn't that what all the travellers usually look for?)
When I stepped into this place, I was immediately surrounded by the local Singaporean dialects as the vendors and patrons alike were conversing with each other.

As usual, there were stalls lined next to each other with their food offers and we opted for the first stall which proved to be the right choice :)
We ordered a set meal; 3-in-1 including rice and it only cost about SGD$12!

The set comes with the Assam fish, vegetables and white rice (SGD$6-8)
The bowl of mixed fish soup was a separate order; at SGD$5
The set meal fed two, and maybe three!:)

Assam curry fish

(Assam curry is a type of sourish curry made with tamarind and is only spicy with a light note)
This is really good; with the generous slices of fish fillets with okra beans and made an appetizing dish with plain white rice.

The vegetables were boiled before being served with light oyster sauce and garnished with shallots


Since I loved the mixed fish soup (must have noticed from my previous post), we ordered this as an extra dish to complement the meal.
It costs only SGD$5 and comes with generous slices of fried and steamed fish slices and fried anchovies.

I loved this and was glad I could find them during my trip! :)
The serving was quite big, which was quite value for money.

We finished off the simple lunch with dessert; Aloe with Sea Coconut in shaved ice (SGD$2.50)

It was tad a bit too sweet, but I welcomed the cool ice and the lovely bites of aloe which was really refreshing after long walks on the streets in the humid weather.

This is a really good meal, and value-worthy, don't you think?

This is the last post on my food court meals in Singapore ;)

Fish Soup and Singaporean Laksa @ People's Park Food Court

Food courts housing hawker stalls (or small shop outlets) selling assorted food and drinks are common sights in Asian countries; and can range from squatting on little stools by the road with your bowl of noodles in your hand, to mid range where hawker stalls are sheltered by aluminium roofs to higher class areas with air-conditioning and properly maintained tables and chairs and probably one or two in uniforms to clear away the dirty plates.

People's Park Food Court in Chinatown, Singapore probably belongs to the mid range of food courts as the hawkers are housed in small shoplots next to each other in order and properly maintained tables and chairs fill the food court for convenient dining of all sorts under one roof.


This is my second time to this place; the first time was in the year 2007 and I was there really early for breakfast, and majority of the stalls were still closed.
This time, I was treated to a wider variety of stalls available as I arrived there at noon and at the peak hour of lunch on a Sunday.

The food court is a really large one, and offers endless variety of hawker food; from Asian choices of rice, noodles, local delights, snacks and even desserts and drinks with its long line of hawker stalls.

I was here for a quick lunch, as it was my last day in Singapore and I wanted to revisit Chinatown before I fly home.
There were just too many stalls and halfway through, we just decided to settle on our choices and to eat with the limited time left.

My choice; Mixed Fish Soup (SGD$4)

It is a bowl of anchovies-flavored soup; with pieces of thick fish fillets of both fried and steamed variants in it. There were also crispy lettuce leaves and seaweed in it, adding to the taste of the soup.
(I was unable to scoop up the fish fillets as I had to balance my camera with one hand and hold my bag at the same time, leaving me with no hand to hold the spoon)
I have always liked fish, and therefore this is just my type of meal.

Singaporean Laksa (SGD$2.50)

This is different from the famous Penang version of Laksa, as this had a more creamy texture as coconut milk was used to produce the broth.
It was more of what we would call Curry Mee (Noodles) in Penang, rather than Laksa.
(For your information, Laksa is a type of spicy soup with noodles originating from the Peranakan culture and can be found in a few versions; from the Northern part of Malaysia to the Eastern and Southern part; Penang, Johor and Sarawak. The famous Penang laksa that I have mentioned is a spicy with a fishy taste, as shrimp paste and shredded fish slices were used to thicken the broth which tastes sourish.
Check this post to find out about Laksa)

The People's Park Food Court is not hard to locate, as its prime location in the midst of Chinatown makes it accessible by train directly.
It is also surrounded by shops and malls like OG and People's Park Complex.
Well, if it is not to your taste, it is never hard to find food in a place like Chinatown.

Seafood galore at Newton Food Centre

Newton Food Centre or Newton Circus Hawker Centre is one of the many hawker centres in Singapore offering seafood and grills.
This hawker centre has garnered much media attention in the recent years due to the aggressive touting and overpriced food by the hawkers here.

Honestly, I was unaware of that before I came as I did not do much research on this recent trip to Singapore and I hopped off the MRT at Newton, which happened to be nearest station with a hawker food centre as stated in the guide.
(When you are in Singapore, hawker food centres are the way to go about to enjoy the local fare and at a lower budget too)

The spacious design of the food centre catered for the large number of hawker stalls here and also the patrons, who are mostly tourists with a small group of locals.


At a glance, the hawker centre looked like any that could be found in Singapore but this seemed to be more popular among the tourists than the locals, and I soon found out why...


When I stepped into open space area which is located in the middle of the food centre, I was approached by several food stall owners with menus in their hand who seemed to be swarming like bees around me and trying to usher me to a place while waving their menus at me at the same time!

It can be quite scary, as they are vying for attention on their stalls.
The last guy who managed to usher us to our place seemed to wane off the unwanted competition from the others who disappeared from the scene as quickly as they appeared.
The guy who led us to our place (or helped us to find our table) seemed like the winner of them all, and he placed his menu on our table as if to mark that this is his conquest. He whipped out his little notebook from his pocket and immediately asked us what would we like to order.

Fortunately for us Malaysians (and unfortunately for him), we are not totally strangers with hawker centres and we are not about to be pushed into ordering from him. We decided to take a walk and browse through the other hawker stalls around.

He waited around our table for a while, and seemed rather displeased that we are not ordering from him but we ignored his sour expression.

Walking around the stalls was another challenge as the stall owners would beckon and push you their menus as you are within a few metres from their stalls!
To be safe, try to stay as far as possible although it's not easy, with the tables set on the sides as well.
Anyway, keep on a blank expression (poker face) and keep walking, but keep your eyes open on the prices displayed as most of the stalls offer almost the same types of food.

We ordered a few things to sample the quality of the food here:
Fish Salad Popiah (SGD$2.50 per pc)

I found this to be rather unique albeit a little expensive compared to the usual/normal popiah.

Anyway, I was rather disappointed as there was nothing special in this popiah besides the overstuffing of mayonnaise-filled coleslaw with a really small and thin slice of fish.
Spot the thin brown slice inserted above?

Tasted like dried fish to me :(

Stir-fried Kangkung (Water Convulvus leaves) - a local favorite vegetable which goes especially well with the spicy belacan (dried shrimp paste with a pungent smell)

At SGD$6, it seemed like a reasonable price for a local plate of vegetables, but after conversion to our local currency, it seemed to be the most expensive Kangkung belacan I've ever had, LOL!
(This time the currency rate is not at our advantage, bummer)
Taste wise, it was quite oily and did not taste half as good as those we have tried back at home (Malaysia)

Homemade fishballs in soup - SGD$4

I love fishballs, and I noticed I seem to have them wherever I go (except in countries like Europe of course ;)
These fishballs are really big, juicy, not to mention firm and springy. It was not too bad, although the uncle who was selling them seemed to be wearing a sour expression on his face half the time.

Stir-fried squids with chili - SGD$8

Spicy but this has got to be one of the best of them all!
The squids were fresh and the gravy unleashed a fiery taste the moment it lands on the tongue. It is absolutely appetizing and definitely recommended for all spicy food lovers.

Fried Oyster - SGD$6

This was rather disappointing; I prefer those from Penang :)

We didn't order grilled fish, prawns or crabs, as most of them were marked with market prices and I never do order anything where the prices are not clearly stated, as I do not want to be ripped off by the hawkers.

It seemed that this Newton Food Centre had a rather notorious reputation not only for the aggressive touting and harassment of potential customers but also for the overpricing of average quality food and is shunned by most locals.
Even tourists are being warned to be careful of the prices when ordering to avoid being overcharged for their food.

If you really want to try, just follow the tips shared above when you reach this place (accessible by the Newton MRT station).
I personally prefer other hawker centres in Singapore, but, this was a good experience nevertheless.

Best Wanton mee from Pontian, or some say Singapore

The first meal I had when I landed in Singapore last weekend, was this plate of spicy wanton noodles.


Our host was just so kind to queue up and buy the famous wanton mee from the hawker food centre for our lunch.

The wanton noodles were rather unique, as there was a spicy, sweet and sour flavor to it. The sauce used to create this flavor was probably a combination of chili sauce and tomato ketchup to lend the exotic spicy and sweet yet sour taste to the noodles.

The roasted pork (also known as Char Siew in Chinese) and fried wanton (dumplings) were in generous portions of serving with the noodles.
The noodles were quite springy and tasted quite good, as they were of handmade quality, along with the dumplings.

I was told that this wanton mee is so famous that there is always a long queue daily, with eager patrons waiting to get their hands on the wanton mee for lunch.
This is the famous Pontian wanton mee, and they have branched out to various areas in Singapore.

I'd recommend this to wanton mee lovers, as even though I am not a fan, I was fascinated by the unique flavor of the noodles.
It was something different from your usual wanton mee available from hawker stalls and market.

It is one of the most unique and appetizing wanton mee I have ever tasted! :)

Bitter Gourd Soup with rice by the road in JB

I wish I could tell you where is this place, but I am not sure of the place and I only know that my colleague stopped here on the way to the airport for lunch.
(The kind colleague offered to send us to the airport)

I was told that Bitter gourd soup is a pretty popular dish ordered in JB, and there are a few places famous for it.
Honestly, I don't fancy bitter gourd and it is one of the vegetables that I don't really like.

I did notice a lot of people having lunch at this rather shabby place by the roadside, and almost everyone ordered about the same type of dishes.

Bitter Gourd soup

It was cooked with generous slices of bitter gourd with lean pork meat and I think there were liver too (Sorry, Pickyeater is not comfortable with that)
The soup was rather clouded, but I think it was due to the ingredients in it.

Roasted pork, another popular item here too.


Stir-fried vege


Braised tau kua with fish fillet (thanks to my considerate colleague for ordering this especially for me :) despite me telling him that I am okay with the rest of the dishes. Thanks!)


I do not know the prices of the dishes but I heard it was reasonably priced.
Perhaps the locals in JB would know about this place?

My 2nd Visit to Orchid Bistro

Following from our first visit to the Orchid Bistro mentioned in the previous post, we went back the second time to try their local hawker fare and some light snacks during our late lunch.

Chicken Ham and cheese sandwich (RM4.50)


Mum said it was not bad =)

Claypot Loh Shu Fun (RM5.90)



Claypot Yee Mee (RM5.90)


Both gravy were too watery and diluted and it did not complement the noodles that well.

Cantonese Fried Koay Teow (RM6.90)


This was one of their recommended items, but it turned out to disappoint as well as the gravy was too salty for our liking.

Fish bites (RM3.90)

This was also one of the recommended items; and this was not bad =)

Overall, I prefer their western fare more to their attempt with the local fare as it was rather bland compared to the better versions I have tried in other cafes/bistros.
Then again, this is only based on my personal preference and it could differ according to individual liking =)