Food Vibrations is not only taking a step further but an 8 hour coach ride from Singapore to Ipoh in search of good food. This small city is 6th on Lonely planet's best in Asia list. It's well know for it's colonial era architecture, limestone mountains and food.
In this series, we will not only be focusing on food but also other aspects of travelling as well.
After a long bumpy journey that began at Golden mile complex (Singapore), we finally arrived at Sri Maju station, Jalan Bendahara, (Ipoh). Despite having other travel options, we choose bus because there's something really therapeutic about it and the cost is definitely favourable for budget travellers.
We took a cab down to our hotel "Cititel Express" to drop our bags and freshen up before exploring. Cabs here do not use the meter and you have to negotiate the price. Getting a Malaysian prepaid sim and using Uber will be the best advice we can give you.
Excited and hungry, we made our way to Nam Heong Coffeeshop to try the famous Ipoh old town white coffee. When we got there, all the tables were occupied, people were queing up to order their food and staff were moving all about. It was extremely chaotic but we managed to takeaway our White coffee with some fried dumplings and ngoh hiang.
Address: Nam Heong Coffeeshop. 2, Jalan Bandar Timah, 30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Opening Hours: 6.30am - 10.30am
As you know there are two types of people. People who drink coffee and those who drink tea. Although we belong to team tea, we really liked this one and we recommend it as a must try for everyone regardless of your beverage preferences.
The coffee had a nice balance between bitter and sweet. There wasn't much milk in there but yet the coffee remained rather velvety in sort of way. Iced coffee generally gets watered down but the one we had was perfect even after the ice had melted. The coffee taste and it's presence was really potent. I'm sure some of you are familiar with the 3-in-1 version of the coffee but trust me... This is a completely different world of taste.
*A small warning for those who are not accustomed to drinking coffee. It's a potent... laxative... Just be prepared....
We got the fried dumplings and ngoh hiang for the sole reason of silencing our groaning bellies and what it was awesome! It was freshly deep fried but it wasn't as oily as we expected. The filling inside was fresh as well. There was pork and century egg in one, pork and prawns in another. The bean curd skin on the ngoh hiang was excellent with a nice crisp to it.
Address: Restoran Xin Quan Fang. 174, Jalan Sultan Iskandar, Taman Jubilee, 30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Opening Hours: 7.30am - 1pm
Having a great start, we made our way to Restoran Xin Quan Fang to have Ipoh's famous curry mee.
There was already quite a long que and we waited for a total of 35 mins to get our seats and food. The curry noodles was good but not what we expected. The noodles soaked enough curry to be flavourful without turning soggy. The meat wasn't spectacular but they were tasty on their own. The curry had the strong presence of spices and a mild chicken broth taste to it but when eaten together, they fill in the absence of what the other lacked, creating this balance of flavours and textures. A pretty good dish for breakfast I'd say.
There was already quite a long que and we waited for a total of 35 mins to get our seats and food. The curry noodles was good but not what we expected. The noodles soaked enough curry to be flavourful without turning soggy. The meat wasn't spectacular but they were tasty on their own. The curry had the strong presence of spices and a mild chicken broth taste to it but when eaten together, they fill in the absence of what the other lacked, creating this balance of flavours and textures. A pretty good dish for breakfast I'd say.
We emptied our bowls pretty fast and made our way back to the hotel. The coffee effect was kicking in and we received the good news that we are able to check in early. Perfect timing!
We got a room on the 9th floor with a view of the Kinta river, Ipoh city, limestone mountains and the view was gorgeous. We got the superior queen room, the space was adequate and it had all basic amenities, together with high speed wifi. The water dispenser, iron and ironing board were in the common pantry.
*Our SD card got corrupted and we lost the pictures of our room but we managed to salvage some files and you can see what our room looks like in the video below.*
Cititel express is a new hotel in Ipoh that opened in November 2015. Everything looks new and clean, from the lobby to our hotel room. The location was also pretty strategic with old town within walking distance. Despite being next to a road, it wasn't noisy at all. They also had a free shuttle service that operates 4 times a day for their guests.
However as with every new hotel, the service was a little choppy and the staff were unfamiliar with some questions we had but there was one staff that was exemplary. Chia Vin was knowledgable and very helpful. He also went the extra mile to find out certain things he didn't know just for us. Our overall experience was pretty good in here.
Our overall experience was pretty good in here and we would recommend this hotel to anyone who wishes to visit Ipoh.
Watch the video for part 1 of our Ipoh trip!
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