Pusat Makanan Chha Yong, Ipoh Garden South

Argh… Sleepy and tired. I’ve been helping to move my current office to a new location since last Thursday and we’re just back on track yesterday! Moving has never been so tiring.. zZzZz…

*Part One*
Ok, back to food. The weather last Friday was terribly hot, so I ordered my favourite drink to cool myself down at lunch.

Ais Kacang with gula melaka. Hehehe…

Reverse view. I was so excited when the auntie place this in front of me. It was so colourful with plenty of toppings, and lifted my mood immediately. The only problem – the coconut milk is a bit thick though.

My colleague and I decided to go for single servings of stir-fry (“siu chau”) dishes from this stall which I’ve been eating since I worked here one year ago. Of all the “siu chau” stalls in this area, this stall is my favourite.

My Kum Heong Lai Liu Har (Mantis Prawn) Rice. The mantis prawns are battered, then deep fried and stir-fry with dried shrimps, curry leaves, garlic, onions and curry paste. Tastes heavenly but the portion is a bit small for the price of RM4.00. Oh by the way, although I don’t eat seafood, ‘lala’, mantis prawn and fish are the exceptions :P

My colleague’s Siew Yuk (roasted pork) with Bittergourd Rice. I didn’t try it as I don’t like bittergourd. She commented that it’s really nice and full of “wok hei”.

*Part Two*
One of the colleagues from another outlet came to lend us a hand last Sunday and we went for lunch/break at the same place, again :P

Many people dislike the taste of Sarsi cos they commented that it tastes like cough syrup but I prefer it more than Coke or Pepsi. This time, the three of us decided to go for their set meal. Price at RM20.00, the set includes 3 dishes and 1 soup of the day. Sound reasonable. =)

I don’t quite remember which set we chose (there are 4 sets available and the dishes varies except the soup). The first dish presented before us is the Sweet Sour Deep Fried Fish Fillets. Perfect for lazy eaters like me!

Steamed White Beancurd with Choy Pou and Minced Pork. This tastes a bit salty due to the amount of soy + dark soy sauce but goes well with rice.

Stir-Fry Pak Choy with Garlic. The chef added some chopped gei ji (wolfberries) in it which enhance the sweetness of the veggie. Although I find it weird, but it tastes great.

I don’t really remember what soup we had that day. I think it was some type of preserved vegetable soup with pork because the soup tastes a bit at the salty side.

A brief view of the dishes we had that day. :P Besides “siu chau”, the chicken/siew yuk/char siew rice and stuffed chee cheong fun with pork skin curry gravy sold here are worth trying too.

Pusat Makanan Chha Yong
No. 2, Tingkat Taman Ipoh 11,
Ipoh Garden South,
31400 Ipoh.
Close 2 days fortnightly.
(Which days closed are uncertain)

Restoran J. J. Fatt @ Lawan Kuda, Perak

Yep, this time we’re going somewhere outside of Ipoh. My friend organized a dinner gathering with some other close friends at this particular restaurant last Saturday. Lawan Kuda (direct translating means “fight horse” in English) is a small village which has been associated with “yeh mei” (cooked wild animals such as wild boar, tortoise, crocodile meat, squirrel etc) for decades. It takes approximately 25 minutes to reach this place from Ipoh city, passing by Simpang Pulai and Gopeng. Once you reached Gopeng, go another 1km further up and you’ll see the signboard “Lawan Kuda”. No photo on the signboard as it’s almost impossible to snap the photo in such dark surroundings.

“Dai chau” restaurants are abundance here (“yeh mei”, remember?), from rickety zinc roof and wooden shops to modern shophouses. But since we’re not into “yeh mei”, we just opt for their usual menu.

Wu Xi Pork Ribs. They claimed that this dish is specially prepared by the chef who’re from Wu Xi, China. The ribs are cut into long diagonal chunks and tastes absolutely delicious. I have no idea what they used to prepare this but it’s fragrant, no porky smell and it’s hard to resist those sticky sauce on top of the ribs. I lick the bones clean, you know… :P

Deep fried white beancurd with minced meat gravy. Love the crispy outside skin and the smooth silky texture inside. The gravy is perfect to go with rice.

Steamed Herbal Chicken Thigh. The chicken thigh is steamed to perfection – the succulent, juicy flesh is actually dropping off from the bones. Paired with the herbal gravy… Yumzz.

My friend’s insisted that we must order this, Stuffed Beancurd Puff with “yun choy” soup. (Anyone know the English name for “yun choy”?) The vegetables cooked with herbal soup and accompanied with deep fried beancurd puff stuffed with marinated minced pork filling. The beancurd puff, amazingly still crispy eventhough soaked in the soup for hours. Thumbs up!

Some veggies to balance our meal, we ordered Stir-Fry Pak Choy with Garlic. Simply love the sweetness and freshness of the vegetables which full of “wok hei”.

From the moment we sat down, our chit-chat topic is basically about food and holidaying… Hahaha… Thanks to Shim and her husband for introducing such good eatery to us. And thanks again for paying the bill too :P

Directions:

*Not the perfect map, I know, but this is the best I can make.

(Updated) Other review:

• backStreetGluttons

Sidewalk Ice Cream Lounge, Ipoh Garden

I’ve been trying (trying hard actually) to get someone to go with me for my ice cream fix after I saw the last picture on Precious Pea‘s review on Delicious by Ms Read. Blame it on the pic! ^^

And so, I finally managed to drag a super busy friend (who’re busy dating usually) to Sidewalk Ice Cream last Friday. Heard about this place since secondary school but never managed to come until recent years.

Roasted peanuts as appetizer but it’s not free, costs RM1.50. Sky juice is free though. As for the ice cream, just choose your preferred presentation style, number of scoops and ice cream flavours. The number of scoops range from 1 to 5. My friend’s having cough at the moment, so he skipped the ice cream.. poor fellow.

Warm lighting with mix-and-match interior decoration. It gave me a feeling that this place is more suitable for families than youngsters or couples.

Purposely choose to sit in front of the aquarium cos I like tropical fish. There’s some Snoopy figurines on the shelf above the aquarium.

Em…. It’s mine! So-called Valentine’s Dream, it consists of 4 scoops of my chosen flavours – Cookies ‘n Cream, Chocolate Chip, Marshmallow and Coffee Mocha and decorated with nuts, whipped cream, wafer sticks and fruits @ RM7.80. Kinda regret to have Marshmallow cos can’t really taste it. The Coffee Mocha and Cookies ‘n Cream flavours overpowered the Marshmallow… duh.. but nevertheless, the whole cup of ice cream is still nice :P Sinfully nice, others would say…

Sidewalk Ice Cream Lounge
Opposite ‘Tongku Teng’ (Anika Selera Kam Wan Food Court)
Ipoh Garden