Azuma Sushi: One trick tasty pony

There is a new sushi shop in Gunung Rapat area, which is a new surprise. This pique my interest on the how good it will be. Located behind HSBS Gunung Rapat, it is just a stone throw away from McDonalds and also beside Starbuck Coffee. The name Azuma Sushi is bright and anyone would not miss the place.

Inside, it is the usual kaiten sushi restaurant setting. With the smart design of the sushi belt, the shop can fit in quite a large number of patrons without feeling cramped. Service is as expected, since the sushi is readily circulated on the belt, it is "eat as much as you want". Beside kaiten sushi, there is obviously other choices via the menu, especially the rice and noodle ramen dishes.

For today, Lyn and I decided to go all out on the kaiten sushi instead of the menu. For those who do not know kaiten sushi, it is basically sushi placed on plates, usually with different colors to indicate different pricing, and the plates will be circulated via a belt that runs beside each table. You see the sushi that you like, just take it and eat it. Once full, the staff will come to count the number of plates and we just pay at the cashier. There is a fair range of sushi from the usual maki sushi to simple rolls. Expect to pay from RM1.70- RM3.50 for each dish depending on the ingredients. The rice is flavored nicely.  The toppings are fairly average, with no new surprise like the ones we had in Mentai. Some of the rolls are nice, but generally I find the use of cheese and mayo is too frequent. It tasted good in the first few sushi, but by the last bite, it felt a bit too much for the tummy to gulp in. In the end, the whole range lacks variety, and the sushi do appeared to be a one trick pony.

It is still a nice eating experience. Probably the trick is do not eat too much of the sushi and to mix it with other choices in the menu. Then, the sushi would be very tasty.

ratings: 3 poink~!
comments: Have not tried the ala carte rice/ ramen or sushi, but do look nice.

Azuma Sushi
3,5, Laluan Medan Rapat,
Gunung Rapat, Ipoh
05-318 3190

The Mount: Comfortable Dining for the Patient Ones

On one of the rare days, me and Lyn decided to eat out. Being near CNY, Ipoh is packed with cars. So much so that we abandoned our idea to go to Kinta City area half way and turn back towards somewhere near our house. I recalled that on my way back from work, I saw this nicely decorated restaurant near Symphony Suite Hotel.

The Mount could be easily missed out, since it is part of Merton Hotel. The exterior design is modern, living up its expectation of being a boutique hotel/ restaurant. Though parking is a challenge, with a few Chinese restaurant along the row always busy with patrons; as long as we did not mind parking slightly further, parking space should not be a deterrent. To easily spot the restaurant, just look for the row of shop along Symphony Suite and Kedai 1 Malaysia.

The restaurant is decorated very nicely. with all the seats comfortably seated spaciously. It felt like dining in a fine dining setup in Ipoh. Probably this place is still relatively new, therefore not as full as other diners. The waiter here is attentive, but being the only one that night, he is always busy taking orders, serving and making drinks.

Then comes the menu. Surprise, although I would expect the worse, the western offering here cost generally affordable. Average dishes ranging around RM20 would not burn a hole in the pocket. The Mexican BBQ Chicken (RM19) which I chose was rather a nice surprise, though tasted more oriental than salsa. The BBQ sauce was not over empowering which a lot of other restaurant would tend to over-do. Lyn's white mushroom chicken (RM19) was nice, but lack the wow factor. To me, it tasted bit like cabonara sauce with a dash of mushroom. Probably the impression would be better with bit more herbs and mushroom. Freshly extracted juices costs only RM8.50 completed the meal. However, even with limited guests, the chef took his own time to prepare each dishes, and it is a long wait for the hungry. Luckily the place is very comfortable to relax and chat, but for me who did not take a proper lunch that day, each second waiting for dinner is excruciating.

 The Mount left a good impression to me, partly due to the affordable price despite a fine dining setup. For those who do not mind waiting patiently for their food, they will be rewarded with a amazing dining experience here. For people who eat fast, there is always the fried noodle around in the area.

rating: 3 poink~!
comments: the food is good, though far from impressionable, but the comfort of dining here is exceptional.

Deluscious Food Delight: not a mistake

Yup, it is not a spelling mistake. I just transcribe, not knowing whether the spelling is intentional. Deluscious Food Delight (DFD) has been near Taman Botani for quite some time. As far as my memory serve me correctly, it is one of the earliest shop to set foot in Taman Siber/ Botani when the place was still relatively empty. There was a time I frequently visited Botani, but fate has it that I did not settle down there. Along the main road, near to the entrance of Botani, is this small family run dessert shop. Blink and you will miss, so just drive slow along the shops with numerous restaurants.

This is a simple shop, so do not expect expert deco, personalized service, but dining here is definitely warm with interesting staff. Do not expect high sophisticated choices in the menu, but the highlights would be the Chinese dessert (tong sui) which differ every day. Just look at the wooden tags on the wall to see which dessert is available on the day. The rest of menu is dedicated to dessert such as pan cake. There is a vast range of cold dessert as well, such as shaved ice. Main dishes such as noodle and rice dishes would make sure patrons here return with the tummy full.

Although one may argue that the food here may not be the best among many choices here in Ipoh, but I would say that dining here give me a homely feel with the good food. The dry noodle with braised pork is one of the best combination among pork and mee. The chicken chop and black pepper pork do not shine but do not disappoint either. The pan mee, is bit plain but among the many favourful dishes, plain is good. The dessert choice is aplenty, from tong sui to the cold ice dessert. I have still yet to try their peanut soup, which I will reserve for my next visit.

It is not easy to find a place with both good light and heavy food together with hot and cold dessert. I truly enjoy dining here; it is a nice break from all the fancy restaurants, and I am sure it will disappoint others as well.

ratings: 3 poink~!
comments: I always have a soft spot for dessert....

STG Tea House Cafe: memorable dining experience

old bungalow converted to diner

It is our 7th wedding anniversary, and we are craving for western food instead of our usual char-kueitiao. Even though Hot Jack immediately pop in my mind, we decided to give Sabah Tea Garden STG Tea House a try, since it is so near our place. Ipoh resident would be familiar with STG, which sit in the same league with the fine dining category; some even say at par with Indulgence. It is situated in one of the old bungalow building in Chateau Garden. Just drive along Jalan Gopeng, look for the turn after across Impiana hotel.

Although it is a rather small bungalow, there are ample parking space, and the setup is rather homey. It is so comfortable dining here, coupled with the attentive staff. The menu is typical western with a few local fried rice in the midst. Expect some pasta dish as well, with the usual soup appetizer and the meat/ chicken/ fish entree. Compare with the other fine dining restaurant with similar setting, STG do boast of a more reasonable pricing in Ipoh.

seared sea bass

chicken divan

creme brulee

Do not expect much from the drinks, juices start at RM9, and my Sabah Peach tea is priced at RM8/ glass. I prefer my tea stronger, surprisingly for diner with tea background, I felt tea is one of their weaker link. Fret not, for the food does make up for the drink. The chicken divan (RM25) is grilled nicely with a tinge of herbs. The butter sauce tasted good, but I prefer it to be creamier. Still a good dish, though not the best chicken dish out there. The pan seared sea bass fillet (RM26), on the other hand, is cooked to perfection. The herbs blended flawlessly with the fillet seasoned with salt. Eaten with the creamy sauce, I could not think of any way to improve the dish. While the food ranges from average to impressive, the dessert is simply out of this world. The creme brulee (RM10) tasted so good, while not too sweet but had the perfect balance of taste. Most dessert taste good but have a heavy after taste, but no, the creme brulee here is simply light and nice. The winner has to be the chocolate lava cake (RM15). The 15 minute wait is so worth it, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, eating it with the hot melting chocolate flowing it from the cake simply lifted me up to 9th heaven. The cake has the perfect balance of chocolate taste, not too sweet, not too bitter, and yet chocolate-ty enough.

Taste wise, it is may not be everyone's cup of tea, but considering other similar class diner, STG has to be one of the top few. The food is priced nicely for Ipoh folks, and the food is enjoyable. Did I mention about the dessert? Yup, that itself makes the trip here worth the time.

ratings: 3 half poink~!
comments: Although I am not a fan of chocolate, but I still have to give the lava cake a double thumbs up.




STG Tea House Cafe
2, Taman Kinta,
Taman Chateau
Ipoh
052550188, 052550116

Rainbow Cafe: hit and miss, worth a try

comfortable seatings

spacious tables

Groupon definitely allow me to try new places. If not for the cheaper voucher, it will probably take me way longer to decide to come here. Rainbow cafe is actually very very near my house. It is just behind McD Gunung Rapat. The exact location for local is right behind the building which used to house Burger King. Yes, there used to be Burger King in Ipoh, but it was a miscalculation to open the joint next to McD. Clearly, it is not the king of burger in Ipoh, at least. Rainbow cafe occupies the building the house Station One. Yes, there used to be Station One in Gunung Rapat too, but given my past bad experience with the franchise, I tried to avoid it as much as I can.

white chocolate drink

As far as I can recall, they use back the same deco and the stage for singers. Expect the regular same comfortable setting. The staff is fairly attentive, given the place is not full at all. However, some of them appeared to be foreign worker, which made it rather impossible to ask about the details of each dish.

The menu is as expected. It is a hybrid between kopitiam/ pseudo-western (means, chop, steak and pasta with local twist)/ local - Chinese. There is also shadow of pseudo cha-chan-ting style of food and drink of Hong Kong. Basically, it is a rather rojak kind of menu. The advantage of such menu is that everyone would could try different things, though jackof-all-trade; master-of-none.

kuai fa mee 

mexican chicken chop

The first drink that arrived to my table is my white chocolate drink (RM6.90). Yup, white chocolate. It taste rather milky, reminiscent of white chocolate. However, being rather sweet, it just tasted bit weird for my liking. Mum-in-law ordered "kuai fa" mee, osmanthus yee mee, It tasted rather average, the prawns were surprisingly fresh. It is still pale compare to any of the "tai-chow" stall, but for a cafe, it lives up to expectation. On its own, it tasted bit plain, but add the sambal chilli, the whole dish tasted better. The heat, "wok-hei" of the dish is better than what I expected, and not so oily as well. The chef recommended Mexican chicken chop (RM 15.90) was very nice on the first bite, but somehow the excitement dies down towards the end of the dish. The chicken was marinated well, rather juicy and grilled to my liking. However, the Mexican style sauce, and spice is bit heavy on pepper, which is not my favourite. On addition to that, I felt the dish was rather salty. Despite all my critiques, the Hawaiian Chicken chop (RM 13.90) is the surprise hit. The sauce, using mayo with a tinge of pineapple is nicely done. Not too salty, enough sourness to lift the chicken chop to another level. However, I would prefer the chicken chop to be grilled rather deep fried. Both the chicken chop dishes are served with a generous helping of potato wedges and mixed vegetables.

hawaiian chicken chop

Without the voucher, I would say the price is high-normal, which is still acceptable. The food has its hit and miss, but given a choice, I would still come here rather than Old Town White Coffee.

open for lunch, dinner, supper
ratings: 2 half poink!
comments: I sincerely hope that the cafe will survive and break all the curse that plague that small area. Many eateries had tried their luck but ended up closing down.

Ipoh Jaya Chucheongfun: so good that you can eat it on its own

There is one single stall that I must patron for lunch every weekend when I am oncall. Colleen is a converted fan as well. It is so good that it deserve a place in my blog even though it is a mere roadside stall. Not that I dislike roadside stall, in fact, I love them so much but most of them are really average and forgettable.


This chucheongfun (CCF) stall is definitely my favorite so far in Ipoh. Located in the Ipoh Jaya Monday pasar malam site, just next to Gunung Rapat. Beside the main road, and in front 7-11 and the rather popular Ipoh Jaya pan-mee, there is a small road side stall manned by a Chinese aunty. Just look out for the stall with chucheongfun banner. Expect the stall to be open nearly daily from 10-11am onward until they sold out of CCF.

Eating from stall negate all the service and the ambiance but it all boils down to the food alone. Chucheongfun is an interesting dish. Most people like to eat it with curry, and some even like to add sweet sauce or prawn paste. But, a good chucheongfun is best eaten with just oil and soya sauce. The chucheongfun is really smooth, and the consistency is rather nice. I still prefer my CCF to be thicker and firmer but this is still better than many others. Unlike the other machine produce chucheongfun, every bite would bring much satisfaction. The CCF comes in 3 varieties, the normal plain ones, the one with dried shrimp or the with "sengkuang" (turnip). Forget the other sauce, the curry here is good but not the best. The chili sauce is nothing to shout about too. Just take the CCF with plain oil, soya sauce and a bit of deep fried onion. The best part is, the whole dish would not burn a hole in the pocket. Each packet would cost RM3-4 depending on the side ingredients one may add such as fish balls.

This definitely is one of the better CCF I had eaten in a long time. Kind of remind me of the old school CCF from the market in my hometown when I was still a kid. Great food!

ratings: 4 poink!
comments: bit on salty side, otherwise, just perfect for my brunch!

Mike's Berger Bakar: fresh reboot of roadside burger

burger grill BBQ style: Burger Bakar

I have a soft spot for road side burger stall. They had come a long way from my uni days to my houseman days. I still recall how I love the hot Ramli burger served with extra mayo, more than I love McD. However, the stalls had mushroomed so much in the recent years that it became... generic. Yes, I know that a few burger stood above the rest, some with the black pepper sauce (personal favorite) and some new oblong burger. And recently with the burger "kaw kaw" trend, there is the new home made patty trend with grill burger BBQ style.

Mike's Berger Bakar (not sure whether it is spelling error or Malay translation for burger) is situated deep in Gunung Rapat, just opposite Maybank. Where exactly? It is along the main road of Gunung Rapat, either entering from Jalan Gopeng via Petronas or Pantai Hospital via Politeknik Ungku Omar on the opposite direction. Just locate the row of shop with Old Town White Coffee in the corner with Sin Yeung Wai Duck Rice shop and Yee Hup Biscuit the same row. Across the road up the hilly slope will be Maybank. And at night, is this particular stall manned by a few young chaps.

the familiar burger station

The menu is basically burger with normal burger costing RM2.50. But the stars of the stall are their home made patty. The burger starts from RM6 for chicken and RM6.50 for beef. Variation of Mexican patty which is supposedly bit spicy, Italian with herbs and American patty. After choosing your patty, choose your sauce. I chose percik sauce with my Mexican chicken patty. Looking at them preparing the patty is a joy. Roughly an inch thick, it is a rather meaty patty. After that, they will grill the patty in open fire BBQ style. This is "burger bakar" after all. They even offer free delivery within the vicinity for order of at least 5 burgers.

despite the not-so-nice appearance,
it is actually quite good

The verdict? The burger is definitely thick. Really thick. The percik sauce is  really really superb (ayam percik is, after all, my favourite Kelantan dish). The patty is not bad, however, I cant really taste the spices. I do not blame the patty though, it is because of the percik sauce is so nice and strong that it overflow the patty. The consistency is average, I prefer it to be more "solid". However, the effect of open grill is above the  normal cooked burger. I can taste the grilled taste which can only be tasted via BBQ. The downfall of this burger is the bread. Instead of more quality bread, I felt the bread was bit of letdown. It felt cheap, the kind of poor consistency once toasted.

Overall, it is a wonderful experience. Given the lack of stall with home made patty, this is definitely a great stall to visit. And the taste is great, the owners are friendly, I can definitely overlook the shortfall and come visit again.

ratings: 3 half poink!
comments: 2 shortfall. The bread which do not complement the patty and sauce. The price, RM 6 for a roadside basic burger is a bit steep. I rather have a cheaper price with thinner patty. But since they made the percik sauce so well and the patty so nice (I bet the Italian version should be better), this had became my new favourite burger stall.

Gunung Rapat Fried Noodle: another hidden gem

It had been customary to find food for supper in Gunung Rapat. And sometimes, one would find a gem hidden. Operating only at night, there is this roadside stall that sells fried noodles. Just opposite Gunung Rapat wet market is this stall operated by a lady. The stall had a few tables for those who prefer to eat here in the corridors of the nearby shops.

The menu is simple, any kind of fried noodle can be ordered. From mee, beehoon, looseefun to kueitiao. The style of cooking range from the normal kapdai (with pork and eggs) or prawn with cockles. I did not ask whether there is watdanho or not though. Beside the shop there is also another stall selling panmee as well and drinks so there are other choices as well.

Now, the lady work fast, but if there is lots of customers one still need to wait as well. Business is always brisk, there are numerous time we came at 10pm and the lady told us they are sold out. Wow. We had been here few times, and so far, this had one of the top spot for nite eating. The fried kueitiao was just nice. The taste and texture is undeniably good. The fried beehoon was equally good though I prefer it to be bit more dry. Taste is standard and did not disappoint. One of the other nite, we order loseefun instead and true enough, it is good. I still prefer it to be more spicy though. The dishes is all good, but I always prefer my fried noodle to be bit more dry. The result is also had adequate "wok-hei" to go with it, though I had seen other stalls did better. Pricing is reasonable bout RM 3-4 per dish. The winning point is the lady always ask me whether I wanted to add pork oil inside or not. (chuyaozha) Silly, the answer is always YES! It will bring the fried noodle to another level. Superb!

This still is one of our fav stall to go to. And so far, it did not disappoint.

ratings: 3.5 poink

comments: when you are hungry, you tend to find the food more delicious. so i may be deluded and you may otherwise disagree with me.Then again, I always find fried noodle with pork oil irresistibly delicious.

Gunung Rapat Ramly Burger: home version of FatChoy burger

Few things some may notice on me.

1) I do not really like black pepper sauce (especially on my chicken chop). However, I really like to buy FatChoy burger from McD every year, even though its more of a gimmick to make them fatchoy instead of us.

2) I do not usually blog bout burger stall, although I had been a fan of road side burger ever since my student days. This is due to a simple reason, though most of them are good, only few are

exceptionally brilliant, and most are similar to each other.

By coincidence, we bump into this superb burger stall. Situated in Gunung Rapat Ipoh Jaya night market site, exactly in front of 7-11, is this simple burger stall manned by a young Malay chap. The stall is simple, there was not even a name on the cart, just simple Ramly burger. Yeap, there are least 3-4 burger stall along the same road, but just look for the one exactly in front of 7-11. ( the one further down the road near the specs shop is also good as well).

The burger patty is the same Ramly burger. Once grilled, the size shrunk, and the taste is good, though one can get the same taste by buying the same patty from any hypermarket. The way the patty is cooked here is not exactly the best. I had seen those who skillfully split the burger in the mid into 2 piece and grill it separately. This chap did that but rather simpler.

The bread is cooked nicely. Bit on the crispy side, so the consistency on the first bite was good. What life the burger above the rest is the sauce. Instead of the usual chilli-tomato-mayo sauce, the chap has a whole box of his own secret recipe style home made black pepper sauce. The girl in front of me even added: " bang, tambah banyak sikit balck pepper sos, OK!"... since it is much in demand, this should be good. As expected, the sauce really blend well with the whole burger. It really remind me of the McD version which comes out every year during CNY. The pepper smell is not heavy to cover the whole meat but enough for me wanting more.

Price? Rm6 for a chicken special + banjo, both "black pepper sauce tambah banyak-banyak". Good for a satisfying supper.

ratings: 3 half poink! (minus poink due to the fact much improvement can be done for the patty; and the fact I am not a fan of black pepper)

comments: gives me idea.. maybe in the future there are burger with sweet sour sauce, sweet corn sauce, white sauce....

Nanyang Kopitiam: comfortable place, too bad food is not as great

Since parents had their own dinner plans, my wife and I decided to go back to Ipoh for dinner. After few meals eating out Jap and dimsum, both of us wanted something simpler and probably less exaggerated, and couple with the fact we were too lazy to drive far for food, we decided to just eat nearby in Gunung Rapat.

This is not our first visit to NanYang Kopitiam. It is conveniently situated next to YaoHan cakehouse, and CIMB bank in Gunung Rapat, similar row as Secret Recipe. Just beside the main road in Jalan Gopeng, one will not miss this row of shop. I presumed that the working hours included both lunch, dinner and also supper time.

First, the deco is rather homely. I love the black and white picture on the walls. Next to the ones found in Old Town, this probably is one of the better ones. The spaces between the tables are spacious, unlike some of the joints which squeeze the place to accommodate more patrons. Patrons usually are not many, and I seldom see people smoke outside either. The service is rather homely, always with a smile. I really feel comfortable eating here. I can still recall the last time I was here was nearly half year ago while having supper with my cousins.

The range of food is the usual kopitiam list. A must would be the usual bread based. Next is the local oriental food, the nasi lemak, noodles, rice etc. In addition to that, some simple western dish such as chops and fish chips. I can recall the toast were rather nice, though not brilliant. Tonight since it suppose to be dinner, both of us ordered something heavier. Wife ordered chili pan mee (RM 4.80), the panmee was rather ok, however, the whole dish came across like dry panmee with bit of dry chili on top. My impression of a good chili panmee would be on the chili, probably in addition of the dry chili, one may want to add Taiwan style chili sauce. Bit disappointing. Next was my pandan nasi lemak special (RM4.90). They ran out of pandan nasi lemak so substitute with chicken rice. However, the dish was rather small, (even for my wife), the sambal was as if one spoonful, and the fried chicken that came along with it, is sooooo skinny. The sambal lacks the oomps also.

In the end, it was not a satisfying dinner, however, given that previous experience was not as bad, this only teaches me a lesson that I would prefer to come here for the tea and bread rather than the heavy meals. Plus, the food is halal, so even Muslim friends can come here for a drink. On top of that, the price is rather cheap given the place and the usual kopitiam style of food.

ratings: 2 half poink!

comments: drink and bread and chat, probably that is what one may want to come here for.

NanYang Kopitiam

294, Jalan Gopeng,

Ipoh

05-3138215