A KL City Girl in Ipoh

Hello friends! 

This is a story of a KL city girl who spent half her childhood in Ipoh. Well, technically even though she was born in KL, she lives in Bandar Sungai Long. So, she isn’t familiar with KL places like Damansara or PJ. In fact, Bandar Sungai Long is located at the borderline of Cheras and Kajang so this is actually an identity crisis for her. 

At some point, she doesn’t even know if her house is considered in Cheras or Kajang. She once put her address under Cheras instead of Kajang when she tried to send a postcard from the UK to her house but the postcard was lost and never found. 

Anyways...

---

Throughout my childhood, I spent around 300 days a year in Selangor and almost all the festive public holidays in my grandmother’s house in Ipoh. I believe many of my KL and Selangor friends can relate to this as our parents may have moved from different states to work in the urban city.

So, whenever I tell people that I’m going back to my hometown for Chinese New Year, they would always ask, “But I thought you’re from KL?” and I'll normally answer, “Yea but my hometown is Ipoh”.

All until one time, someone questioned me, “Is Ipoh really your hometown? Isn't the place where you’re born in your actual hometown?”

That question had me thinking: Yes, I was born in KL, so my hometown is supposedly KL. Ipoh is just my mother’s hometown, which I have sort of internalised it as my own.

Truthfully, I just like to be associated with Ipoh.

In fact, I still remember being stuck in traffic jams every public holiday. Spending 5 to 6 hours in the jam, and texting friends who might be stuck in the same jam have been one of the highlights in my balik kampung memories. Fair to say, I cherish these memories and the freedom to have another home to go to on holidays very much.

So, here I’m going to talk more about Ipoh. It’s the capital city of Perak and a holiday retreat for me. It’s very popular now due to the food and tourist spots, but back in the 2000s, it was quite quiet. I know what you're going to say, 'You already know a lot about Ipoh, especially the infamous Concubine Lane.'

Funny enough, I never knew it was called Concubine Lane until it became famous, even though I have always eaten there since I was young.

Restaurant Wong Koh Kee is located just right at the entrance of Concubine Lane.

I remember one Chinese New Year when I was in primary school, I had lunch with my family in Restaurant Wong Koh Kee. It was the only restaurant open in Concubine Lane back then. The whole lane was quite deserted and the only place bursting with customers was that restaurant. After lunch, when we walked past the lane, I remember telling my parents and grandparents that one day I want to buy the whole lane and make it into an airbnb. All the second floors would be made into airbnb rooms for the tourists and the ground floors would be rented out to cafe and shop owners. I recall claiming that I could foresee this place to become a huge tourist spot in the future. And soon enough, the next year, Concubine Lane rises.

Well, other than this hotspot, there are many other popular tourist spots and food that you’ve probably seen and read a lot. But I want to introduce some of the regional food that I grew up eating. One of my “have-to-eat” foods whenever I go back to Ipoh is the Teochew dumplings in Pasar Simee. As Ipoh is concentrated with Chinese residents, especially the Teochew group, you can find many traditional or regional snacks and food of Teochew. My favourite Teochew dumpling is the chive dumpling. It is this half-moon-shape dumpling with garlic chive stuffing wrap in crystal transparent rice-based skin. Teochew dumplings are savory and the stuffing is commonly garlic chives or yam bean.

I recall every morning when I was in Ipoh, I would walk to Pasar Simee with my grandmother. And the two things she would definitely buy for me are the Teochew dumplings and Kaya puff from QunKee Biscuit. Sometimes my mum would join us and I really like this 3 generations bonding session.

Oh btw, I found a similar Teochew restaurant in KL that you folks can try. It’s called Restaurant Teochew Lao Er in Pudu. Its famous dishes are the braised duck and tofu, but it has all the typical Teochew dumplings too, both savory and sweet.

Restaurant Teochew Lao Er is open for take-aways. The chive dumplings here are in a round shape rather than a half-moon-shape in Ipoh.

My other favourite dish is Chee Cheong Fun aka rice noodle roll. You can find different variations across Malaysia. The most famous one is the Penang Chee Cheong Fun with their sweet sauce and shrimp sauce. The Ipoh one, however, is a totally different kind of Chee Cheong Fun.

The one my mother and I grew up eating (yes, that stall has been there for 2 generations) is the Canning Garden Chee Cheong Fun. It started by a late uncle and now falls into the hands of his son and daughter in law. Uncle’s Chee Cheong Fun comes with mushroom gravy, and a selection of sweet and chili sauce. It’s served with sesame seeds and fried shallots which is so damn good!

This is the original mushroom gravy without sweet and chili sauce

So, if you got sick of the typical touristy food in Ipoh, you can try these!

There’s so much more good food and beautiful spots in Ipoh that are not covered in your typical “Ipoh Tourist Guide”. It would be cool to introduce more of the local delicacies, but until then, here’s a KL girl’s view of Ipoh!

Written by Melody Wong