Travelicious @ Mapo Restaurant Ipoh

Looking for a place to enjoy your Wanton Mee in Ipoh? Jom, today we will be exploring a place called Mapo Restaurant in Bercham, Ipoh. It's famous for it's Wanton Noodles. At here, you'll able to dine for quite a few options of Wanton Mee. Wanton mee is one of the dishes that most of the Chinese have for their breakfast.  

The menus are literally on the wall, thus you can just look up and see which dishes are going to fill your stomach for this morning. It has both English and Chinese words thus it will be easier for those who can't understand Chinese. 

History of Wanton noodles: 

Wanton noodles is sometimes also called as Wanton Mee. The Wanton noodles originated from Guangzhou during the Ching Dynasty. The word "Wanton" is a Cantonese word for dumpling while noodles in Hokkien is called "mee" or in Cantonese, "min".Wanton Noodles made of Chinese egg noodle with Wonton dumplings, is called Wanton Mee, and this is one of Malaysia's Hawker Delights, the local-style of having delicious fuss-free noodle meal, anytime & anywhere.

For some who are new to this Asian noodle dish, wanton, in Chinese, it's named as 云吞 "Yun Toon" or 馄饨 "Hoon Toon", is an irregular shape bite-sized dumpling. Its filling is often made with marinated minced pork meat, and sometimes, shrimp is added, making into a small pouch of many. 

The noodles were handmade and not processed by machine. Most noodle makers add alkaline water or kan sui to give it that slight spring. But Mapo Restaurant disallows the usage of any alkaline water to exist in all the dishes served. They practice the traditional methods in order to give the noodles a bouncy texture by pressing the dough of egg, flour and spring water, which are then placed on a long bamboo log to mix the dough instead of using hands. Continuously pressing the dough by using bamboo log can make the noodles to have the springy texture better compared to using hands. 

This is the long bamboo log they used to press on the dough. It has been passed on for a few generations. 

The owner will ride on the bamboo and press the dough for a couple of round till the dough is firm enough before cut into thin noodles. This is the reason why the noodle is so bouncy. 

One of the secrets to the texture of the noodles is that they practically loosen all of the noodles and allow it to rest in a big box which helps the noodles to "breathe" freely and thus becoming more QQ and chewy. The chef or the customers normally call him tauke (boss in Cantonese), who cooks the noodles in boiling water for a few seconds then ladle out the noodles, and soak it in a cold water. The method of rapid change of temperatures is the secret to firm up the noodles and give them a springier texture. After going through the cold water rinse, they are dipped into the hot water immediately again to heat them up, drained and quickly tossed in the sauce.

This is roast pork or aka Char Siew wanton mee. It is served together with some vegetables and wantons. The wantons they served here is not similar with those pathetically anorexic wantons where there is more skin than meat in other places. The wantons are as big as ping pong ball size and juicy. This dish had totally made a really pleasant surprise for all of us. The texture of the noodles was perfect and it was as though it has came alive when you slurped and chewed on it. The sauce, an important element to give the noodles a unique taste, is made from a mix of dark soy sauce, light soy sauce and oil. The sauce had a secret ingredient in it which made the difference between great and eye-opening. A bit more kick with the sliced chilli and fermented black beans might just make it so much more enjoyable.

The fillings for wanton are stuffed with a little bit amount of fresh prawn meat and good amount of minced pork. The texture of wanton was good and the sweetness of the shrimp goes superbly with the smoothness of pork and it became an excellent combination. The soup that goes with the wanton is very tasty. It assembles a strong hint of sweetness and they used pork ribs to boil the soup, thus making the soup very rich in flavours. 

Not forgetting, few wafer thin slices of char siew are placed on the noodles and that is what makes the equation right for a plate of wanton mee. It was sufficiently burnt around the edges with a nice sheen. The roast pork tastes like fake dry tasteless meat tinged red with a hard texture and a little fat. However, you are still able to taste the juicy and charred texture from the char siew.

For Westerners, they may think that the chicken feet is disgusting but I believe when Asians see this photo of the chicken feet, they would start salivating. For some of you who may be a fan of chicken feet, then Mapo Restaurant is going to be the right heaven for you. Mushroom + Chicken Feet wanton mee it is! Two adjectives that most of the customers here use to describe the food here are cheap and delicious. For customers, cheap is good but none of that matters if the food is not good, but if two of these exist together, then the food is worth trying.

A plate of wanton mee with three chicken feet will only set you back RM4.80. The chicken feet comes to you intact and only fall to pieces when you press it against your soft palate. That perfectly fried skin which has been braised till its skin slides right off so that you can spit the bones out in one breath without making a mess around. The flavours are simply perfectly balanced so that your whole mouth is tingled at all times. The feet are braised until tendons between the joints of the feet have all been turned into gelatin and the flavours of the braising sauce have totally penetrated down to the bone. For a true chicken feet lover, you would spend at least a good 15 minutes nibbling on the soft bits, enjoying the crunchy bits and spitting out the spend metatarsal bones. And after you are done with your meal, you might go back to the pile of bones to double check that you have not missed out any bit of flesh.

You are not seeing anything wrong. Yes, this is wanton mee with curry chicken on top so this makes the noodle called Curry Chicken wanton mee. I'd say that the curry gravy is the soul of this dish. The curry gravy has achieved a right balance between rich but not overly thick or too dilute. It has this strong fragrant of curry flavor and it is further enhanced by coconut milk and other spices and ingredients. For some people who might find the curry with a thick layer of oil floating on the surface terrifying, the curry they served is definitely not oily at all. I'd say the chef is really good in using herbs and various types of curry powder in order to make this curry so tasty. The consistency of the curry is regular and you don't have to be afraid that some days the curry just didn't taste similar compared to the few trips before this. The spicy and fragrant curry gravy totally blended into the noodles well. While the wanton mee was pretty good on itself, it was the addition of those extra topping that helped to upgrade the food. 

The chicken was juicy, sweet, tender and sweet at the same time. Chicken was fully de-boned and thus is easier to eat and does not give you the trouble spitting out the bones and causing a mess around. They used American or Holland yellow potatoes depending on which potato is available for the time being. The potatoes they used are more tasty, tender and not hard or tasteless like those white potatoes.

A plate of simple and sexy noodles simply tossed with some umami pork gravy, freshened up by spring onions? Yes, I'm talking about Hakka Mee. Hakka mee here are served with generous amount of minced meat and gravy. Soft and bouncy noodles together with juicy minced pork, leafy vegetables just make the combination awesome. It is flavored with fish sauce, garlic oil and a glistening layer of pork lard oil. The chef made some changes to this dish in order to make it stand out among what other shops are offering, a bit of sesame oil for extra fragrance and some bean sprouts to "upgrade" the dish.

The noodles were good, has the springy texture and with just the right amount of sauces. The topping of minced pork was savoury and was slightly different from the conventional though. A little bit of bean sprout was added to this dish. 

Oh? Have I forgotten to mention that Ipoh was famous for its bean sprout? Ipoh's bean sprout was said to grow with water from springs germinating from the surrounding lime-stone hills. Therefore, the bean sprouts here are thicker, shorter and with only a very short root compare to other places. It totally amazed us how such a simple noodles dish can taste so good.

This is Ginger Duck wanton mee. Ginger duck used to be one of those homey dishes in Chinese families back in the days. The duck is simply cooked with copious amounts of ginger and seasoned with some soy sauces. The chef even add in a dash of Chinese Shaoxing wine in order to add fragrance into the dish. This dish is going to be a heaven and your cup of tea for those who are ginger lover.

The old ginger was used for this noodles because old ginger has the "ginger flavor" stronger and deeper. There's a saying among Chinese,"Old ginger is spicier than the young ones". The chef explained further to u that he used Bentong ginger, which is one of the species of ginger which has a better taste dimension among ll other species of ginger. In order to balance the noodle with the vegetable ratio, some vegetables are added. Still it had just enough taste of duck.  

What's best to down the grease of noodles with? A cup of cham. It can be either, coffee, tea, herbal tea or cincau. The coffee had a powerful charred scent and the smell of freshly-roasted coffee. It is unmissable rich, thick, sweetened with a mix of evaporated milk and sweet condensed milk. 

Overall, we as customers, were definitely satisfied with the food, service and price too. Any plate of wanton mee is going to cost you for about RM5.80. Although the price is a little pricey compared to other places in Ipoh but trust me, the price is worth the tastiness of the food they served. Furthermore, it came in a pretty big portion and it might be a little bit hard for those small eaters to finish the whole plate. 

You will feel very comfortable when having your breakfast or brunch in here because you can feel the air of unity surrounding the families of happy eaters tucking in with gusto.

The service provided was nice. The waitress are so friendly and because we are first time visiting the shop, they slowly and patiently introduce each of the dishes they have in the shop to us. You know what customer cares the most, beside the price of the food? Service. If we are treated nice and good, we'll definitely come for another time. The food were served fast and efficient. Because they cook every dishes whenever you order, thus by the time the food arrived at your desk, it's still hot. 

For my personal opinion, I think it's definitely worth a stop for this place. 

A friendly reminder: Remember to pair your noodles with pickled green chilies that are more tangy rather than fiery for a perfect meal.

Feedback: 
"I regularly dine in to the restaurant as their noodles are fresh and have the warmth of home-made food as the noodles were hand made. I love their high quality cooking and which is also accompanied by the hospitality offered by the waiters and waitresses." - by Mr Loo

"My family and I frequently visit the place on weekend mornings. The dishes served by Mapo were simply exquisite! Mapo's menu offers a wide variety of mouth-watering noodles that prompts my family and I to eat here again and again." - by Mr Raju 


"We feel delightful to claim that Mapo is one of the best places to go for authentic Chinese noodles. The restaurant is coupled with great deals and great varieties. The prices offered were affordable and reasonable." - By Ms Tan, Ms Lee and Ms Au 

Last but not least, a group photo of us ! 

More information regarding Mapo Restaurant :

Address : 20, Laluan Tasek Timor 15, Taman Mewah, Bercham, Ipoh Town, 31400.
GPS coordinate: 4.635309, 101.124669 

Tel : 012-5251266

Business Hour: 7.00 am - 4.00pm

Visit Mapo Facebook for more information

PS: It's a non-halal restaurant.

Travelicious @ Tuck Kee Noodles Ipoh

Tuck Kee Restaurant, one of the fried noodles "specialist" restaurant is located in Ipoh and has been operating for more than 50 years at the same location. If the name, Tuck Kee Restaurant does ring a bell for you and you go like ... "Oh, the one which is famous for smoked duck, roasted pork and...." Then you are wrong! Hold your ammunition, people. The Tuck Kee you heard and remembered is a Chinese diner somewhere around Ipoh and unfortunately that's not the Tuck Kee that I am going to talk about in this post.

Coincidentally, there's another shop with a rather misleading name of Sun Tuck Kee where "Sun" means new in Cantonese, which is located just right beside the original shop. The Sun Tuck Kee eatery is run by the original shop's proprietor's descendant. However, we, as customers, we prefer something which is a rather old, original and traditional food. Thus, let's make it crystal clear one more time, the eatery that we visited was the Tuck Kee Restaurant.

They are well-known for serving a variety of noodles. For example, the Hor Fun (flat, thin and broad rice noodles), Mee (yellowish noodles), Udon (japanese noodles), Low Shu Fun (short and rat-tail-like noodles), Mee Hon (thin rice noodles like thread) and the most well known Hokkien Dai Loke Mian (fat and thick rice noodles). All the noodles can be cooked in different variations depending on customers' preference. The noodles always guarantee a heavenly taste for whichever cooking method you prefer. Your taste buds will be fully satisfied and that's what makes you to come back more often.

When you visit a restaurant, the first thing you order must be the signature dish of the restaurant and so did we. Apparently, the owner of the shop strongly recommended us to try out the Hokkien Dai Loke Mian. They serve this noodles in a springy texture sauce and lightly charred prawn with crisp vegetables. This dish is based on an older recipe called Dabuman and the name itself indicates its place of origin which is Dabu Country, the center of Hakka culture in mainland China. Some suggested that this dish was brought over to Malaysia and originated from a hawker stall chef, Wong Kian Lee in the 1920s. It's going to cost you only RM6.36 (Small), RM11.66 (Medium) and RM14.84 (Large).

Another food in the must-order-list is the War Tan Hor Fun. It's serving is completely immersed in a pool of creamy/savoury gravy laden with the goodness of eggs, sweetness from the vegetables and the most important ingredient of all the dishes of Tuck Kee Restaurant - lard fritters (aka fried pork oil). With the chunks of pork and prawn, the broth makes everything special. Ipoh is famous for its flat rice noodles, which is prepared with local unfiltered spring water. If it's fried noodles that you are craving for, then this dish will do perfectly for you. The price for this dish is varied according to the size, RM6.36 (Small), RM12.72 (Medium) and RM15.90 (Large).

What is the Yu Kong Hor shown on the menu? It is known as the moonlight fried noodles, similar to the War Tan Hor Fun but with a raw egg on top of the fried hor fun. The raw egg is instantly heated up on the spot with the help from the heat of fried hor fun. The inclusion of the fried pork oil boosts the dish to a whole new level. It's going to cost you only RM7.42 (Small), RM12.72 (Medium) and RM16.96 (Large).

Hokkien Fried Mee Hon or commonly known as Char Bee Hoon, is a dish of fried thin-like-thread rice noodles served with thick soy sauce, vegetables and prawns. The chef cooks this dish by using g gas stove and a wok, and this combination works best because it can achieve as much "wok hei" (a unique flavor or taste that comes from a wok and high flame) as possible. As customers are always right, additional ingredients such as eggs and cockles can be added according to customers' preference. This dish was inspired by the spicy cuisines of Southeast Asia. The dish appears on most of the menus of almost all Cantonese-style eateries in Hong Kong. Although Fried Mee Hon is easy, simple and fast, but it requires the chef's experience or aka "Kung Fu" in order to make the simple dish delicious. There are 3 size of portion, RM6.36 (Small), RM11.66 (Medium) and RM14.84 (Large).

When you have reached this much length of the post here, you must be thinking, it's a little dull with just noodles. The owner of the shop must have thought that too, not only did Tuck Kee manage to satisfy our cravings for noodles, but they do serve them together with some appetizers. There are bean sprout, braised chicken feet, meat ball soup, baby octopus in soy sauce and braised egg and bean curd in soy sauce which does the job.

Unfortunately, we never got the chance to try the braised chicken feet and egg dish on the night we went. This is because it was already sold off. However, we did get some recommendation from few online food bloggers saying that these two dishes were above average and some of them even said these are some of the very best that they've ever had in Ipoh.

The one item which you should NOT miss is their first-rate Boiled Blanched Baby Octopus in soy sauce. The octopus were drizzled generously in fried garlic oil, garnished with coriander and fried garlic bits, served together with special homemade chili sauce topped with crushed peanuts. The combination of chewy octopus and piquant condiment is going to satisfy your every taste buds perfectly. The price is RM13.78. 

We did not miss the chance to taste Ipoh Bean Sprouts, after all this is what Ipoh is famous for. Bean sprouts here from Ipoh are generally larger, shorter, fatter, crunchier and can we say sweeter? Definitely yes! And these qualities are all due to the power of spring water which they used to grow the bean sprouts here. Tuck Kee does some of best blanched bean sprouts in Ipoh, I dare to say. The combination of soy sauce, sesame oil, chicken oil and shallot oil were all tossed together and this upgrades the already-tasty-bean-sprouts. The price varied according to the portion, RM3.10 (Small), RM4.24 (Medium) and RM5.30 (Large).

The chefs mastered the skills after years and decades of experience and possibly trial and error free. All of their dishes are at the level best and irresistibly yummy. And this is Tuck Kee's Tauke (boss), Mr Zhao. He has a nickname called Mr Wat Tan Hor. 

You can find some other customers in the shop slurping away on their bowl, licking their bowl to make sure it's clean and not wasting any single drop of the sauce. If you are a fan of noodles, then Tuck Kee should be on your must eat list when you visit Ipoh. The shop fully lived up and beyond my expectation. There you have it. Now, let's begin your food hunting trip to Ipoh and be sure to drop by at this restaurant.

This is the menu of the shop. If you wish to know more about the exact price, what you can do is just click on the photo and enlarge it. They have three sizes for every dishes, which are small, medium and large. The prices are not expensive, thus is definitely worth to try when you are in search for food to crave at late night !

Last but not least, a group photo of us! 

Feedback:

"The food was good and I usually come to the shop around midnight and the shop is still open, which is good for late night travelers like us. The price was not too cheap neither too expensive, just affordable." - by Jun

"I recommend that you must try the steamed octopus! This is one of my favorite shops in Ipoh and I visited the shop every time I was here." - by Ryan

"This is my first time visiting this shop. I was attracted by the amount of tables placed on the footpath and road. Me and my wife were satisfied with the food served here. There are a lot of choices of different fried noodles, the taste was yummy and price is just nice. I will definitely give it another try the next time I visit Ipoh." - by Uncle Chow 

"My friends and I came over to this shop to have our dinner after our yoga class. This shop is easy to find, easy to find parking space and that's the reason why we often come here. We love Yut Kong Hor. We order it every time when we come." - by Aunty Mei Shiow

More information regarding Tuck Kee Restaurant:

Address: 614, Jalan Yau Tet Shin, 30300 Ipoh, Perak Malaysia.

(Same row as Onn Kee Tauge Restaurant Ipoh, near to Ipoh New Town police station)

GPS Coordinate: 4.593959, 101.084478

Tel: +605 2537513

Email: tuckkee@live.com

Business Hour: 5.00pm - 2.00am (Off on Tuesdays fortnightly)

Visit Tuck Kee Facebook for more information

*Ps: It's a non-Halal restaurant.

/