Walking down the memory lane of Ipoh Old Town

Ipoh Oldtown Coffee Shop is a cafe franchise which have been mushrooming at cities across Malaysia. So after my talk at Penang, I drove down to Ipoh to pay a visit to my friend. Ipoh people like Penangites, have always been proud of their own food. However it is not simply ‘blind’ enthusiasm, the Hor Fun (rice noodle) and the coffee here claimed to be the best in Malaysia and Singapore! Most visitors will come to Ipoh town area to try out the Wong Kee chicken hor fun but this time my friend bought me to another stall which opens at night only. The place is called Fifteen Tower. The rice noodle itself is as good as Wong Kee’s but the soup taste different. It is as if it been cooked all day and little spices are added. Taste very natural but nice. The portion however is smaller so you got to order 2 for big guy like me.

Not the best steamed chicken I had but it is better than those in KL		This is why my friend bought me here. Hor Fun in chicken soup		Just a simple stall with the boss preparing the food and a foreign worker helping him to serve the customer

So next morning my friend bought me to the original Ipoh Oldtown coffee shop. It is actually called Nam Heong. Like any typical Chinese coffee shop here, the shop owner sells coffee while he rented out the stall spaces for others. So besides coffee you got other noodle stalls or rice stall rented by others. Quite different from the fancies opened by the son of Nam Heong’s boss where everything is prepared and sold under one shop.

Because I just had my lunch, we decided to go to the opposite coffee shop Sin Yoon Long which the white coffee is as good if not better than Nam Heong. They do not have stalls there but sell pastry inside the shop. So I got myself a glass of iced white coffee and Kaya sponge cake (pic below). After I tasted the white coffee here, I don’t feel like visit Ipoh Oldtown franchise in KL anymore. The white coffee here is so much better and I ordered by Kaya sponge cake to take back to KL later.

 

Tea time @Sin Voon Loong, iced white coffee and Kaya sponge cake

The original Ipoh Old Town Kopitiam

Because of the short trip I did not managed to visit Ming Kee vegetarian shop here near the Ipoh market. They make the best vegetarian duck and char siew and for the pass 20 years since I first tasted it, never had I found a match. So hope I will go back soon and check out the place.