Category Archives: LOCATION: PERAK

Pun Chun, Bidor – duck noodles

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Part 5 – Finale

6.00pm in Ipoh. We knew it was time to have dinner and go back to reality where loved ones were waiting patiently for goodies from Ipoh. We were in a dilemma; to continue eating in Ipoh or to start our journey back to Kuala Lumpur and eat along the way.

Someone mentioned Pun Chun in Bidor. The decision was a no-brainer.

It had already started to rain when we left Ipoh that Saturday evening. But we had faith that we would arrive in Bidor safe and dry.

Because of the rain, traffic on the highway was slow. A car had spun out of control near the toll booth, so traffic slowed down further. We made it to Bidor, and fortunately, it wasn’t raining there. It was quite easy to find the restaurant which is located along the main road of the tiny town, but traffic was surprisingly heavy along the single lane road.

Even from a distance, one can smell the aroma of duck soup. Because we were early, it was easy to get a table to ourselves, hence we didn’t need to employ our table booking strategy which we had quickly learnt in Ipoh. We all ordered the dry version of duck noodles with soup on the side. The duck is served in simmering herbal soup and its flesh is soft and tender. I did not only finish up my soup, but I helped myself to Pretty Pui’s leftovers too. Let’s just say that I LOVE soup, and this soup was great. The noodles were cooked al dente and it was nice and springy.

Looking around the shop, we felt like we were in titbits wonderland as we were surrounded by various traditional chinese snacks. Pun Chun is well-known for its chicken biscuits, shat kek ma and heong peng and we dutifully stocked up on the sweet and sinful goodies.


Outside, one can buy petai by the bunches.

It rained when we left Bidor.

Other Ipoh delicacies

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Part 4

When we weren’t eating at restaurants and kopitiams in Ipoh, we were busy buying food. What? Obsessed with food? Us? Certainly not!

We drove in circles looking for Gunung Rapat where the famous Yee Hup is located. All that effort for heong peng. It’s funny how when you’re not looking for something, it appears before you several times. But when you’re searching high and low for it, it plays hide and seek with you.

Suffice to say that we found Yee Hup even when we were looking for Tambun to buy pomelos.

Yee Hup is the place to buy heong peng. There is usually a long queue and a steady stream of cars outside, all for the delectably sweet and sticky, flaky delicacy.

When in Ipoh, one has to buy pomelos. It’s expected of you. Sadly, we couldn’t find Tambun (seriously!), so we ended up at the stalls outside the Sam Po Tong temple which is built in a limestone cave. The temple, not the stalls. Because we were quite inexperienced in selecting pomelos, we chose the ones with unblemished skins. 🙂

Salt baked chicken is another delicacy from Ipoh, and the place to go to is Aun Kheng Lim. On one side of the shop are several ovens in which the chicken, wrapped in paper, are baked under mounds of salt, and on the other side of the shop are boxes stacked six feet high, ready for packing.

And of course, when in Ipoh, one has to drink Ipoh White Coffee which is made of robusta beans roasted in margarine. There are several coffeeshops in the same area, all claiming to be the original white coffee specialists, but we went to Sun Yuan Foong which was home to the original white coffee. 🙂 The coffee is served sweetened (translated: sweet!) and we ordered some kuih along with it.

Kong Heng, Ipoh – popiah, hor fun, satay

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Part 3

Ipoh Old Town has two prominent kopitiams which are located side-by-side: Thean Chun (House of Mirrors) and Kong Heng. When we arrived at about 1.30pm, Thean Chun was closed, so maybe that explained why Kong Heng was PACKED.

Getting a table at Kong Heng is no easy feat. Like playing chess, there is a strategy involved. And we learnt, 30 minutes later and no table in hand, that one has to be ruthless.

The steps are as follows:-

  1. Identify table. Look for signs indicating that the persons sitting at the table are going to complete their meal in the next 10 minutes. If energetic conversations are going on, chances are they’ll be asking for another round of drinks, so move on to the next table.
  2. Stand really close to the table. This gives a double signal, i.e. to the person sitting down that you are targetting his table, and to other vultures to stay away from this table.
  3. If other vultures have also targetted the same table, start limbering up for step 4.
  4. Say there are 6 people currently sitting at the table. When one person stands up, immediately move your butt and place yourself in his place, regardless of whether or not the other 5 have finished their meals. This is very important, as it indicates ownership of that table. Vultures will immediately disperse.
  5. Put on a nonchalant expression and wait till the remaining 5 move, then wave madly so your friends will know that you have successfully completed your mission and come over and congratulate you.

So we got our table. 🙂

Kong Heng has several stalls serving a variety of food including asam laksa, hor fun, lor bak, popiah, wantan mee and sotong kangkung. One of the more popular items to order is pork satay. Basically, the satay man dumps a plate of satay on the table, and when he sees the number of sticks dwindling, he tops up the plate with more satay. You pay for what you consume. Which brings us to the question of hygiene….

Unfortunately, this time around, the satay man was nowhere to be seen. We saw a plate of popiah on every table, so we ordered the popiah which was absolutely delicious. The hor fun in soup was also very good, but Barbie preferred Pretty Pui’s asam laksa. The asam laksa is very much like the Penang version.