Highlights of Food & Fun in Ipoh

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013!

The year began with a good night's rest til late morning, followed by a sumptuous lunch with the family! What a better way to begin a new year, eh? Before I share the dining experience of my new year's lunch, let me share with you some of the highlights of my recent trip to Ipoh. I didn't have enough time to complete the blog post before the end of the year 2012 :P

There are probably only 3 food places in my recent trip to Ipoh/Batu Gajah that I would recommend to my readers. Read more about it below :)

What's good in Ipoh/Batu Gajah that the PerutBesi had:

Langkap Pau!

I came across this stall on my 1st night at Ipoh, at the GP Foodcourt in Bercham. It's quite near to the Lost World Tambun. I've never had Langkap Pau, so it was interesting to find out that the pau(s) are actually good! The pau(s) were fresh, soft, & very tasty. I tried the unusual curry chicken loh mai kai (RM3.00/serving), "nam yue" pau (RM1.80/pau) & the classic lotus paste pau (RM0.90/pau). I was satisfied!

Map to GP Foodcourt in Bercham

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GP Foodcourt

Lot 106885, Persiaran Bercham Selatan 20

Glamour Square

Taman Bercham Jaya

31400 Ipoh

Perak Darul Ridzuan.

GPS: N04 37.546' E101 7.838'

*****
We were just sourcing out for food around Kellie's Castle area on Day 2 of our Ipoh trip. Batu Gajah town was one of the nearest township to Kellie's Castle. My GPS brought me to the town in search for some Chinese food, but that particular restaurant was closed for the day. So we ended up driving around & discovered this humble little cake & ice cream cafe with air-conditioner! It was THE PERFECT choice for a VERY hot day :D

Halal: Yes

Top One Cafe, Batu Gajah

This little cafe serves good cheese cake, a refreshing selection of ice cream, & a whole variety of Asian & Western food as well! Prices are also decent, but I have to say that their cheesecake is comparatively cheap (as compared to those we can get in Petaling Jaya), yet good! Check out the brand of butter & cheese that they use...

What we had...

Their "Italian Chicken Chop" (RM11.50/serving) that's actually chicken chop with some pasta isn't too bad. Their tom yam noodles (RM6.30/serving) was too spicy for my sister, so if you love spicy food, it's definitely something for you. On a rather hot day, their fruit juices (RM3.80/glass), ice tea (RM3.80/glass), & milkshakes (RM5.80/glass) were actually good thirst-quenchers ;)

Dessert!

Dad enjoyed his "Sweet Dream" ice cream (RM6.80/serving), while we enjoyed the chef's own-made oreo cheesecake (RM4.80/slice or RM48.00/whole cake).

Map to Top One Cafe, Batu Gajah

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I can tell you that dining here was very satisfying - in a very comfortable & cooling cafe on a hot, sunny day. We were even more sun-burnt after our visit to Kellie's Castle, but hey, that's where the fun is - getting scorched under the hot sun together! :D I won't mind popping-by this place again if ever I'm around Batu Gajah area.

Top One Ice Cream & Cake Cafe

4 Jalan Pandak Akhat

31000 Batu Gajah

Perak Darul Ridzuan

Tel: (+605) 365 4291 - owner: Mr Wong

GPS: N04 28.203' E101 2.518'

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When you're in Ipoh, if you have a car, this restaurant in Pasir Pinji is a must-try, especially if you love braised chicken feet & pig's trotters! If you're not a great fan of those, you must not miss out their smooth Ipoh hor fun & their yummilicious white chicken. Their "yong tau fu" items were also really delish :) I've been here once 2 years ago, I think, so I had to introduce this place to my family this time around. It's a place where most locals in Ipoh will frequent, so expect a crowd during dinner time!

Kum Kee at Pasir Pinji

Loads of good local food here - just 1 stall that serves it all! It's "cheap" too ;) If possible, try not to go to the usual "touristy" restaurants in town for Ipoh chicken rice/hor fun. Try something different & be slightly more adventurous! There's much to offer out of Ipoh town centre! Pasir Pinji is one of the places that offers good food throughout the day...there's my favourite "fa sang wu" & "kueh ma chee" during the afternoons, & there's also a famous "tau fu fa" near the market from mid evening onwards. FOOOODDDD.....you can read more about the other food places in Pasir Pinji in my previous blog post here.

We over-ordered!! *faints*

Seriously, we ate 'til we wanna 'terbalik' already...for 4 persons...?? Even the stall owner was speechless when he saw that we ordered so much & could still finish all of it up! Hahahaha....the amount of food could feed at least 6-7 persons. Oh, we're such pigs :S We had braised chicken feet, braised pig's trotters, loads of "yong tau fu", a large plate of beansprout, a medium plate of white chicken, a bowl of soup noodles each, & a bowl of "tau fu fa" each as well! The best part was the bill - RM48.30 only!!

Map to Kum Kee, Pasir Pinji

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This would be my favourite place to eat in Ipoh 'til I find some other better place that could compete with Kum Kee :D

Kum Kee Coffeeshop

798-799, Jalan Sekolah

31650 Ipoh, Perak. 

GPS: N04 34.303' E101 5.335'

Business hour: 6:00p.m. - about 2:00-3:00a.m.

Note: It's located directly opposite the Pasir Pinji police station & isn't too far from the wet market.

Previous post: Click here

*****
Apart from all the food that we had, we went places as well. I will only highlight 2 of the places i.e. Kellie's Castle in Batu Gajah & Geruntum Waterfalls at Gopeng. It's kinda far from Ipoh town, but it's quite worth the drive if you're keen to go on an adventure.

A visit to Kellie's Castle is basically a history lesson. If you're into history & architecture, this would be an interesting place to visit. It's also quite a good place for photography :)

Geruntum Waterfalls on the other hand is a very secluded waterfall, deep within a palm oil estate. If you're not into driving on non-tarred roads & going up steep & windy paths, don't bother going to Geruntum Waterfalls. There are many other waterfalls around Ipoh, which may be quite good & picturesque as well. This particular waterfalls is more commonly known to the locals & tourists who would want to go on white water river rafting. If you just want a waterfall to relax, dip into & have a bath, this waterfalls may be slightly challenging. There's no specific car park area nor is it done up nicely for tourists. It's still very much in its natural state :)

There's practically nothing much to see in Ipoh unless you're interested to visit the various temple caves or if you're more into outdoors (usually on trips with a bunch of friends instead of with family), you can check out Gua Tempurung.

I wouldn't mind going to Ipoh to meet up with friends, enjoy some of the good food there & just relax. Ah, I'm already missing my holidays...! Oh well, hello year 2013!


Recharged to begin work again,