Shee Leong Liew

Breakfast was ordered from a stall by the name of ‘Curry King’. Tried their Hu Nan Curry, their signature dish. The curry was delightful, boasting the familiar essence of traditional coconut santan curry but with a vibrant twist—its hue was a fiery red, promising a heightened level of spice and creaminess. The medley of ingredients, including succulent roast pork, tantalizing char siew, crisp long beans, and a sprinkle of cookles, infused the curry with layers of flavor and texture. While the richness of the curry rendered it a tad oily, preventing me from fully emptying the bowl in one go, the dish undeniably captivated my taste buds with its delectable blend of flavors. Truly a culinary delight.

One of the many good Chinese restaurants in Ipoh. Portion was big and food was still good. The star dishes tonight were the suckling pig and the pig stomach chicken feet soup. The suckling pig was well roasted, absolutely delicious; the skin was glistening golden and crispy, yet the meat was succulent and tender, practically melting in the mouth. Each bite reveals layers of savoury goodness, enhanced by the natural sweetness of the meat. The chicken feet and pig stomach soup was simmered to perfection and was a delightful fusion of flavours and textures. The broth was rich with essence of poultry and pork. The chicken feet contributed a gelatinous richness to the broth. The tender yet chewy texture of the pig stomach provided a delightful contrast to the softness of the chicken feet while absorbing the flavours of the broth creating a harmonious union of taste. It was a dish that showcased culinary craftsmanship and Chinese cultural tradition.

The curry mee was quite good but lacks deep savory flavours. It was of the spicy type but was not rich and creamy like traditional curry. Suspected that coconut milk was not used in the cooking. At RM9 per big bowl, I thought the price was still reasonable. However don’t expect lots of ingredients at this price point. Instead you will get lots of mee to go with the curry which will definitely satisfy you hunger.
27/3/24 Wednesday
Tried their Chee Cheong Fun with ingredients. Well, it just tasted slightly above average (中规中矩）. The added curry chicken was tender and soft though.

This was my second visit to this bak kut teh restaurant. The uniqueness of this restaurant was that the meat was finely categorised into different pork cuts which was then further sub-divided into fatty and lean cut. The cooking was good, the soup was a bit turbid but rich in taste with strong smell of the herb ‘dong gui’. Each cut of meat that I ordered came in a small bowl that costed me RM16. If I remembered correctly, price was only RM14 when I last visited before CNY (towards the end of 2023). So my lone visit today costed me RM35 since I needed two bowls of different meat cuts in order to have a satisfactory lunch.

Ordered ikan bawal hitam braised with pickled vegetables （咸菜闷黑鲳）. Taste was good, fish was well cooked. This was unlike some other restaurants where the fish meat remained hard because of too short defrost time. The best thing was the price. For fish of this size, other restaurants would have charged me RM50. But guess how much I paid for this meal? This was only RM30. Really value for money. Will come back to try their other dishes. Another good thing about this traditional Chinese Restaurant was that they provide serviettes on each table. Kudos to them for thinking of the need of their customers. Just hope that this potentially popular restaurant will take care of their signboard at the outside of their shop. Their signboard had since been weathered and torn, left only one Chinese character. They knew about this (I pointed this out to the lady boss) and I just couldn’t understand why they’re not taking remedial action on this.
30/5/2024 Thursday
Revisited this restaurant and ordered the soy-steamed patin fish for dinner. While the dish was satisfying, I couldn't help but imagine how exquisite it would have been if prepared using the traditional clay pot method. Despite this minor preference, priced at just RM38/- for the entire fish, the dish represented exceptional value for money.