Bunny's Ipoh Makan Trip With Friends

Hunny took Bunny to Ipoh for a brief breakaway in early September. We were joined by friends from KL and PJ for a eating trip. We started off by having breakfast in Foh San. Foh San is famous for their fresh and tasty old school dimsum and was housed in a very old building (read Breakfast Day 2's entry) but they have shifted to their new premises this year and have lost its charm as well as modernized their menu...*sigh*...another heritage gone. Gone is another era of the old time feel where once we could see old timers bring their birds in cages to show off whilst having a cup of chinese tea and some dim sum.

I didn't take too many photos but you are welcomed to see another friend's blog on Foh San as he took the most pictures.

This is one of the modern dim sums which is made from bitter gourd and minced pork. I like it as it has a hint of bitterness paired with fatty saltiness. A some what healthy steamed dumpling.


The steamed fish balls. My Hunny said it tasted nice and fresh.

The Yam and Pork Deep Fried Dumpling (Wu Kok). Char Siu like pork encased in yam, battered and deep fried...not too oily and it's yummy.

The Char Siu Bao...fragrant with a mixture of fatty lean meat.

The Big Bao (Tai Bao) is often eaten as a meal of it's own due to its big size. You can smell the fragrance of the ingredients and chinese wine when it is served.

The interior....WOW!!! A hard boiled egg and marinated chicken meat and some preserved sausage cooked with chinese rice wine. I only ate the skin...not the filling...

Another view of the Big Bao.

Here is a full table shot of what we had.

All the enthusiatic photographers taking a shot of the dimsum.

The Dim Sum meal for 7 of us cost RM85. We were saving our tummies for more food.

Next up, we went to Ching Han Guan which i visited last year and they were busy making mooncakes. All the mooncakes are still handmade and not mass produced by machines like the other brands in the market. They are sold out on certain types everyday and hence need to make alot to cover the market demand.

Here you can see the sifu (skilled master) working non-stop flattening the dough, filling it and shaping it into little balls filled with the yam paste.

The balls are then pushed into the wooden block moulds to create the square mini mooncakes that will be baked.

6 pieces for RM8.80. Very nice and not too sweet. I love the yam paste filled mini mooncakes. Yummy!

Next up, we went to Kek Lok Tong to walk walk and shoot some photos. We then went to Loke Wee Koi and Kong Heng of which I left the photo taking to WaiSekMeow as he has not eaten at these places before. We had ice cream soda float and pang dai woon juice (Pennyworts/daun pegaga besar) and shared some Gai Geok Bao (Chicken feet skin wrapped with chicken liver and gizzard which is then roasted and marinated with a char siu like sauce)

Next up, Roger wanted to get his passport photo taken and off we trotted to Jetfynn's studio. Jetfynn is another photo member of shutterasia.com of whom we are of acquaintance with. I will blog about him in another entry.

After that, we drove about 60km from Kampar to Tg Tualang not knowing that it could have been accessible from Batu Gajah's way. Tg Tualang is famous for their freshwater prawns. We had 2 types of freshwater prawns and that cost us RM155 for that 2 dishes. Freshwater prawns in my opinion tastes best if cooked like Sang Har Meen (egg sauce noodle) style. Hunny don't fancy them as they lack the prawny taste that sea prawns have. Please read WaiSekMeow's blog for a full review.

After the prawns, we drove back to Kampar for their famous charcoal claypot chicken rice. When we reached there, my mood was spoilt by my Sales Manager who called to scold me for the absence of my Sales Promoter and that really marred my mood. I was so angry that I couldn't take any steady photos or even enjoy the claypot chicken rice. From now on, if I am on holiday, I will make it a point not to pick up my phone if it's work related. As usual, do read WSM for full review.

From what I have eaten, I felt it was nice because it had the nice charcoal heat taste but other than that...it tasted normal. My Hunny enjoyed the "Farn Jiu" (crispy rice pieces) that are usually found at the bottom of the claypot.

That concludes my Ipoh makan trip with friends and all that we ate came up to roughly RM48 per person. Some foods were hits and misses but it was the company that we enjoyed the most. I can hardly wait for the next trip. It was fun going out with this group :)