One Piggy, Two Pesos USJ Taipan

Today all 3 of us were busy with church activities. In the morning, Annabelle got her online seminary, after which Issac and I fetched her to the Asia Jaya LRT station as she had a girls’ outing with her friends to meet at Pasar Seni.

Issac came with me to church for the Puchong Branch Primary Service Project to clean the Church. After which he stayed at the Church for his YSA Devotional. I just drove back home, did some household chores, and had a nap. I must be so tired that I slept from noon to almost 4 pm.

While Annabelle was on LRT, she called and said that the sister missionaries would like her to join to teach a lesson to the new investigators at The Carpenter’s Daughter Artisan Bakery & Café. Issac was back at home from his YSA activity. We just waited for Belle to come home and went out together.

Both Issac and I dropped Belle at the café at USJ 9, and then we just drove around and searched for our dinner. After we discussed and made a few comparisons, we decided to go to Two Pesos. Two Pesos is well-known as a hot pot specialist.

Issac chose the Tajine Seafood Pot 一品海鲜塔吉锅, originating from South Moroccan classic cuisine.

It uses the notion of heat circulation in a tower to retain the water content in food materials while extracting the inherent moisture and taste of components—a truly natural seafood relish.

I just chose the Sesame Chicken Pot 酒香麻油鸡锅. It is an authentic Taiwanese way to savor delicious chicken.

In a dedicated pot, stir-fry finely sliced ginger in premium sesame oil before adding aromatic rice wine and distinctive soup broth. The best method to enjoy nourishing chicken soup.

We were almost finished when Annabelle called to say that her appointment with the sisters missionary was finishing and she had yet to have her dinner. Then, I just picked her up at the café, and she ordered Milky Seafood Pot 牛奶海鮮锅 when she reached Two Pesos.

It is derived from their top chef's secret recipe, the smooth, rich, and nutritious French-style milky soup is designed with the most enjoyable soup that will not be found anywhere else.

Issac took out his book and did his reading while waiting for Annabelle to finish her dinner. Our dinner is so nice and we enjoy our ‘we time’ together as it is quite a comfortable dining environment for families.  We feel as if we had a great time after each of us had our activities during the day. It is a great evening, reminds us back to the time when we were at our old house at USJ1 and the time being together during there were only three of us.

Ipoh Food Trial 31 Dec 2020

After visiting the Han Chin Pet Soo, it was already 12.30 pm and it was time for us to look for our lunch. Due to it was lunch time, thus there were so many eateries in the Kopitiam. We had a simple lunch at one of the restaurant along Jalan Panglima. It was a quick lunch and we did not take any photos at all! Imagine how hungry we were!

Then we went down to the street and came to the Restoran Li Heng Fatt which famous for its Hor Hee. Hor Hee noodles is an Ipoh delicacy I can say. Basically it is noodle in a fish soup base, with small fish balls, thinly sliced fish cakes, crunchy tong choy, bean sprouts and savoury sui kao which is fish wonton, and served with sliced bird’s eye chili drenched in light soy sauce. We just ordered one to try the original good Hor Hee at Ipoh. We also ordered a bowl of hot and steamy flavourful soup with fish balls and meat balls for sharing.

After Hor Hee, we decided to go back to the Funny Mountain Soya Bean that we missed yesterday. Funny Mountain is listed as the best Tau Fu Fah in Ipoh. The uniqueness of this shop is that they only serve traditional silky smooth Tau Fu Fah with only sugar syrup with a faint hint of ginger only. They do not serve other kind of sugar syrups like other shops around Ipoh. Besides, Tau Fu Fah, they serve soya bean milk or Tau Cheong Sui, Cincau drink and Soya Cincau as well. We tried  and so far this is the best comforting simplicity bowl of Tau Fu Fah and it was smooth and literally melt in mouth.

Next stop we were heading to Deen CT Corner Cendol. There were already few customers waiting to order their cendols when we reached there. It has been so long time since I sat by a footpath pavement eating something our of a metal bowl. We ordered the standard cendol with added corns, adzuki beans on it. Alvin added glutinous rice into the mix. It is something that we never try before.

A decent place to have a bow of cendol under the hot sun! We went back to hotel to take rest after our early exploration from morning till our afternoon dessert time. It was so tiring due to the hot weather!

In the evening after refreshing and taken bath and enough cooling air-conditioning rest in the hotel, we came out again to hunt for our dinner. This time we drove a little further to Bercham. It is a small town around Ipoh. We Went to Restoran Different Taste at Taman Desa Kencana, Bercham.

It is much talk restaurant with glass noodles with big crab with another restaurant named Restaurant Rasa Lain in Bercham too. We ordered the signature glass noodles with crab. The crab was large and the broth were tasty and peppery. The taste was subtle and Chinese. There is the Thai version with very sharp taste. The flavours and sauces were concentrated and the glass noodles was baked till almost dry.

The Asam fish head using the Garupa fish head cut into chunks and cooked in a dry Asam gravy with the usual smattering of vegetables, ladies fingers, long beans and tomatoes. The taste was good and we can taste a tint of Thai flavours in the dish. We ordered the steamed parang fish balls too. The fish balls were so bouncy and juicy. The food were so tasty that we just snap a photo of our dinner only. Will definitely come back if we come to Ipoh again!

Ipoh Food Trail 30 Dec 2020

This year we are unable to have a year-end overseas trip due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. The whole world is combating this deadly virus. A little fortunate for us that we manage to get our little outstation retreat for our little family. Alvin decided to go to Ipoh for a short weekend trip.

We woke up early at 5.30 am and started our journey around 6.00 am towards Ipoh. We planned to have breakfast at Ming Court Hong Kong Dim Sum. Sadly the restaurant was filling with people by the time we reached there around 8.30 am. People were waiting in queues outside and due to follow the SOP too.

We ended up at this forever popular dim sum restaurant – Foh San Dim Sum Restaurant 怡保富山茶樓, which is just opposite the Ming Court Dim Sum, for our Ipoh food trail first stop.

Foh Sum restaurant has a nicely constructed premise with two to three floors. There is no queue needed here. After scanning the QR code for the MySejahtera app and taking the body temperature for every customer, we choose to sit on the 2nd floor and be seated.

We just ordered what we want for the steamed items, whereby the fried and baked food items are already in the self-service counter. We kept our order on the menu – Siew Mai, Har Gao, Pai Guat, Lotus Leaf Glutinous Rice, Milk Custard, Char Siew Pau, and the pumpkin porridge.

After we had our breakfast, we went to drop luggage at our hotel – The Tudor. After that, we drove to D.R. Seenivasagam Park.

The park is situated nearby where we stay. It is considered the most famous recreation park in Ipoh. It is also the biggest and well-developed park among the others.

It has all the facilities to suit the needs of every walks of life. There are recreational fields, an artificial lake, roller-skate lane. There is a Japanese Garden in the park. Unfortunately, it is under renovation, so we are unable to go in.

We noticed there is a big old Ipoh Tree in the parking area. That was how Ipoh town got its name.

We cycled the rental bicycle and rode for a ride in the park. We spent about 30 minutes, and we left for our early lunch.

It was almost 11.00 am when we reached Restaurant Haji Gany and tried out the Nasi Ganja. Nasi Ganja actually is Nasi Kandar in Penang.

We ordered two plates of Nasi Ganja. It indeed tastes good. We planned to come back for a second time before we leave Ipoh.

It comes with a serving of white rice, splashed with two types of curry, a dollop of coconut chutney, a piece of fried spiced chicken, half a salted egg yolk, and some Ar-Char.

After our lunch, we headed to the Ipoh iconic railway station, as its design is a typical colonial architecture building by the same architect who built Kuala Lumpur’s famous railway station too.

We were strolling around the corridor are. We did not go into the main lobby. There was a notice mentioned, only the travelers who want to buy the tickets or boarding to a train only allow to go in. Thus, we just took some photos outside.

After taking some photos, we left the area and decided to go to Ipoh Parade Shopping Mall so that we can able to feel some air-conditioning cooling environment due to the hot weather.

We were window shopped for some time. At nearly 2.00 pm, we went back to the hotel to check-in, before we headed out for our afternoon food trails.

We had our early dinner at Ipoh old town Restaurant Onn Kee (Tauge Ayam) for the famous Ipoh Nga Choi Kai.

To eat chicken rice or Sar Hor Fun in this town, we must order a plate of fatty juicy Tauge (bean sprout). The reason being is because their Tauge grows in natural mineral water flowing from the mountain. It is so fat, juicy, and crunchy.

One of our favorites is the pork balls and fish balls. The pork and fish balls are delicious to chew and dip onto their chicken meat sauce.

A must-order is the Nga Chooi Kai. The texture of the chicken is tender and juicy, and of course, what stood out is their sesame and soy sauce base make them more delicious.

We ordered an additional braise pork fungus too. Fortunately, we manage to have a table for ourselves. Some so many customers came later were waiting and queue for a table. The restaurant can only accommodate 50% of its original seating space due to the SOP in this pandemic time.

After our dinner, we went further down the street and wanted to look for Funny Mountain Tau Foo Fah. Unfortunately, the workers were already doing the cleaning when we arrive. He kindly to ask us to come back tomorrow morning. He told us that their Tau Fu Fah would be selling finish from 3.00 pm to 4.00 pm.

We just walked into another nearby tau foo fah shop – Lai Kee Soya Bean. This tau foo fah shop also is the first tau foo fah shop which I tried in Ipoh. This time we were fortunate that there are still two tables for us so that we were able to dine in and sat down.

It was a big full bowl of Tau fu Fah, and it tasted smooth and soft. However, the soya taste was not strong. They do serve three types of sugar-white sugar, Melaka sugar, and ginger sugar. It tastes not bad, even though not as famous as Funny Mountain Tau Fu Fah.

After our dessert, it was almost 5.00 pm. Across the street from the Funny Mountain Tau Fu Fah, a renowned selling salted chicken shop named Feng Weng Salted Chicken. We bought one for our supper later in the hotel. After which, we head back to the hotel and rest for the day.