Ipoh cuisine

The city of Ipoh, in the Perak state of peninsular Malaysia, is famous for its cuisine. Natives claim that Ipoh's water, which is relatively hard (high alkali content) owing to Ipoh's location on top of a large karstic formation, makes the food especially tasty.

Ipoh is also a famous production hub for tasty light and dark soy sauce.

Dishes

avoury

* Bean Sprouts Chicken (Cantonese "nga choy kai" - 芽菜雞), and Hainanese chicken rice (Cantonese "Hoi lam kai fan" - 海南雞饭) - This consists of chicken meat, assorted chicken innards and beansprouts (served in the case of Bean Sprout Chicken, may be omitted in Hainanese chicken rice) boiled in the abovementioned hard water and served with soy sauce and sesame oil. As mentioned above, due to Ipoh's water, Ipoh's bean sprouts are shorter, thicker and difficult to find elsewhere.

* Chee cheong fun (Cantonese - 豬腸粉) - This is a breakfast dish which consists of large flat pieces of flat rice noodles rolled up and served with sweet or spicy sauce. Unlike the chee cheong fun in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh has it with minced pork sauce and mushrooms, topped with preserved green chilli, a sprinkle of deep-fried shallots and sesame seeds.

* Dim sum, or dumplings and other delicacies typically served for breakfast or lunch, are also widely enjoyed by the locals of Ipoh. The several famous Ipoh "dim sum" restaurants locate at Jalan Leong Sin Nam, include "Foh San" (富山), "Ming Court" (明阁), and "Fok Man Lou" (福满楼).

* Flat noodles or Ipoh "Hor Fun" (from Cantonese "hor fun" - 河粉) - These are flat rice noodles prepared in the hard water. There are two varieties. "Sar hor fun - 沙河粉" is served in a clear chicken and prawn soup with chicken shreds, prawns and spring onions. "Chau hor fun" is fried with a little dark gravy, as opposed to Penang char kway teow which has no gravy but is fried with egg, prawns and cockles. It is also different from Cantonese-style "wat tan ho" which is completely immersed in clear, egg-starch gravy.

* Fried cuttlefish vegetables (Cantonese "yau yee oong choy" - 魷魚蕹菜) - This is a dish of cuttlefish with "kangkung" and sweet and spicy sauce on top.

* Hakka Mee is a type of noodles - It is yellow in color, normally served in soup and with meat such as pork or chicken fillet. "Hakka Mee" originated from the town of Seremban further south.

* Ipoh laksa (Malay: "Laksa Ipoh") - Laksa in Ipoh tastes sour and spicy, different than Penang laksa, which is sweet. The noodle soup contains prawn paste.

* Salt-steamed Chicken (Yim gouk kai) - This dish is prepared by using paper to wrap one whole chicken together with salt and certain Chinese herbs and double-steamed for several hours. With this cooking technique, the meat will not lose its tenderness and the essence of chicken can be preserved as well. The combination of salt and herbs gives the meat a unique flavor.

* Claypot chicken rice (Chinese - 瓦煲鸡饭) - This kind of chicken rice differ from the "HaiNan Chicken Rice", this is served in a claypot and mostly cooked with charcoal. Most of the time salted fish is added in the rice but sometimes is not according to one's preference. The most famous one come from Bercham, the popularity spread throughout Malaysia including famous tourist destination Genting Highlands.

* Sate (also written as satay) is meat served on a skewer, served with peanut sauce. The Ipoh satay is similar to satay served elsewhere in Malaysia.

* Tempoyak is a popular Malay delicacy. It is durian extract which is preserved and kept in an urn. Commonly eaten with chillis and other dishes; it is well known due to the popularity of its key ingredient, durian, among the locals.

Desserts and pastries

* Fragrant biscuits (Cantonese "heong peng" - 香餅) - These are flaky biscuits with a sweet filling, and are often bought as souvenirs by tourists to Ipoh. Among locals, 'heong peng' is famous in the suburb of Gunung Rapat, which is purportedly the pioneer in their production. For the best and most original taste, dipping the biscuit in water is not recommended.

* Fruits - Ipoh is famous for its fruits, such as seedless guava, pomelos and durians. Pomelos are sold in front of "Sam Poh Tong" (三寶洞), along Gopeng Road (the old Route 1 that links the towns in Perak and neighbouring states). These stalls cater mainly for tourists driving into Ipoh. Alternatively, one can go right into the Tambun-Ampang area where most of the pomelo plantations are located to have more choices (and more competitive prices).

* Ipoh white coffee - This is made from coffee beans specially roasted with palm oil margarine. Ipoh white coffee is abundant in the Old Town of Ipoh. Many locals strongly believe that the aroma, taste and texture of the traditional "white" coffee blend is superior to commercially-packed sachets or those found outside Ipoh.

* Kampar Chicken Biscuits (Cantonese "kai zhai peng" - 雞仔餅) - They are also a popular souvenir for tourists to Ipoh. These are famous in Kampar, a neighboring town of Ipoh.

* Kaya Puff - These are pastries consisting of flaky pastry (akin to currypuffs) with coconut jam (kaya) filling.

External links

* [http://www.wikistreetfood.com/Category:Perak Perak(Ipoh) Wiki Street Food]
* [http://www.thingsasian.com/goto_article/article.2580.html "Ipoh - The Chinese Food Haven!" at thingsasian.com]
* [http://wikitravel.org/en/Ipoh Travel guide to Ipoh from Wikitravel]
* [http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Asia/Malaysia/Negeri_Perak/Ipoh-1281735/Restaurants-Ipoh-BR-1.html Ipoh Restaurants at Virtualtourist.com]
* [http://www.journeymalaysia.com/MC_ipohfood.htm Ipoh Food at Journey Malaysia]