Passion is Thy Name!

Mention Salted Chicken and Taugeh (beansprout) Chicken and folks will go "Ipoh!"
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Took us 2 solid hours of non-stop driving from the highland before our pit spot at Ipoh. Yes, we stopped over at Ipoh again and this time, it was not for dim sum. It was for the famous chicken food.
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Due to its popularity with tourists, a handful of entrepreneurial Ipohans have their fingers in the big pie. Folks can get understandably confused on which place to pick for the chicken food.
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So hopefully, this post will help point you to the right place (if you do not already know or have your own personal fav) when you make your own Ipoh pit stop for their famous chicken food.
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Firstly, the Salted Chicken. Most of the shops are in downtown Ipoh but make sure you look for the right one. The one that is reeeaallly good is ‘Tat Seng Salted Chicken’ which is located at Unit 2, Jalan Mustaffa Al-Bakri. If you get lost looking for it, call them @ 05-2414268 for directions.
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Here’re 2 Penang models posing in front of the shop.
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They were hoping to get a free salted chicken for the free advertising but it seems their ‘good looks’ were not good enough for the shop. So, they still had to fork out RM16 for one salted bird. Oh well, never try never know!
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Next is the super famous Taugeh Chicken. The Cantonese call it Nga Choi Kai - 芽菜雞. Also located downtown, one will see 3 shops at the junction of Yau Tet Shin Street and Osbourne Street. The one that is most popular with tourists is Lou Wong but the real deal is actually the one next door (Onn Kee)
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The shop at the top of the above picture is Lou Wong. The other 2 are actually owned by 2 brothers but make sure you go to the one that has the word ‘IBU PEJABAT’ on the signboard. Why? Becos local Ipohans swear by this place!
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All my visits to ‘IBU PEJABAT’ Onn Kee have been totally satisfying. Never once did I not walk out of that place thinking "I think I overstuffed myself, again!" *sheepish grin*
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Here are the must-order dishes at the shop.
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From right to left :
- Fishball & Porkball soup
- Chicken spare parts (gizzard, liver & intestines)
- Steamed chicken meat
- Hor Fun (noodles) soup
- Curry chicken with mint leaves
- Super oily & crispy BBQ pork (dish in the middle)
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Next, dessert time. I recently learnt that Ipoh’s most famous dessert is soybean curd or ‘taufufah’ (豆腐花). The 2 most well-known places for this dessert is Lai Kee and Kei Foong or better known by its English name Funny Mountain. They are both within walking distance from each other, just a stone’s throw from the famous Foh San dim sum restaurant.
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We picked Lai Kee. Now I have to be honest and call a spade a spade. It was only so-so. Nothing to shout about, really. We soon found out later that Happy Mountain is the more famous place for ‘taufufah’. Darn! We picked the wrong one.
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Oh well, there will always be another Ipoh trip.