*This is not a post on any Korean restaurant (although it sounded like one).

DuanWu Festival week was certainly a fruitful week for me; I took one day leave to document the process of making rice dumpling by mom, went for lunch with CityGal and J2Kfm and on the last day, Janvier and Chief made a stopover in Ipoh while on their way back to KL from Penang so I got to take both of them for lunch and some shopping.

When mention about yong tau foo in Ipoh, many people will say “dai shu keok” which literally means “under the big tree”. Located in Pasir Pinji, there are few stalls here but the most crowded would be the stall selling yong tau foo. But lately, I was told that a small food court was built just next to the big tree and there’s a stall selling the same yong tau foo but operates by different owner.

The food court was just start operating for about 6 months but the yong tau fu stall attracts numerous patrons, just like the original one. Both deep fried items (fried wantan, fish roll, fu chok) and non deep fried items (bitter gourd, brinjals, beancurd with fish paste) are available, RM 0.50 – RM 0.60 per piece; just get a pair of tongs and a bowl and start picking! And although it might sound exaggerated, some people can come up with 2-3 bowls of yong tau fu (not include the noodles yet).

While Janvier and Chief got themselves a bowl full with mixed yong tau fu and noodles, I only went for the fried stuff. Everything came fresh from the wok and thank goodness, they’re not too greasy. The fried wantan was pretty good despite the slighly thick skin. Fu chok was a bit chewy though, probably because it’s cold.

And yong tau fu is best eaten with the Ipoh-style chee cheong fun, drenched with a combination of curry and mushroom gravy, topped with pickled green chillies, mushrooms and minced pork, RM 4.00. If you prefer, you can ask the auntie to add on some pork skin too. The CCF was smooth, practically glides down the throat and the gravy was flavourful. But it would be better if she serve it with sesame seeds. Janvier, upon seeing it, immediately order another plate to be shared among him and Chief!

“I never see chee cheong fun served like this!”

The finale, wash them down with a humongous bowl of palm sugar ais kacang, RM 2.00. The picture does not make justice to the serving as it’s really a big portion (I wasn’t able to finish it, so go figure how big the serving was).

For shopping part, I brought them to buy salted chicken from Aun Kheng Lim and Gunung Rapat heong peng. They wanna have ice cream soda at Lok Wui Kui and Funny Mountain tau fu far too but both were closed on that day. More reasons for a second trip, Janvier?

Quick notes:
1. The original “dai shu geok” yong tau fu is closed every Sunday.
2. The original stall is located under a big tree, NOT inside the food court.
3. Their assam laksa is not recommended.

Dai shu geok
Jalan King, Pasir Pinji,
31650 Ipoh, Perak.
Behind Tuck Kee Restaurant.
Read my previous visit here.

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