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Motormouth From Ipoh

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Ugly Nasi Kandar in Old Town, & The Imported Teluk Intan Chee Cheong Fun

Imagine to circle endlessly around the perimeter of the famed (maybe over-rated) coffee shops in Old Town serving those inimitable (doubtful?) cups of white coffee .... Then by a stroke of luck, you finally manage to find a parking spot out of nowhere, either double-parking, or illegal parking (who cares, right? .... but one note of warning though, the officers in blue work EXTRA hard around this area, mainly cz IPD (Police HQ) & Majlis Perbandaran also located nearby only ma... no need to ride out to oblivion to achieve daily quota of summons!)

Direct competitors side by side. Which would YOU choose?

Then after punching your fist repeatedly in the air, you strut your stuff and walked over to Nam Heong, Sin Yoon Loong or Sun Yuan Foong (bitter rivals ..... a fight to the finish's at hand!) only to discover that the place's crowded to the max! Holds true on most days, especially weekend mornings and public holidays. You can either kiss your white coffee goodbye, wait for aeons for a table (even more troublesome if you decided to bring your whole busload of relatives) or .... you can set up your own tables/chairs. But of course, don't try this and credits to yours truly lah ... =P

This Indian uncle VERY eloquent in conversing in Cantonese! It's almost funny.


But don't worry, help's at hand. Though comes slightly late, for someone who has worked in Old Town for a good 1.5 years. LOL. This stretch of old, dilapidated shophouses consist of various Nasi Kandar stalls, and some rather rundown shops. It's facing the Old Town famous 20-storey flats, and a stone's throw away from the white coffee outlets. Just imagine Jalan Bijeh Timah (Nasi Kandar) is parallel to Jalan Bandar Timah (White Coffee).

Did you see what i see? Can you see ME? ;)


Nasi Kandar Pekan Lama is the shop at the end, manned by a pair of Indian (maybe mamak, not very sure) twins, who are both very good at speaking in Cantonese. It's hilarious how they tease customers, and nonchalantly converse in OTHERS' mother tongue. Probably the reason why the place was crowded with Chinese patrons that Sunday afternoon.

Not the prettiest sight eh? Swear I did NOT purge this!!!


Nasi Kandar in Ipoh and those in Penang is slightly different. Whereelse Penang's version has been commercialized, branched out, and franchised, Ipoh still has yet to develop a mamak nasi kandar stall worthy of a mention in food guides, or rave reviews. Except for Yong Suan or Nasi Ganja, maybe. Still miss Penang's Kayu, Pelita, Subaidah and Kassim. Those good times .....
Tastewise? The similarity exists in the gravy doused onto the pile of rice; The Kuah Campur (mixed gravy) whereby he'll scoop every type of curry imaginable from the pots and bowls in front of him, and then proceed to 'banjir' (flood) your rice. If you're not in favour of ultra wet curry rice, you can hold the gravy.
About RM4 for a packet of rice with chicken and vegetable, and the killer sour-ish sambal at the side, as well as cucumber slices to lessen the heat.
Location : Nasi Kandar Pekan Lama @ 125, Jalan Bijeh Timah, 30000 Ipoh, Perak. Notice the next door neighbour? Omar Nasi Kandar has a following of its own, heavily promoting the Ayam Merah (chicken cooked in a reddish sweet and spicy gravy), and has a branch somewhere on its own.


Teluk Intan Chee Cheong Fun (RM2.20 for 2 rolls)

Remember the post on my previous Teluk Intan's excursion in Jan? We didn't manage to sample the famous Teluk Intan CCF that time as the original factory only churns them from evening onwards, and the shop (Teck Kee Foodstuff) which gets their supplies from the factory was not selling them due to the CNY season. Shucks, right?

See the dried shrimp enveloped by the rice rolls?

But TallGal and FCOE were kind enough to 'tapau' (takeaway) 2 packets back from Teluk Intan, succumbed to my pitiful pleas and let me share their lunch. Hahahah ..... The power of persuasion? ;)

The experience brought back memories indeed, as I'm a fan of Teluk Intan's CCF, and used to buy back 10-20 packets at one go, whenever my family went to the town for any occasions. Of course, detractors may condemn the oiliness of the rice rolls. But the deadly combination of dried shrimps, fried shallots, wrapped inside the freshly steamed rice rolls .... I'm sold.

Teck Kee's CCF wasn't exactly bad, but rather dry and tasteless. For your information, the Teluk Intan CCF does not need any accompanying gravy, or sides. Only some pickled green chillies would do fine. Makes me wonder does Teck Kee REALLY get their supplies from the factory? Hmmm.....

Bye Bye office ..... muahaha .... =)


On that note, Motormouth's going on another journey up north ..... C ya around guys !!!

29 comments:

foodbin said...

CCF in T. Intan-Jalan Hill-that's right eat only with pickled green chillies, if leftover fry it with eggs-best!

Wendy said...

u working in old town? the old town nasi kandar bit "geli" sometimes. if i look at the way the pack the rice ill vomit. usually will just ask someone to tapao for me and will eat at sun yuan foong :)

ahlock said...

Bye bye office? Moving up North? You're going to migrate to Sg Petani???

My guess shall be Penang, right? And covering the whole Northern states.

Best of LUCK !!!

ahlock said...

Hey, forgot to comment on the CCF...Looks delicious if you add dry curry chicken. Yummy!

Nasi kandar looks like a warzone. A friend brought me to this restaurant b4, and it was the first and last of it.

sc said...

the tarpau rice dont so bad la...hehe. i love teluk intan CCF too, got my friend to pack for me when he travels there. yummy stuff

thenomadGourmand said...

wahh so gd tat can eat plain?? my food excursion up north is seriously overdue!
hey, if ur in Pg this weekend drop me an email. A bunch of us got a gathering on Sat nite..

~Christine~Leng said...

i wanna try teluk intan's CCF again ;P i've only tried em' once, ta-paoed by WMW a year ago, and it was delicious :)

Heading up north again? Have fun!
Going there for work or holiday? ;P

iamthewitch said...

The nasi kandar is really VERY different from the ones in Penang, look-wise. :) But I know I know, never judge a book by its cover. :P So you're going up north, which state? If you're going to Penang and need a tour guide, let me know! :)

Elin Chia said...

I was so happy to see the Teluk Intan Chee Cheong Fun on your blog, thinking you have found a place in Ipoh selling those...haih sure miss TI's Chee Cheong Fun leh :)

Little Inbox said...

The price is much more cheaper than Penang's.

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

expanding ur tastebuds to penang?...excellent..

Selba said...

The last pic is so beautiful... and can see the mountain....and there's a river?

PureGlutton said...

Hey, that pic of the Ipoh Nasi Kandar is sooo typical - that's how they pack this stuff in ipoh! Ya, the Old Town white coffee area looked like a WAR ZONE during CNY period when i was back there - we really thought there was a fight there or something due to the HUGE crowd milling outside the shops, on the street, by their cars... OMG! We quickly got out of there!

PureGlutton said...

Where exactly is this Teck Kee place in TI?? I haven't had TI CCF for ages!

Anonymous said...

Dear KLites, you can get your TI CCF fix at the DU foodcourt stall, ransack WMW's blog for the address.

Sorry ya J2Kfm, pinjam your comment box for a bit of announcement :P

HairyBerry said...

woah, talk about double dosage of goodness! love nasi kandar, love teluk intan ccf! i like my nasi kandar ugly cos that means it got lotsa gravy! me weird, hor? haha!

choi yen said...

Never have Teluk Intan CCf b4, so shame to tell u this :( Btw, only dried shrimp inside the CCF, I saw other ingredients ler...

cariso said...

Moving up to Penang hor? :)

email2me said...

The beef price looks pretty expensive compared to Penang's. In Penang each piece cost RM1.50 only.

Will try them out very soon ....

Tummythoz said...

*Standing by Nic (KHKL)'s comment*
The uglier the Nasi Kandar, the better the taste. As long as the rice is hot.

Anonymous said...

I just love how in midst of this food review you manage to remind us that the cool thing about being Malaysian is how we learn each other's languages and dialects. Too cool. :D

fatboybakes said...

haha, love this post...
so, hangon, u went for nasi kandar coz u couldnt get any place in the 3 aforementioned white coffee places? and the ccf was a separate occasion?

Unknown said...

hey, some gd reviews u hv done on ipoh..
i'm iipoh mali also, now based in KL.. got a few suggestions in ipoh for u to checkout, when u got the time...
1. Mun Toong Hau (Buntong mouth) Ngau Lam, Fried Sengkuang (Liu) nxt to Pat Kong Teng(demolished).
2. Ko Lou (Tall Guy) Hakka mee. the row behind Public Bank Yang Kalsom, next to the church. Their'liu' quite gd, fried brinjal a bit oily but damn gd...
3. Thoong Kee noodles, "lius" foo pei, tau fu and stuff..the best in townalong same row as Sun Yin Loong , old town.
4. Ah Chau curry mee, 2 doors down from Thoong Kee, white coffee quite gd.
5. "Leng Chai" wan tan mee in Buntong.. behind Buntong Market. open 7pm sharp with lots of ppl waiting...gd wantons, nice soup and nice pork strips.. not char siew...
thats all for now.. see if u like it...
cheers
Alan

Wendy said...

yea yea...must try ko lou hakka mee!

J2Kfm said...

Hey thanks everyone for the comments. rest assured Motormouth's STILL alive n kickin, and STILL from Ipoh. :)

I'm currently on holidays up north .... Vietnam, to be exact.
will come back to you guys very soon ....

Anonymous said...

it looks like the nasi kandar ganja at yeong kalsom road wo..that is really good too! and they have a branch at greentown now..

Anonymous said...

wah, extremely smooth looking CCF there

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