Concubine Lane is an iconic lane in Old Town Ipoh and it was flanked by two popular coffeeshops, Thean Chun and Kong Heng Coffeeshop which both had their specialty dishes. Both coffeeshops has indoor sitting area and a outdoor sitting area by the narrow alleyway that separates them. From the entrance of the alleyway, the strong aroma of the satay made us extremely hungry. It was difficult to find a seat but we manage to get a spot at the outdoor sitting area. Despite the heat, the atmosphere of that alleyway was relaxing enough for us to enjoy our meal.
We have decided to get some dishes for lunch. The popiah and prawn chicken kway teow soup from Kong Heng Coffeeshop. Pork satay and caramel custard from Thean Chun Coffeeshop. Base on our research, the popiah, pork satay and caramel custard are the popular ones. We weren't really sure about the prawn chicken kway teow but we gave it a shot anyway.
Out of curiosity, we tried the prawn chicken kway teow first but we didn't expect the dish to be that disappointing. The broth was pretty bland and the kway teow (rice noodles) were too soggy. It wasn't a bad dish, but it wasn't worth recommending either.
Now this is the popiah dish, which we were looking forward to try. Usually the chilli sauce is wrapped together with the stuffings, but in this version, it was drizzled on top of the popiah making it very different from other popiahs. The thickness of the popiah, shows that the stall owner is very generous with the stuffings. The popiah skin remained dry and it gave a really nice chewy texture. As the stuffings are wrapped with half of it being boiled turnip strips and the other half bean sprouts with crushed peanuts mixture. The full taste of the popiah takes a while to kick in as you chew the ingredients together. It may look rather simple but together with it's fresh ingredients and the way it was made, makes this a really awesome dish to have.
*Don't judge by the colour of the this chilli sauce, it does not taste spicy instead it has a tomato taste to it.
We also got 5 chicken and 5 pork satays served with peanut sauce. Initially, it was hard to differentiate between the two and I guess the best way was to eat them. The satays were barbecued well and had the right amount of charred bits. The peanut sauce was thick and chunky. Usually the satay sauce leans towards the sweet side but this version was nutty with hints of herbs and spices.The first satay we had was chicken! It was really tender and well marinated that it tore apart from the skewer so well. After the first bite, I could still smell the chicken satay in my breath. The marinate that was used is clearly where all the secrets lie. From the fragrance to the taste, it was the marinate that was making that huge jump in quality.
The pork satay on the other hand, had small cubes of pork fat in it. It melts as soon as you chew, making the meat much richer in flavour. Both the meats were equally tender and if you're a pork lover, you should know what that means.
Finally we ended it off with a local dessert which is the caramel custard and this is our first time having it. It was served cold and drenched in a caramel sauce. The caramel sauce looks really sweet but it surprised us on the first bite. It a actually bitter with a sweet aftertaste. The custard has a really smooth texture filled with a gentle eggy flavour. It's extremely fluffy and creamy with every bite was as good as the next.
However, I must warn you that the flavours will tend to be odd but good nevertheless. How it looks in the picture and how it actually taste is worlds apart. To simply put it, It's so weird that it's good.
After a very satisfying lunch, we continued exploring the other side of concubine lane. In fact there are three lanes in Old Town. They are First, Second and Third Concubine Lane, or officially known as Hale Lane, Panglima Lane and Market Lane. From the early days of the tin mining coolies, right up to and through the Japanese Occupation, the three lanes were said to be full of brothels, gambling houses and opium dens. Legend has it that whenever an opium addict dropped dead, his corpse would be thrown out of the window and into the street, waiting for council sweepers to cart it away in the morning.
Eventually opium was banned (thanks to the efforts of the Perak Anti Opium Society) and stricter anti-vice laws introduced. Post war the lanes took on a new role as housing for the concubines of the rich Towkays (bosses), hence the local name after.
Concubine Lane was one of the unfortunate places to have fallen into a state of disrepair. Many of the old homes were abandoned, and are now overgrown with weeds.
Recently, the government has been investing on a large sum of money to attract tourists to the place as part of a Heritage Trail.
Today, Concubine lane is the most vibrant on weekends or holidays where you find pop-up stalls selling souvenirs, funky snacks such as; colourful ice balls, flower shaped cotton candys and many more. Unfortunately, the essence of the heritage shophouses has disappeared and has turned into a touristy spot. We wish that parts of the shophouses are kept to give tourist the heritage atmosphere of 1905 setting.
Right after the Concubine lane trail, we bumped into a couple of wall murals.
The bird mural, I was unsure who was it by. If you know the artist name please leave a comment down below the comment box!
Right after the Concubine lane trail, we bumped into a couple of wall murals.
The bird mural, I was unsure who was it by. If you know the artist name please leave a comment down below the comment box!
The coffee in a bag also known as "Kopi O" artwork was painted by Ernest Zacharevic a multidiscipline contemporary and public artist. Most of his works could be found in Penang as he was previously based in Penang, Malaysia.
Watch the video for part 2 of our Ipoh trip!
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