Food Trail: Ipoh ? Terrapin Soup, Big Tree Foot Yong Liu & Stadium Food Court
Continuing on the trip that we took during the Raya week, we were in Ipoh again on the 26th of September on the way to Setiawan for a birthday dinner. We actually planned to arrive before lunch to try out some new places, but we could not make it on time. Thus, we had to have a late lunch pit stop at an eatery which we I and Gill are not foreign to, Ah Yee . It used to be on Jalan Theater, but have finally settled in this newly acquired shop unit just a turn away from ‘Thong Sui Kai’ or desert street.
With my sister and brother-in-law with us, we were able to order more dishes to try this time. We ordered ‘Black Vinegar Pork Trotters’, ‘Terrapin Soup’, ‘Stir Fried Bitter Gourd with Roast Pork’ and ‘Stir Fry Mutton with ginger and scallion’. The total bill came to around RM 80 which is quite expensive to my standard. The last time we visited this eatery the prices were also similarly expensive, the only reason we went back is for their exotic menu and the quality of its dishes. The current trip was a bit of a disappointment for us as the taste and flavour of the dishes were lacking.
The Black Vinegar Port Trotter was overly sweet with very little sourness and the portion was limited.
Terrapin Soup was very light and had little herb taste. It was not as appetising as what we had experience before when he was still operating at Jalan Theater.
The Stir Fried Bitter Gourd and Roast Pork was the acceptable dish for this occasion.
The Stir Fry Mutton was over cooked and the meat have not absorbed the flavours of the ingredients. We guess the meat was pre-cooked which can explain for the dry and tart mutton meat.
The overall experience for this occasion at Ah Yee would only be 2.5 out of 5.
After Ah Yee, we head to Lorong Pasir Pinji 5 for our dose of ‘Chee Cheong Fun’ but is was closed. I spoke to uncle who is always seen in the kitchen making the ‘chee cheong fun’, he told me that since early in the year they would rest on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. And he has started to limit take-aways to a maximum of 30 packets per person to relief those who have to endure the wait for dine-in.
With the ‘chee cheong fun’ closed, we had no choice but take a pit stop at the famous ‘Big Tree Young Liu’, or I should say once famous. Before it redevelop the place into what it is now, it used to be an old wooden house with some stalls infront selling the specialty ‘yong liu’ or fish paste stuffed snacks. After the disappointment at Ah Yee, we are again faced with the same agony at this ‘Big Tree’ place. The soup base and ‘yong liu’ have all lost their shine. I guess development is not always for the better of man.
The experience at the ‘Big Tree Foot Yeung Liu’ was dropped tremendously, they would get 2 out of 5 from my judgement.
Luckily the day did not ended with another disappointment. As my brother-in-law wanted to visit a place that they visited many years ago some near the Ipoh stadium, we went around searching and finally found the stretch of food stalls that are divided into 2 division, one group for day time and the other for night time. It was a new unexplored place for me and Gill, thus we walked around and saw many people enjoying their tea break at this area. Our walk got us noticing these 2 particular, ‘Low Kwan’ and the one next to it.
‘Low Kwan’ sells ‘Rojak’ or mixed fruits salad, ‘Sotong Bakar’ or BBQ Squid, ‘Kerang Rebus’ or Poach Cockles and ‘Sotong Rebus’ or Poach Squid. We had their ‘Rojak’ as we noticed many order were coming from their stall. It did not disappoint us, the ‘Rojak’ was filled with the bitter sweet taste and pungent aroma of our local shrimp paste or ‘har ko’. The cut fruits were naturally sweet and fresh too. To our surprise it also have in the plate, strands of ‘oung choi’ or water spinach.
For refreshments, we ordered ‘Ai Yu Ping’ or shaved ice with lemon and corn jelly and ‘ice kacang’ or ice shavings with sugar syrups and red beans. The ‘Ai Yu Ping’ was tangy and sweet which was good pick-up for hot lazy afternoon. The sourness of the lemon juice and the sweet syrup was well balanced.
The ‘ice kacang’ we had was drenched in palm sugar as requested with lots of evaporated milk to make it rich and creamy. In fact it was even better some of the ‘ice kacang’ stalls in Penang.
The ‘chee cheong fun’ that we had came from another stall just 3 stalls away from ‘Low Kwan’. The chee cheong fun was silky smooth and tasted standard, but it lack some firmness.
The overall experience at the stretch of food courts next to the Ipoh stadium was not bad, I would give it a 3.6 out of 5.
