Ipoh Knah Choy Kai

My colleagues, Tom and Sam lives in Ipoh. They brought me to the authentic and famous knah choy kai aka chicken and beansprouts. This is my first time to Ipoh. Heard plenty of good things about Ipoh like many Miss Malaysia are from Ipoh, Michelle Yeoh, the actress, the water gives the best beansprouts, etc, etc. I took a walk to my favourite pastime i.e. window shopping and I was disappointed that the local girls did not live up to their reputation. Maybe my expectation are set too high. The girls are no different from KL.

Back to the chicken! The beansprouts are short and fat, very crunchy, blanched and top with simple soya sauce, cooked oil and ground pepper. The chicken is tender and is quite different from the Hainanese chicken in Singapore. We also have the spare parts aka as liver, gizzards and intestines. There is only hor fun soup and the stock favour is excellent yet not overpowering. The meal come to RM48. I thought it is a little expensive coffeeshop meal for a small town. But hey this is the famous stall and they must price it at a premium.

The mall is sizable and there is Popular bookstore which is not the best. But can do. I had a local white coffee in the mall which cost RM2.30 or S$1 slightly more expensive then the hawker center but cheaper than Ah Kun or food court. Coffee is typical Malaysian Kopitiam-style.

I find Ipoh is a nice small town and very hilly. Ipoh used to be a tin mine. The tin miners did make a lot of money and they have many wives and concubines. Now it is just a small town to raise family and enjoying tourists from KL.