Taiping Getaway (Finale)

After a good night's sleep, what better way to start the day, than with a hearty breakfast, not at some posh cafe serving "All-Day Breakfast Menu" at premium price, but instead where the locals throng for their coffee fix ...

The signboard reads "Pusat Hiburan Larut Matang" .... erm, entertained by your meal?

Right in the middle of town, a few blocks away from The Store supermarket, is this hawker food centre, housing at least 80+ stalls, dishing out 'halal' food, as well as an array of Chinese hawker fare.

Peace Hotel ... aptly named?

This colonial building is in fact, a premium-priced hotel by the name of Peace Hotel, serving 5 stars dishes, with a posh spa, gym facilities, and a swank pool to boot. Yeah ... right. (Hehe, me and my sarcastic thoughts. Blame it on the weather)

In case you missed the food centre, which I highly doubt, you can look for The Store supermarket (the orange building at the background of the photo above, OR you can look for this Jurassic of a building). It is facing the food centre.

Surprisingly, hygiene is maintained quite well. Just don't look into every nook and corner ...

With so many stalls to choose from, and typical us who woke up later than expected (",) we could not scout the whole area, skipping the Malay and Indian stalls. The drinks are pretty cheap, by Ipoh's standards.

Til now, I've no idea what this lady is selling. Yeah, me and my battered tastebuds.

Deep-fried Radish Cake? Rice Cake? (Rm0.40 per piece)

While waiting for the auntie to scoop the sweet sauce for the deep-fried blocks of artery-clogging snacks, my motormouth babbled and chatted her up. (NOT for the wrong reason, mind you =P). She explained the nature and name of the kuih, but my bad command of Mandarin got me nowhere, and with my tails between my legs, paid for them and scurried away to oblivion.

The texture and tasteless nature of the snacks suspiciously resembled Lor Bak Kou (radish cake) commonly served in dim sum outlets. But with a twist. They were served with a type of sweet sauce, with a hint of chilli in them. In fact, the sauce reminded me of the gravy for chee cheong fun (flat, rolled rice noodles), which brings me to ......

Chee Cheong Fun (RM1.80)

This plate of smooth Chee Cheong Fun (CCF), served with a type of sweet gravy and chilli sauce, sprinkled generously with sesame seeds, dried shrimps, and fried shallots, was very much alike Ipoh's version, BUT with another twist. (Anymore twist, and you'll figure this might be a plot in M.Night Shyamalan's upcoming movie) You can request for additional yam cake to be served with your plate of CCF. Yup, sounds strange, but the bland yam block provided a powdery, chewable texture to the noodles. Interesting.

Peanut Pancakes (RM0.50 each)

We Ipohans call them 'Dai Kow Meen'. Penangites recognize them as 'Ban Chang Kuih'. Some call them Apom. Whatever they're known as, rest assured all towns with a sizeable Chinese community would have stalls selling these snacks.

Char Kuey Teow with Eggs (RM2.20)

Ah Leng Char Kuey Teow. Translation? The Pretty One's fried kuey teow. Portion was big, enough 'wok hei' and with lots of ingredients thrown in. Without prawns or cockles, as KYT avoids seafood like the plague. Hehe ....

Location : Chee Cheong Fun @ Stall 71, Ah Leng Char Kuey Teow @ Stall 83. The rest easily located. Pusat Makanan Larut Matang @ Jalan Iskandar, Taiping.

The confectionery/factory churning out 'halal' biscuits

Mum was raving about some famous Aulong Heong Piah (a type of biscuits with malt sugar filling, and crunchy outer layer sprinkled with sesame). But Aulong is another area nearby to town, but with mazes of housing area. We were lost on the 1st day, unsuccessfully tracking the confectionery. But all's not lost.

On the 2nd day, a local girl was with us (praise be to her?), and hey! She knows the way around Aulong, and even suggested a few shops famed for their biscuits. We managed to crawl our way to Eng Huat Food Mfg & Trading, in Taman Bersatu. I highly doubt I can re-locate this shop, but help's always available (right, Ms NWN? =P)

They bake a whole range of products, for sale, and displayed a 'halal' certificate. Normally, Chinese confectioneries do not cater to the Malay crowd. So, one-up for Eng Huat. I bought a packet each of Heong Piah (RM3), Kaya Puffs (RM5), and Hup Toh Soh (RM2.70) (a crispy biscuit made from wheat flour, sugar, eggs).

Only the Hup Toh Soh managed to impress me, and had me chomping on them with delight. The Heong Piah are OK, but fell short of expectation. The Kaya Puffs are best avoided altogether.

Union of the Sweet and the Crumbly ... Aww ...

Location : Eng Huat Food Mfg Trading @ 261-262, Jalan Pak Cik Ahmad, Taman Bersatu, 34000 Taiping. Tel : 05-8076148.

Nothing beats curry-drenched white fluffy rice with meat & vegetables (RM4.90)

Final meal of the day in Taiping was at A.Rahman Nasi Kandar Restaurant, somewhere in Medan Taiping. Sorry, no exact address. The fried chicken was delicious, fried to perfection but still manage to retain the moisture of the meat. "Kuah campur" (mixed curry/gravy) is what I normally order whenever I have nasi kandar, since my days in Penang. Plus point is the curry here is spicier than the ones in Kayu, Khaleel, Pelita etc, providing much-needed kick.

With that, the 2 Days, 1 Night Taiping Getaway came to a halt. Still a lot of undiscovered gems in this town, definitely. Pledge to return in near future (supposedly end of this month, but major changes in government's policies forces us to be prudent, and .... well, let's just wait for my post at the end of June. You'll see).

IKEA Food Court @ Mutiara Damansara, PJ

Children and adults alike, having fun pushing the trolleys

Hmm, awkward post for the day. Not sure many, if ANY at all, blogged about the food from IKEA food court. Yeah, other than selling furnitures and such, they provide good food, at reasonable prices for those who suffer the hunger pangs, while their other half/parents/friends are happily shopping away.

See what you will be eating, rather than have them cooked behind doors

The concept is simple. Push a trolley that's 3 tiers tall, queue up like everyone else, get some trays and cutleries, and let your itchy hands roam. By taking what you want from the display counters, I meant. :)

Swedish Meatballs with fries (RM8.90 for 10+2pcs)

Of course, most of the food are cooked, or rather, dished up on the spot, for instance their signature meatballs, fish and chips, roast chicken/fried chicken, spaghetti etc. Their meatballs, made from minced beef are the best, served with thick gravy from beef stock, and lingonberry jam, with thick cut fries. Sometimes they have soft fluffy bun @ 50 cents each, which is ideal for soaking up the delicious gravy. The fish and chips are not bad as well, and priced at RM8.90 (I think,hehe).

The famous Daim cake (RM4.90)

On most days, they have tea time offer, whereby you can have a slice of their famed Swedish Daim cake, with a cup of coffee/tea. Their beverages are free flow, soft drinks at Rm1.50, while coffee/tea at RM3. Their coffee is not run-of-the-mill 3-in-1 version, but very aromatic and quite strong. Yes, you can sip on the coffee/tea with unlimited refills, for as long as you please, comparing patrons with the largest assets. Oh, with that I mean the furnitures/household appliances they bought. Nothing more. =P

Open face Shrimp Sandwich (RM5.90)

They do serve a variety of cold cuts such as Gravlax which is cured raw salmon slices, various sandwiches, such as the shrimp sandwich above, which houses lots of fresh boiled shrimps, croissants, muffins, cakes, as well as fruit juices and mineral water.

Location :No.2 Jalan PJU 7/2, Mutiara Damansara, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia Tel: (603) 7726 7777fax: (603) 7726 6255

email: customer.service@ikeastore.com.my
Operating hoursSun - Thurs: 10am to 10pmFri, Sat and eve of public holidays: 10am to 11pm

Woolley Food City, Ipoh

Old photos, from the archive. Hehe! Actually this food court has been around for some time. When i was small, my family used to come here for dinner a lot, still remember Thum's Burger, a stall selling amazing Western food at minimal prices. Their pizzas attracted me WAY before Pizza Hut did.

Sometime last year, the place got a major revamp, renovated and upgraded the facilities to a brand spanking new place altogether, looking chic, clean and trendy at the same time. The stalls got a major haul as well, inclusion of a new variety of stalls selling everything from Western to Nasi Kandar and hawker food.

Tom Yam Noodle

One of my personal favourite is the tom yam noodle (RM5), recommended by my Mum, who used frequent this place for lunch. Lots of ingredients are thrown in, including 2 fresh, medium-big sized prawns, squids, la-la, and chunk of fish (not sure species though, sorry). The soup based is spicy, sour and tangy, exactly the way i like it, unlike the usual one sold by some stalls that resembles typical tom yam stock for steamboat or instant noodle.

Lamb Cutlet Rice

Another hot favourite it seems, judging from the traffic is the Western Food stall, particularly the Rice served with Chops (pork, chicken, lamb, fish). A variety of sauces is available for choosing, mushroom, thai sauce, and black pepper, if i'm not mistaken. The lamb cutlet rice has been one of my choice, having tried this somewhere else. Costing roughly Rm6.50, it is a steal, as the portion is generous, and the cutlets are soft and marinated enough, not chewy, though reeks of typical lamb-smell, served with a fried egg, salad, and rice.

Ais Kacang (ABC)

The Ais Batu Campur or Ais Kacang was pretty cheap, below RM2, but lack of ingredients, and not enough evaporated milk. Still, a good choice to counter the heat. They serve various types of fruit juices and mixed fruit with shaved ice as well.

The Char Kuey Teow with prawns, egg and cockles is another good choice, fried with sufficient wok hei, and portion is big enough. The nasi kandar, or South Indian Curry stall was a hit when it was in Ipoh Garden South, manned by Chinese guy, and served lines after lines of customers back then. But after moving to this stall, a hike in price and more variety of food took its toll, and the last time i tried this here, the taste was moderate only.

Location : Not sure real address, but it's next to Medan Aneka Selera (or whatever the new name is). Coming from Jusco towards Hospital Fatimah on Jalan Dato Lau Pak Khuan, opposite the hospital is a Shell petrol station on your left. Turn left into the road next to the station. Go straight into a vast parking lot. Woolley is situated facing the parking lot.