Clay Pot Chicken Rice @ Menglembu

          It's been a while since I last updated my previous post. Now I am back because I found another hidden jewel in Ipoh. Since I am back to my lovely hometown about 4 months ago, I have been constantly craving for more yet-to-be-discovered Ipoh foods.

         I don't know the history of this shop but I believe it must be there for decades judging by its appearance. Its name is Cheong Kee Clay Pot Rice 昌记瓦煲饭. Although they put 驰名(English translation: famous) on their signboard, I wouldn't know its existence if it weren't for my friends. Well, you can blame me for not being observant because it's just located next to the Tenaga Nasional Berhard outlet behind Menglembu's Wet Market/Pasar Pagi.  

The owner seems to be in his 60's or 70's. Yet he has to take care of all the clay pots. As you can see, he uses the most traditional method for cooking the clay pot chicken rice. This makes the rice taste much better! 

          The rice is soft but slightly too oily to my taste. Hmm, I didn't smell any aroma of salted fish albeit they put a big chunk of it. Overall, I am quite satisfied with this traditional clay pot chicken rice. It's worthy to mention that the price is affordable compared to same food in other areas in Ipoh; only RM 4.50 for small one and you just add RM 4.00 for a big one. I will pay you another visit!

       

"Eating" the Old Memory @ Kampong Kuala Kluang, Chemor

Yesterday noon I drove to Chemor's Kampong Kuala Kluang -- a small community located 17 kilometres from Ipoh. The night before, I was craving for 河婆菜粄-- a pink coloured skin stuffed rice cake that (I believe) can only be found here in entire Perak state. 

On our way (along with mother and sister), I recalled how mother used to bring us here to buy rice cake on our way to grandpa's home at Kuala Kangsar when I was young. It had been many years since she did that. Now that I have grown up, I am the one who sit on the driver seat and stir the wheel. 

The memory is old, history is old, and yet the taste remains the same. 

 RM0.70 each; four choices provided: garlic, salted veggie, yam bean, Chinese chive   

The Best Chee Cheong Fun in Ipoh @ Jalan Pasir Pinji 5 (兵如港）

There's no food better than chee cheong fun. I am a chee cheong fun-fanatic.

In hunt for the best chee cheong fun in Ipoh, I decided to revisit the stall at Jalan Pasir Pinji 5. I vividly remember that my last visit was made about 5 years ago with my father. Oh, time really fly fast~ ~ ~

There's a Chinese idioms: 深藏不露 which perfectly describe the location of this stall. For people who have never been to 兵如港, it could be a bit difficult to find the stall, and yet it's strategically located near to 大树脚 and along Jalan Pasir Pinji 5. From the picture above, you can see that the road is quite narrow so you might not be able to park your car here.

The first thing you must absolutely do and quick is asking for queue number. Better yet, get your queue number before they set up their stall!!! A lot of customers do that, otherwise you will have to waittttttttttttttt for a really looooooooooooooooooooong time. Act smart by phone booking? SORRY, THEY DON'T HAVE A HOME PHONE. Your only option is to arrive early, get your queue number, and come back at a later time (WARNING: You could come back 1 hour later and still have to wait for your queue.)

The stall owner is a pair of husband and wife. The uncle isn't running the stall when I was there 5 years ago, it was runned by his wife. I guess the auntie has become too old, so her husband comes out to help reduce her burden. According to my mother (she used to live here), they used to steam chee cheong fun at the back of the house in the kitchen and sell them at the front many years ago.

I was inspired by a blogger that says chee cheong fun is best to eat with only soya sauce to taste its true-est and most original taste. So I ordered one with only soya sauce, another with only chili sauce, and the third with only sweet sauce 甜酱 (as shown below in order). 

My favorite of those three is the one with sweet sauce for one simple reason: I haven't taste the most original sweet sauce for ages and they have it! I almost drop a tear when putting it into my mouth (OK, a bit exaggerated). The taste is absolutely out-of-this-world. No bluffs.

See, even a 3 year-old kid like it so much. I am impressed how she used the chopsticks. LOL

FYI: They open for business every weekday except Wednesday and closed during weekends. 

Ramadhan Bazaar @ Stadium Indera Mulia (Ipoh)

If you are hunting for Malay traditional foods during Bulan Ramadhan in Ipoh, there is no better place than Ramadhan Bazaar located at Stadium Indera Mulia. Well, there are many Ramadhan Bazaar in Ipoh, but this one is the biggest among them. I did not count the number of stalls, I will say close to 70 or 80.

Without further ado, let's get to the most vital part which is also my favourite part-- FOODS!!! 

Smoked chickens RM4.00 each

Satay chicken RM0.50 each 

Murtabak  RM2.50 each 

 Laksa Kedah  RM2.50 each

It's time for food fiestaaaa immediately after back to home! The smoked chicken still taste very good though it had been more than an hour back from the bazaar. The actually soaked the entire smoked chicken into a bucket of special sauce before packing it in a plastic bag. The scent of the special sauce is not so strong, we in fact cut the chicken into pieces and dip it with the peanut sauce which supposedly a dipping sauce for satay to add more flavor to the smoked chicken.  

Satay chicken is best to eat when it's fresh and hot. For this reason, the satays are not longer juicy when we brought them home. Luckily, the peanut sauce saves the satays, not to the extent I will give full scores though.

This murtabak is stuffed with minced chicken and onion. And it's one of the most popular foods because they were immediately sold out right after they were moved from the frying pan to the table. The only thing I want to comment about this murtabak is -- Boss, more minced chicken please.

The most unique laksa I've ever had -- laksa Kedah. Hmm, it's not the best. The best laksa reminded me of what I had in Penang last year (揾嘢吃@Sungai Petani + Penang). The texture of the laksa is similar to that of Kuala Kangsar, but smoother and thinner. The soup is not spicy and I doubt they used any fish as one of the soup ingredients. If you want to have a different taste of laksa other than Penang laksa, you should give this a try.

揾嘢吃 @ Yeolde English (Ipoh)

The purpose of this trip is not solely to satisfy my appetite, but also celebrate my mom's 52nd birthday. The number of Western cuisine restaurants is springing up like mushrooms after the rain in this small town city. But one of the most price affordable and tastiest Western cuisines has to be this restaurant -- Yeold English.

Fresh Tomato Juice RM3.50; Fresh Watermelon Juice RM2.90; Fresh Kiwi Blended RM7.00 (from left to right)

They offer various kinds of fresh juices and smoothies which I think is a brilliant idea since veggie and fruits help to reduce the fats absorbed by our digestion system and cleanse our body from toxins produced during the high-temperature cooking process. However, the drinks are too dilute. I ordered a fresh kiwi blended which supposed to be masam, but it tastes sweet. Dafuq???

Barbecue Chicken RM11.99

This BBQ chicken is quite tender but it wasn't so special.

Fish & Chips RM11.99

I am a huge fan of fish & chips. This fish & chips is one of the best that I have ever had. Unlike many fried fish which has very thick coating, this fried fish has a very thin coating so it feels like I am biting a fish, not a layer of flour. Regrettably, it wasn't beer battered. And the sauce is sooooooooo refreshing, so you must dip the fish with the sauce. The french fries is a must-try too!

Seafood Spaghetti RM9.99  

Spaghetti is also one of my favourites. I only got a bite on the two juicy oysters, so no comments on the taste of other items. From the display of the foods, it sure looks promising.  

Mangoes Cake RM5.90

We ended the lovely dinner with a mangoes cake. 

p.s.// If you do follow my blog, you will have notice a huge improvement in my photography of food. That's
        because I have bought a new set of macro lens filters. A new Nikon macro lens is not financially afford-
        able, lens filters work fine, if not better. 

揾嘢吃@ Old Town White Coffee, Falim

          If you live in Falim or Menglembu, I think you have heard of the new Old Town White Coffee recently opened just next to Jalan Kledang Utara. As far as I know (correct me if I am wrong), this is the 12th outlet store of this renowned kopitiam restaurant chain in Perak state. As a Chinese born and raised in Ipoh, I am truly proud and lucky to be an Ipohan because I can taste the most famous kopi in Malaysia each and everyday! 

   

White Coffee (cold) RM3.90

 Xi Mut Milk Tea (hot) RM3.50

 Nasi Lemak Special RM8.50

Kaya Butter Toast RM3.40 

Address: 62 & 64, Laluan Perusahaan Menglembu 1, Kawasan Perusahaan Menglembu, 31450 Ipoh.

揾嘢吃@新合记饭店 Sin Hup Kee Restaurant（怡保）

          Recently, I have been hunting for Ipoh foods. I realized that I wasn't so Ipohan, because there are a lot of great foods and places that awaiting me to explore. While I am still at Ipoh (unemployed sadly), I will continue to search every corner of Ipoh for FOODS before I regretted!

          新合记饭店 has been around for quite some time, and this was the third time I visited the restaurant. The restaurant had undergone expansion since my last year visit, so it is much more spacious now.

          Steamed eggs (水蛋) is one of my all-time favourites. This dish consists of three types of eggs: 皮蛋，鸭蛋 and of course 鸡蛋. It wasn't extremely good, but it is definitely worthwhile to taste.

          Yard-long beans + Eggplants + 菜埔仔 is one of the 镇店之宝 (English translation: The Sacred Treasure of the Shop??? LOL) This one is a must-order!!!

          咕鲁肉 is too sour and not too crunchy, so......

          

          I don't know why I hate vegetables after I came back from overseas. Maybe I ate too much vegetables there (what to do, Western foods so tempting and oily, must eat more vegetables). Nevertheless, this romaine lettuce (油麦) is very tasty (but spicy). 

Overall score:

Food              3.5/5.0

Price               3.0/5.0

Service           3.0/5.0

Environment    3.0/5.0

View Larger Map

p.s./ I want to buy a macro lens for my DSLR, for food/flower shootings, but I will wait patiently till I get a job.  

揾嘢吃@鸿图酒楼 Hoong Tho Restaurant（怡保）

          The 揾嘢吃 series is back again! The last episode was posted almost a year ago. Now that I am unemployed and searching for jobs online while waiting call from JPA, I will have more time to blog.

          This episode is about a 60 years old plus restaurant in Ipoh. To be frank, for the past 10 years, I always passed by this restaurant either in school bus, in car or on my motorcycle but I never knew it is this famous until I just came back from study overseas two weeks ago. This restaurant has undergone some major renovations recently and its business has been rocketing since then. 

          I'd never stepped into the restaurant until I came with my family 2 days ago, so I have no idea how it was like before the renovation. But I will say the new interior design is retro and clean. Thumbs up!

          Initially, I didn't order this Fried Wanton. But I saw almost every table had one, so I also ordered one. I saw the newspaper on the walls reports that their fish balls are made from 西刀鱼. It comes with a special sauce with taste like dilute sweet tomato sauce. To me, the taste and Q-ness of the Wanton is ordinary, however,  it is very crispy. So I will recommend you to try at least once.

          甜酸猪脚 was quite nice, especially the sauce. I normally don't eat the skin because of the fats, but I ate one big skin this time and it was actually quite tasty. Haha, a new entry added to my 'unhealthy-but-must-eat list".

           This 姜蓉鸡 was totally ruined by the overdosed ginger. They put so much ginger and it becomes too spicy to eat. 

          The thing I like about this 八宝豆腐 is its colour and variety of ingredients. The thing I don't like is the tofu. If the tofu was replaced with hand-made soya tofu, this dish will be great. 

          This veggie is a big surprise! The 油麦 is cooked with chillies which gives some spiciness to the veggie but not overdone it. Love it ~ ~ ~

           This restaurant is famous for its 广府炒 noodles. For your information, if you don't specify 干炒, they will do the  广府炒  style for whatever noodles just like the two picture above. The 滑蛋河 was yummy, but 火候不够. The 广府炒米粉 (as shown above) is a disaster. In my opinion, 米粉 is only suitable for 干炒. 

Overall score:

Environment     3.0/5.0

Food                3.0/5.0

Service             3.0/5.0

Price                 2.5/5.0

Address: Jalan Bandar Timah, 30000 Ipoh, Perak.

Hoax or Real?

I was in Kuala Lumpur yesterday to retrieve my passport. On my way back to Pudu Sentral, a young fat lady appeared before me and asked me to take a gift card. I knew what was that. I have the similar occasion at Terminal Bandar Tasik Selatan. 

I tore the gift card off. And I got the grey circle again, which means I got the super bonus! Last time, I got the super bonus but I was lazy to go to Midvalley to retrieve the gift. The super bonus gifts including 3 luxurious cars, LCD TVs, a laptop, a fridge, air tickets to Turkey, Japan and Australia, and other home appliances. 

I wasn't excited. Because I think this could be a hoax. The lady talked to me for a while (like 15 minutes) and trying to persuade me to follow her to her office to meet her supervisor which will explain to me the terms and conditions. I was hesitated but decided to follow her anyway. Because she said I will get RM8000 at least. I was very cautious and demand to talk to her supervisor. I asked him several questions and inquired the agent office's license number but nothing found suspicious. 

She asked me to take a cab with her and then said she has no money. Never mind that, I paid for her. On the way to the office, she tried to talk to me but I just "fu yan" her. She even took out her IC to further prove that she is not a swindler. I was still very cautious and took a photo of her IC using my cellphone and said I will report to the police if she ever tried to cheat me.

 We came to an area which is completely stranger to me. She said her supervisor will come at a later time so we sat down in a cafe shop and wait. Again, she tried to talk to me. It was like an ask and answer session. But this time, I was more relaxed and talked to her a bit. 

After that, we went to her small office which appeared to me a scam company. Finally, her mysterious supervisor appeared.-- a young guy in mid 20's. For the next 20 minutes, he talked about the terms and conditions, what companies they are representing, and showed me some old newspaper to prove they are not cheaters. I fulfilled all the T&Cs but I must prepare RM6600 to prove to them that my financial is sufficient to help promoting the Japanese companies they are representing. They will copy down the series number and return the money to me.

Alright, I don't have that much of cash in my local bank and the maximum limits of cash withdrawal using my foreign bank ATM card per day is not sufficient to cover that amount. The lady was very disappointed. Because she could get RM3000 commision if I had drew one of the luxurious cars. 

That's the story. I was hoping to get one of the cars too, but luck wasn't on my side. Or should I say, luck was on my side, but I let it go. 

p.s./ This is my last post in Malaysia for the next 8 plus months. GoodBye Malaysia and hoping to see you again next year!!! 

A Robbery

28 July 2010, 4.15 p.m.

It was a beautiful day. I was cycling in the big sun like I always do.

I was listening to MyFM with earphone connected to my cellular phone. I heard a motorbike is approaching me from behind. I thought it was some Indian boys who tried to mocking me.

All of a sudden, a hand grabbed my earphone and tried to take my cellular phone from my pants' pocket. Immediately I grabbed the dark skin tone hand and struggled a little bit trying to retrieve my phone but in vain.

They were two Indian bastards. Ugly, thin, about 40, no white sparkling teeth like Obama but have similar skin tone. "Keluar! Keluar! Money!", the guy on the front seat yelled.

"No money.", I replied. "Keluar! Money!", he continued to yell at me. The guy on the back seat continued to be silent.

The guy which holding my phone turned on the speaker of my phone and switched to Minnal FM which is a Tamil radio channel. Suddenly, they sang: "I want no money, no money but phone! I want no money, no money but phone!" while performing Indian traditional dance. Haha. This is what I always see in Bollywood movies. They always dance and sing for no reasons.

The real situation was I came down from my bike. "No money, no dompet!", I said. May be I really look like a poor boy without any pocket money, they left.

I was stupid because I didn't see the motorbike's plat number. Otherwise I can report to the policemen.

That day was my mom's birthday too. Haiz ~~~

Sell Out !

Today evening, I watched "Sell Out" with my friends at Kinta City. I was uncertain while my friend asked me to watch this movie because I have less confidence on made-in-Malaysia movie. But, I was wrong. This movie is awesome!



Well, I don't really understand what is the story the movie trying to tell, but whatever, I just wanna sit in the air-conditioned theater especially the weather is so hot, enjoy the movie and laugh. Yea, I laughed a lots.

What was I surprised is, Peter Davis and Jessica Lai can sing very well, especially Jessica Lai, she can sing exceptionally good. My favourite song was "You're Not My Type". They sang this song when Eric Tan(by Peter Davis) had his head hit by an auntie and was sent to a clinic.

And I aware that they shot the beginning scenes in Yut Loy Restaurant, which I introduced in my last entry. Ah, I am so proud for visiting the restaurant last Sunday. Haha...Ermm, the young director, Yeo Joon Han introduced a lots of Malaysian elements into this movie.

Some scenes for example.

When Rafflesia Pong(the female protagonist)interviewed a dying old uncle, she asked him whether he remember the Trigonometry formula and whether he apply the formula in his life. I laughed from the bottom of my heart when I see this scene. The director critized the educational system of Malaysia school, where the students have to memorize a lots of formula and not sure whether we are going to apply in the future career. Yea, we did memorize a lots of formula. Usually we will forget them after the semester ends until we open up the book, and look over it again when we need them for future exams and tests.

This movie is a musical comedy film and talking about music, one of the funny scenes is, they put up the lyrics on screen and play the melody, just like karaoke. Yea, Chinese love singing karaoke. (^<^)

Sell Out! world-premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2008 and won the Young Cinema Award for Altre Visioni. It also won the NETPAC Award at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and has been invited to 13 international film festivals so far.

"Sell Out" is a very nice movie. Watch it before too late! Even if you're late, buy a DVD and watch it at home. Don't miss it.

Last but not least, "Don't 'but' me!", my favourite quote from the movie.