Live to Eat: Ipoh Eating Feast (怡保飲食一日游)

It must have been at least 3 years since I last been to Ipoh. I have been researching extensively of where to eat before our trip. Eating at Kong Heng (光興茶室) has been a family ritual every time I go to Ipoh since I was young. So this trip I decided to be more adventurous by trying out other restaurants that I have not patronized. However, I am always nostalgic about Kong Heng, so the first stop has to be Kong Heng. It may not be a good idea to put Kong Heng as the first stop as it has inevitably set the standard very high for others.

This restaurant has been around for ages and every stall is pretty good at what they sell. We ordered "Sar Hor Fan" (怡保沙河粉), satay (沙爹), popiah (薄餅), cuttlefish and kang kung (尤魚雍菜). Not to mention they still have other popular stalls that sells beef tripe/ball noodles (牛腩/牛丸粉)，"zhu cheong fun"(豬腸粉) and etc. We simply do not have the capacity to order more since there were already a table full of food. The "Sar Hor Fan" and popiah always live up to its name. There is no way you can quite get the same taste anywhere else other than Kong Heng. These 2 dishes are almost the icon of Ipoh. Surprisingly, the white coffee is also exceptionally good. The satay is pretty good too even though we are a bit disappointed with the cuttlefish and kang kung. We then headed to Nam Heong for its white coffee. A big disappointment since we all agreed that that place is way overrated.

We were extremely stuffed so decided to catch a movie to let the food settled before we go for 2nd round. After the movie, it was about 4 something and we drove to the very much boasted "funny mountain" soya bean. Unfortunately, it was close. So we have to detoured to "Ann Kee" Beansprout Chicken (安記芽菜雞). Other than the signature stoky, crunchy and sweet "Ipoh" beansprout, other dishes are just so so. Since we were all so full after Ann Kee, we decided to head back after packing the salted chicken from Aun Kheng Lim (not that good, just dead salty). It was rather a fun and satisfying trip.

It has been proven that Kong Heng is still the undisputed king of all kedai kopi（茶室) in Ipoh. When you have the best, why bother the rest? I will keep on heading straight to Kong Heng every time I go to Ipoh. You complete me!