Off The Beaten Path: My Food Adventure in Ipoh, Malaysia

It is no secret that Ipoh is a food haven. It definitely ranks highly on my list even when comparing it to other foodie cities like Bangkok and Hong Kong.

For people visiting Ipoh on a day trip, the morning usually starts off with queuing for a table at popular dim sum restaurants, then ordering and gobbling down the food quickly as there will still be a new crowd of people waiting for you to finish your breakfast. For me, I take the opposite route by having dim sum for dinner instead. Some restaurants (not Foh San) like Yoke Fook Mun sell dim sum for dinner too, from 6.30pm onwards. You can enjoy your meal without the morning crowd breathing down your neck!

Besides the horfun noodles which Ipoh is famous for, locals will also boast about the curry noodles in town. There are many stalls in town selling this for breakfast but one of the most popular stalls is definitely the "police station" curry noodles, which is named so because it is located close to the police station! The picture on the right is from Keng Nam. The taste is not bad but there is definitely a lot of MSG as I felt thirsty for hours after breakfast!

Other than curry noodles, you will find many other options available for breakfast such as wanton mee, hakka noodles with yong tau foo, chee cheong fan and so on. Typically many of these hawker stalls/coffee shops open for business from breakfast till lunch. But do try to come earlier so that there is no risk that what you want is sold out!

Throughout the day, be it for breakfast, lunch, tea, or dinner, you will be able to find Ipoh white coffee easily as it is a trademark drink here. But to try the authentic Ipoh White Coffee, head to the coffee shops located in Ipoh's Old Town, and not the Old Town Kopitiam chains.

To end off your day trip to Ipoh, you can visit a local night market (known as pasar malam). There is usually at least one pasar malam going on each night. You will find various stalls selling items such as food, drinks, shoes, clothes, accessories etc. Here, you can put your bargaining skills to use but do note that usually the prices are not highly marked up in the first place so do not go overboard. If you love variety, you will definitely enjoy having your dinner/supper at the night market. Give it a try!