Chemor's famous Sang Yeeu Tong

Chemor is about 12km north of Ipoh. If you're prepared to travel the distance to this quaint little stall located in an alley off the main road in Chemor town, you'll be rewarded with a simply delicious 'sang yeeu tong' (our fav). As you can see frm the photos, the kitchen and dining area is separated by a road!

The soup is boiled with chinese cabbage, fried yee tau/fish head bones, slivers of san yeeu yok, whole black peppers, ginger, spring onions and chinese wine. It is served hot with a small fire beneath the pot. Just lip smacking and many that we have brought along to try it, agreed. For one person it is RM10, RM13 for two, RM18 for three and so on.

If you are there for lunch, order the steamed la-la, chiew pei tau foo, fried chei yeeu. That would make a fulfilling lunch treat. By dinner, the la-la and chei yeeu would have finished. Apart from these, you can order the normal chinese dishes but you would noticed nearly every table has the 'sang yeeu tong'. This is a must have dish.

Being a small town, the prices are also small. For a family of four like my family, I don't think I've ever paid more than RM50 for a meal (normal dishes) the many times we have been there.

Address : Woon Kee, No 41 Jln Besar, 31200 Chemor.Tel : 05-201 1033

Rating : 4 stars for the 'Sang Yeeu Tong' & 3 stars for the other dishes.

Tai Shee Tau

'Tai Shee Tau' or 'Big Tree' in Pasir Pinji, Ipoh is our fav spot for fried Yong Tau Foo. This stall, a coffeshop and a few others are literally under a few big trees, really. Just beware of bird droppings, otherwise 'kah lieu'!

It is famous for its fried 'lieu' like fish cake (my fav), fu pei, sar kot, wantan, brinjal, bittergourd, stuff yau char keoy, stuff long beans, chillies, also fishballs, tau foo, etc. It is constantly top-up piping hot straight from the wok into the plastic trays, that's a plus point to its tastiness. The best thing is it only cost 50 sens each and the pieces are big! This is indeed rare nowadays, in Ipoh anyways. Before you know it, you will be piling up the lieu into your bowl! To go with it is your typical noodles in clear soup (ch'ng tong), curry and also laksa.

There's a coffeshop serving your choice brew. There are also some other stalls selling porridge (for those who feel guilty eating cholesterol laden fried food) , hokkien mee, rojak and also a fruit juice station with its popular mixed fruit cocktail.

Business is from morning till about 4pm in the afternoon. Close on Sundays, I think. To beat the crowd, try going early in the morning by 9am. It builds up by then and will be packed by early afternoon, testimony to the food. That's one indicator for us when hunting down new places to eat. If it is packed and spills over to the road or even back lane and the proprietor can't even take your order, it must be good!

Rating : 3 1/2 stars. Good and cheap.