Ipoh Mali

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As most of you have already known, I'm an Ipoh-born.

The Ipoh City Hall

I'm heading back tomorrow evening. Reason? Magic the Gathering Tournament, Time Spiral Block Constructed on 18th of March, 2007. Why tomorrow? Cuz my classes in college this semester ends on Thursday, meaning I've the weekends off plus Fridays. Well, you know, going back to hometown, you get to see you beloved parents, play with the dogs, do some house work (yeah right!!) and you get to eat home cooked food, save some bucks up. (Realistic bitch I am)

Stuart!! I miss him!! >_<

Aside from all those reasons, I suddenly feel patriotic for once, towards my hometown. Don't ask me why, it's so sudden, it's as if an apple fell on Newton's head. Thus, today I'm gonna blog about my wonderful hometown.

What do people think of, when Ipoh is mentioned?
Chicken rice, white coffee, lengzai/lenglui

Okay, the first answer is definitely not a staple answer for Ipohans while the other 2, well, yea, damn true about it. (Especially the third one, *hint hint*) Why? Cuz, Chicken Rice is far from the king of the delicacies in Ipoh which is...

Beansprout chicken (Nga Choi Kai)

The beansprout (taugeh) and the chicks

For those who aren't familiar with this dish, I think they are already going;

"Fuck, what's so special about this dish? Seems crappy and low class to me."

My dear readers, there are wonders beyond imagination in all places. This dish ain't served in air conditioned outlet, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have the rightful essence to rock your taste buds. You have to try it, to believe it.

And for the Chicken Rice myth supporters, this dish is not to be dined with rice!! The rightful partner for the dish is non other than... Sar Hor Fun

Nga Choi Kai and Sar Hor Fun is a match made in heaven! It's a sin to separate them

I'm not even gonna tell you why, cuz the most rightful way to find out the answer wld to savor it yourself.

Where can you eat it in Ipoh? Just head to town central, stop your vehicle and ask any Tom, Dick or Harry and all of them will point you to the Junction of Nga Choi Kai(fiction, I named it, Lol), or Cowan's Road restaurant. Lou Wong's Nga Choi Kai is the most commercialized to most, as the name is quite famous to even outsiders (not Ipohans). It's the most profit making restaurant in Junction of Nga Choi Kai. The other one would be Onn Kee. The others in the same junction are just trying to score when this 2 big names are packed and hope the customers can't stand waiting and dine with them.





There's this hidden shop in Cowan's Street, that only locals know of. I personally think that his Nga Choi Kai is way superior than both Lou Wong's and Onn Kee's. However, the strange thing about this shop, it has no fixed days that it's opened. If the owner feels like opening, he opens. Damn cocky! But no doubt, he has the rights to be cocky with delicious Nga Choi Kai like his. So, to eat from his restaurant, it's like striking 4D at times. Try asking the locals how to get to Cowan's Street and search for it slowly. It's a corner shop titled Cowan's Street Taugeh Ayam. Real sorry that I don't have a snapshot of the shop.

Next, shall we deplore in the subject of Ipoh's famous white coffee? Partially, since I know nuts about coffee (I don't dig coffee). For those who drinks coffee, they'd definitely enjoy it. It used to be served only in coffeeshops (kopitiam in Ipoh. Some dude decided to expand the sales of it and packaged the coffee powder selling them to stores, supermarkets and retails.

I believe this is obtainable in supermarkets..

But as time passed by, people get hyped up with new marketing ideas, thus some dude thought of franchaising Ipoh's food, and here comes... Oldtown Kopitiam (CoffeeShop)

Not your average kopitiam

Just by the looks of it, you ought to know they mean business and not the ordinary kopitiam we'd breakfast when we're young.

Now this is familiar to most of us (Malaysians, Chinese)

With bar counters like this..



and the food like these..

Toast, toast, coffee, coffee

They even have Sar Hor Fun!! It taste reasonable too! The Kaya Toast is remarkable as well!

But of course.. the prices is definitely elevated too when the environment is that different from your average coffeeshop..

It's not tat bad I think.. still affordable

Our kopitiams have improved, and so did our apeks (uncles who hangouts in coffee shops). Lol

Go go, uncle!!

P.S. More Ipoh oriented entries in the future.

P.P.S. This post is embedded with a song in it. I have not the slightest idea why Firefox and Opera can't hear it. The only browser that works is IE, as far as I know, feed backs wld be really appreciated regarding this issue. Thanks.

Proud to be from Ipoh
Robb