Enjoy The Sumptous Chinese Food At Ipoh

The name Ipoh originated from a local tree known as the pokok ipoh. This particular plant is known for its tree sap, which is poisonous and was traditionally used by the Orang Asli (aboriginal people) in their blowdarts. Ipoh is also known as san seng which means "city surrounded by mountains" in Cantonese. Ipoh is located in the rich tin bearing valley of the Kinta River. It grew up as a mining town. During the British Colonial Era, Ipoh was the second city of Malaysia. Its railway station is an excellent example of the architecture of this period. It is situated in the "Old Town" of Ipoh.

Ipoh's growth has stagnated ever since the development of the country and the closure of the tin mines. This stagnation has prompted many residents to move to other parts of Malaysia, particularly Kuala Lumpur. Ipoh has since been called a dead city and a good retirement city. In spite of this, Ipoh still remains one of Malaysia's largest cities, with a population of 637,200 (2004) and urban area population of 798,800 (2004), placing it in the top five cities in Malaysia by population. Ipoh's food is famous, and comparable to that from Penang. Many people, some from as far as Singapore, actually travel to this city just to taste its variety of great food. There are numerous dishes worthy of gluttons but visitors to Ipoh should make it a point to taste the local fare. Chances are the cuisine here is more varied and likely to be tastier than many other places in Malaysia.

Best Chinese Restaurants

Ipoh beansprouts chicken"芽菜雞" , which consists of chicken meat, assorted chicken innards and beansprouts boiled in hard water and served with soy sauce and sesame oil. Ipoh's beansprouts are very fat, short and tastier than those produced outside Ipoh, thus Ipoh's beansprouts also receive orders from other states. Famous beansprout chicken noodles include Onn Kee （安記芽菜雞沙河粉）and Lou Wong (老黃芽菜雞沙河粉）Restaurants－ both located at the junctions of Yau Tet Shin Street 姚德勝街 and Osbourne Street.

Ipoh Sar Hor Fun"怡保沙河粉", which are rice flat noodles prepared in hard water and served in clear chicken and prawn soup with chicken shreds, prawns and spring onions. Famous sar hor fun include Thean Chun and Kong Heng Restaurants - located along Leech Street 列治街in the old town. Other popular food choices include chicken and pork intestines satay, curry pork skin chee cheong fun, and their custard! Custards are usually sold out around 3pm weekdays and noon on Saturdays and Sundays.

Ipoh Chicken Rice. The famous Ipoh Chicken Rice can be found in Bak Gong restaurant located near the Foh San restaurant in city centre,. ( Opens afternoon )

Hor Hee noodles河熹粉.This is also a very delicious kuey teow noodles with fish balls and fish pastes. The most famous stalls selling Hor Hee including those located in Heng Heung restaurant besides restaurant Sin Yean Lee in Ipoh Old Town (Opens only at night), and also the "Gao Peng" restaurant at Charmberlain Road in Ipoh New Town (again, night only).

Dim sum“点心”(fish balls, fried stuff, dumplings, buns, served in small quantities). Foh San(富山)restaurant, located nearby the tauge ayam outlets, is a famous. It has a branch in SS2 Petaling Jaya, the satellite town of Kuala Lumpur. Yuk Fook Moon Lau(玉福满楼） (Opens in the morning and also at night), located behind Excelsior Hotel, sells excellent dim sum too. Ming Kok（明阁）which is just opposite is the best dim sum restaurant in Ipoh. Also try out or take away the Cha Siew Bao", Chinese pork pao sold in Yuk Fook Moon Lau.

Be warned, must go there around early in the morning about 6am-7am because it is quite difficult getting a table at a later time.

Beef noodles.牛腩粉 There is one famous beef noodles restaurant called Buntong beef noodles restaurant, sells very delicious beef noodles, beef balls and yong tau foo. There are three restaurants in Ipoh famous of its Beef Noddles, run by three brothers originally from the Buntong Village of Ipoh. The restaurants are located at 1) Kong Heng Restaurant in Old Town Ipoh (morning til noon); 2) Taman Rishah Restaurant, between First Garden and Menglembu (noon til evening); 3) Jalan Theatre, near the Rainbow food court, in the Ipoh city. (evening til night).

Banquet dining restaurants (usually for holding Chinese wedding dinners) which serve excellent seafood and meat. The famous ones among Ipoh natives are Overseas（海外天）restaurant opposite Excelsior hotel, Mun Zhong（民众）restaurant in Jalan Pasir Puteh, Pusing Mun Zhong（布先民众）restaurant (Remember to try their signature prawn dish known as the Kou Hai) in Ipoh town,“Tung Hoi（东海）restaurant in Menglembu & branch in Ipoh Garden South, Lee How Fook（利口福）restaurant in Jalan Kampar. Two restaurant that serves very good Nyonya cuisine are Yum Yum restaurant at Persiaran Greenhill near Excelsior hotel and also A-Ssam House restaurant near Jalan Yang Kalsom.

Fish ball noodles鱼丸粉/yong tau foo攘豆腐. Some of the recommended outlets are Nam Fatt （南发）in Jalan Kampar, Tai Kar Lok（大家乐）the best one in city centre near Hotel Excelsior, and also one stall located in Pasar Pasir Pinji (Open nights only).

Chow hor fun炒河粉 or Kueh teow basah, rice noodles fried in such a way that it is a little wet with dark gravy (as opposed to the Penang char kueh teow which has no gravy but fried with egg, prawns or cockles and the Cantonese-style wat tan hor滑蛋河 which is completely immersed in clear, egg gravy). You can get chow hor fun in all Chinese restaurants in Ipoh. The best chow hor fun can be found at a street stall in the Mengelembu town area and one restaurant near Xin Hup Zi (Origin from Buntong) (Only opens at night).

Hakka noodles客家麵. There a few restaurant around the city sells delicious Hakka noodles with yong tau foo. The most popular Hakka noodles is offered by Yin Yau Kui at Hugh Low Street (Jalan Iskandar). This shop specialises in noodles rather than its yong tau foo. Another lesser known favourite, known to local old-timers is located at Majestic Food Centre at Osbourne Street (Jalan Tahwil Azar). This stall offers much better yong tau foo compared to Yin Yau Kui but Yin Yau Kui's noodles are superior. There is one near the Mun Zhong restaurant in Jalan Pasir Puteh (Only opens in the morning), one in a food court behind the Olympia college or Jalan Yang Kalsom (Only opens in the morning).

Salted chicken or Yim Kok Kai.盐锔鸡 The chicken is baked in salt in such a way the skin and meat is so delicious when you eat it and you will finished it all. Whole chicken are wrapped in "oil paper" amd then baked in large woks filled with heated salt. The restaurant that sells salted chicken is Aun Kheng Lim Restaurant, located at Theatre Street, opposite Martell house or near Bak Gong restaurant in the city centre. It is so popular that you must call to order before you drop in. Tel: 05-254 2998.

Roasted duck燒鴨.The duck is roasted in such a way the skin of the duck is so crispy, smells great when you eat it and the meat is delicious to be eaten. Recommended famous restaurant that sell roasted duck: Yeong Wai（楊威）restaurant in Greentown Business area and Tuck Kee（得记）restaurant in Pasir Pinji, Ipoh. There's also a restaurant called Kedai Hong Kong in the Tasek area. The chef famously studied his duck preparation in Hong Kong. A couple of ex-staff have opened their own duck restaurants in adjacent restaurants.

Curry noodle咖喱麵. There is one restaurant in old town Ipoh, called Sin Seng Fatt,（新成发） which is located near Kong Heng restaurant in Market Street, sells very delicious curry noddles. The curry paste of the curry noodle is so good that it's packed and sent to franchises in Hong Kong. They have a franchise at SS2, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. (Open mornings and afternoons only.). Another famous shop known to the locals is Sin Chuan Fatt (新泉發) located at Jalan Pasir Puteh, known for its very spicy and thick curry paste, fried chicken and pork to go with the noodles. Lesser knowns are; the restaurant facing the roundabout besides MGS secondary school. (Open mornings and afternoons only.) and a coffee shop called Sin Chuan Fong（新泉芳）located at Hugh Low Street.
Prawn mee蝦麵 or Hokkien mee. This is also another noodle that is same as Penang's Hokkien Mee. The soup of this noodle taste spicy and sweet. Recommended prawn mee stall is the roadside stall on the road between Yik Foong complex and Super Kinta shopping centre (Only opens at night and until early morning).

Sze Chuan food.川菜 There is a very good Sze Chuan Restaurant located in Fair Park (There is only one, along the way from Ipoh General Hospital to Ipoh Indra Mulia Indoor Stadium.) They serve some very authentic Sze Chuan-style dishes that can only be described as heavenly. Don't forget to order the deep fried "Man Tou" “馒头”or Chinese "Pau", Cheong Chang Arp (sauce-layered duck), Sze Chuan fried long beans, Taufu cooked Szechuan-style and Tong Por pork meat. These are signature dishes at this establishment.
Chinese Vegetarian Food素食店. There is one restaurant, Restaurant Sin Meng Kee 新明记, in the city centre that offers good Chinese vegetarian economical rice. It has many dishes in its menu. Main shop located at Jalan Dato Onn Jaafar and branch located at Jalan Lau Pak Khuan, Ipoh Garden and Kinta City food court. (Opens morning until evening)

Claypot Chicken Rice瓦褒鸡饭. This is a hot and delicious chicken rice cooked in a claypot. There is a stall at Shatin food court at Pasir Puteh that is very famous for selling this rice. (Opens only at night).
Chinese-style Satay沙爹. This is skewered meat seasoned and flavored with spices and served with cucumbers, onions and a chunky peanut sauce. Please note that the Chinese-style of satay (compared to other satay) contains pork and thus unsuitable for Muslim tourists. The preferred stall is in Thean Chun Restaurant, Ipoh old town. (Open mornings and afternoons)